W204 Navigation Upgrade - First time poster

[itsjiggy]

Thats great thanks for your help. I have opened up a case on Ebay and now he says he is going to send it! I am with you on that one- why is the ducting unit £300. That is a joke surely. A 12 volt fan from RS and some ducting only costs around £25. Any way not sure if the unit works at all yet so lets wait and see. Once you connected it did your guy then calibrate it. i.e get it to talk to your dash. How much did he charge you? I notice there are a few different GPS atennas for this unit on the comand site. The mercedes one is £119 the other which looks bulky is on £40. Which one did you get or go for! Just wandering in case mine doesn't turn up.

It cost me 150 to get it fitted by a guy who fits these units for a living. He did calibrate it with the dash using the star machine, which is a must really. He is the one who advised he has fitted 100s of these and never had an issue with overheating. I suppose its upto you if you want the additional cooling, and point taken Richard, regarding why would Mercedes add all this for a factory fit. I guess part of the reason may be so that people do not try to retro fit themselves? They do not want it to seem it is simple case of pulling one unit out, changing a wire and plugging another in - they wouldn't be able to justify the crazy prices they charge. Or is that a little cynical? Maybe...but I am sure in England there would not be overheating issues. I wouldn;t imagine it causing a fire!!! Surely the unit would fail and switch off before it gets to that stage!

I am not too technical, but I guess you can fit yourself, and then pay £30 or so to get it on the star and calibrate it.

Regarding the gps antenna, i checked ebay again and they are a lot cheaper than I thought, probably get one for a tennor or so - and these ones look very similar to the one I was sent with the item. And it works very well, I have never lost signal.

 

[fuzzer]

I am not too technical, but I guess you can fit yourself, and then pay £30 or so to get it on the star and calibrate it.

.

good luck with that getting someone to do it for £30

 

[royaltiger]

good luck with that getting someone to do it for £30

Obviously not Mercedes doing it, or are they offering 70% discount on labour charges.

 

[glennbalsam]

All sounds too easy! I have seen other forums on this unit and seems that you just need a special flat tool and a torx screwdriver and the unit simply pulls out. I can not find these GPS antenna on Ebay. Could you give me the reference so I can have a look. Just a thought- what is to stop anyone taking the top off the top of the base unit. This has a plastic cover underneath to stop any dust or debri falling on it. This I am sure will release any extra heat building up inside the unit. Also the unit has 2 fans already fitted!
When I get the GPS lead I will report back.

 

[itsjiggy]

just type in 'mercedes gps antenna' on the search there are plenty of options...

 

[glennbalsam]

Ha ha my antenna has turned up so lets fit the unit. This is where my problem is! all the old unit comes out great-But wait for it the looms is different. Firstly the new top screen unit does not match the loom. the old screen unit has connection for 3 sockets where the new unit only has 2 sockets plus it has its own lead coming out with a socket (white) on the end. Two leads from the car loom fit the new unit. I cannot see where it plugs in. The looms 3rd socket does not connect to it. Is there a conversion adaptor to make these 2 sockets fit. I tried connecting all up with that lead flapping in the wind and the radio/CD works fine but the screen will not pop up. Can't find anywhere that mentions this lead.
Any answers would be appreciated as now I have a gaping whole!!

 

[gIzzE]

I would guess the screen needs can hi, can lo, 12v and ground.
I retrofitted a couple of BMW units with the flip out monitor and this is what was needed.

All available on the back of the original oem adapter, so you need to buy a couple of blank connectors, some wire and some socket pins, make up the cable and make sure you get the pins right, best to buy access to the Mercedes online service manuals and schems, not sure how much it is though?? BMW charge around £79 a month to access theirs.

Or, even easier buy a cable set yourself from someone who has already worked it all out, found a supplier for the adapters and sat there and made them up for you already.
Someone like comandonline??

Look at the end of the day if you're happy to work it all out yourself then that is great, I am, but I do understand many are not, and that mens paying for a cable set is worth £100.

Just as a matter of interest, I fried a BMW nav system as I didn't fit the ducts and the fan, I bought them and they are were only £36 for the fan and £12 for the duct, but I decided I would get round to it 'later'. Was in the car for around 7 hours one day, in January, and suddenly it shut down. When it rebooted it was never the same again, kept hanging and freezing, so I had to buy another.
Not saying the comand will do the same, but if I were a company fitting them with warranty I would insist on the fan and ducting being fitted. If I was just charging for fitting with no warranty I would probably say it was worth risking as it wouldn't be me bunging out for it when it goes bang.

You pays your money you takes your chance.

 

[glennbalsam]

Christ! sounds complicated. Is it just a case of splicing into the lead thats left over from the loom into the new lead coming from the unit. If so I have 3 blacks from the new unit. What goes where?

 

[richard]

Read my last post - it tells you what parts you need.

Richard

 

[glennbalsam]

OK Richard. So can I get the just the wireing kit or are you refering to the £300 kit with the ducting and fan?

 

[royaltiger]

I am also just about to replace my audio 20 with Comand, I purchased all the parts needed, including the cooling fan, its not just a case of plug and play, audio 20 and comand are two different units and thus wiring completely different hence retro fit kits from comandonline to do the job properly. Remembering off hand there is only six connections to be made, one is the power which is in front fuse box connected to pink block, you have to unscrew and lift out fusebox as wire is underneath and replace with new loom, this is probably hardest part of the wiring, one pair of wires go to Canbus in drivers footwell, one connects to cooling fan for Comand, one is connected to screen is also a power wire, and also one to back of comand head unit, and there is also an earth to connect. It seems some are put off installing the fan because it involves removing front steering wheel and instument cluster so you can access area to install easier.

 

[glennbalsam]

I think i'm going to be put off very soon. Not sure how Richard wired his as he does not mention any of this and I know he didnt fit the fan and ducting kit. i know I picked mine up cheap but to add £300 kit plus a GPS unit plus the sync by merc garage which has to be at least £100. Then there are the crazy price maps on DVD which also seem to be highly priced. I know the unit from Merc is something like £2k but a Tom Tom at £150 and free upgrades looks very likely at the moment and sod what it looks like!!

 

[royaltiger]

The instructions to fit come with the kit, yes its more complcated to fit than a W203 comand, but I think it looks more impressive hiding itself and opening out. After reading the instructions a few times does make it sound easier to do, Its always difficult when its a first time job with no experience but as you go through the process of installing, it does then make sense what you are doing, as I said earlier the only difficult bit seems to be the power wire to the fusebox, all the other wires are plug in, so straight forward with them, some of the time is spent in preparing it which is the stripping down, but that is for the cooling fan mostly but could also refer to the power wire which will go from inside of car to the engine bay and into fusebox. I went one step further and installed the Dab receiver and that also is a little complicated and a lot of stripping down of the vehicle. I'm hoping to finish all in a couple of days, then of coarse its a trip to Merc dealer.

 

[glennbalsam]

OK. Decided to put my old system back in for now to fill the hole in my dash! I will wait until I get someone to fit it. BUT now I have put the old unit in the screen will not work. The base unit works fine, radio, CD etc all OK but no screen. Took it all out and checked leads etc but not a flicker. Any ideas!! Could it be a fuse, if so where are they for that unit. Or do I have to press a few buttons somewhere, but surely something should come up on the screen?

 

[itsjiggy]

Mate, seriously just find a fitter, they will do the whole job including the wiring and the star diagnostic for 150 if you look around. they will make sure you are left with everything working as it should be and they will have it done for you in half an hour to an hour.

No point messing around with the wiring, etc yourself although it can seem intertesting and enjoyable when done yourself, it isnt worth this amount of trial and error.

If you need someone who fits, try ebay or google, there are a few people around and people will travel to you.

OK. Decided to put my old system back in for now to fill the hole in my dash! I will wait until I get someone to fit it. BUT now I have put the old unit in the screen will not work. The base unit works fine, radio, CD etc all OK but no screen. Took it all out and checked leads etc but not a flicker. Any ideas!! Could it be a fuse, if so where are they for that unit. Or do I have to press a few buttons somewhere, but surely something should come up on the screen?

 

[royaltiger]

Wished you pointed me in the direction earlier of the £150 fitter, taken me 2 days so far and cant get monitor to work, also need to reassemble the dash and surrounding area.

 

[glennbalsam]

Hate to say it but he did! Sorry to hear you have the same problem with the screen. Lets hope its a fuse and not the fibre optic cable!

 

[glennbalsam]

OK i have just got my screen working. It was the fuse!! No 11 underneath the bonnet 7.5amp May help.
Cheer Glenn

 

[royaltiger]

Strange thats the fuse number thats gone on mine, but everytime I changed the fuse it popped again, called out an auto electrician to look into matter, It looks like my Head unit is faulty as that is the cause of the fuse blowing which intern is stopping monitor working, Head unit is 2nd hand but warrantied so think its gottabe sent back and replaced, Typical just as I was making progress and started to put back the car. Still a bit confused why head unit is causing the problem.

 

[billyb]

Does anyone know where I can get me head unit and flip up screen fitted as having no joy with local auto electricians. Having same problems as these guys. Thanks