W209 comand fitting

[br0ke]

I have a '05 CLk (delivery date 16/02/05). I am sure it has the facelifted dash.

It currently has Audio20 with phone pre-wiring.

I have purchased a Comand unit A209 820 54 89 from Ebay. It was a good price but there may be a reason for that. It is a little scruffy. I do have a few questions

1. Is this the right one for my car?
2. It did not come with a disk - Which one should I get?
3. The seal has been opened. Can I power it up on the bench before pulling my car apart to see if it works (or even powers up)
4. Does it REALLY need coded to the car. I understand the dash display won't work and the phone might go on strike but I can live with that until I know it is OK.
5. Do I need any other looms, wiring or connectors - I may go nuts and get a CD changer while I have the car apart.
6. The screen was very dirty like someone had coloured it in with a marker. Should they be dull or shiny when turned off. It is as if I have now cleaned off what remained of the shine.

Many Thanks

 

[Alfie]

I have a '05 CLk (delivery date 16/02/05). I am sure it has the facelifted dash.

It currently has Audio20 with phone pre-wiring.

I have purchased a Comand unit A209 820 54 89 from Ebay. It was a good price but there may be a reason for that. It is a little scruffy. I do have a few questions

1. Is this the right one for my car?
2. It did not come with a disk - Which one should I get?
3. The seal has been opened. Can I power it up on the bench before pulling my car apart to see if it works (or even powers up)
4. Does it REALLY need coded to the car. I understand the dash display won't work and the phone might go on strike but I can live with that until I know it is OK.
5. Do I need any other looms, wiring or connectors - I may go nuts and get a CD changer while I have the car apart.
6. The screen was very dirty like someone had coloured it in with a marker. Should they be dull or shiny when turned off. It is as if I have now cleaned off what remained of the shine.

Many Thanks

Here are some answers;

1). Yes it is. there are others too but that one is fine.
2). Version10 disk for A/B/C/CLK/ML/GL/R class. There might be a disk in it!
3). Yes but you will need a loom and a 12v power supply.
4). If you already have phone pre-wire you will have fibre in the car so it shouldnt power off looking for non existent fibre. In short yes it should come on and work without needing coding.
5). No unless you add a CD changer.
6). The screen on that particular model should be matt with a slight shine. The newer models are more shiny.

You will need an antenna aswell.

To do the job properly you should get it coded so that the MOST bus is correctly configured for the devices on it. Also you should ideally get it flashed with the latest firmware. Coding the cluster finishes the job off nicely.

Where are you based? I'm happy to test the unit for you or do the whole install for you.

 

[br0ke]

Thanks Alfie.

I've read your other posts and again very impressed with both your knowledge and willingness to help.

I'm based in Belfast and I would love nothing more than to get the car over to the Uk to get this done but I have no reason to come over in the foreseeable future.

I'll attempt the install myself and see how it goes.

I may have a few more questions along the way....

 

[pos.k]

Hi br0ke,
just a quick note for moral support.
I retrofitted a COMAND APS into my 209 last year.It really is straightforward once you get your head round it. there is a great guide on mercupgrades.com (thank you Richard )
The bits I had to think about where the following:

The gear lever surround - you don't need to unclip the trim holding the gaitor - remove the whole flat panel by opening the ashtray and pulling up from that edge and it will unclip - you can then get to the underside of the gaitor and release the collar that holds the gear knob on.

The top control panel with the buttons just pulls out. Mine was extremely difficult to pull the first time but has become easier since then. You get at it by opening the cup holder or drawer to the left of it and pulling at that edge. It is a bit awkward as it needs to come straight out, but pulling at just one side obviously angles it. If you can release the left side clips, you get just enough space to get a hook in behind it. I used the conveniently supplied tool that MB give all 209 owners with their manuals specifically for this purpose (an Allen key would also do the job)

Aeriel positioning - when you get the unit out you will see there is a plastic divider between the top control panel described above and the space for the COMAND. I sat the aeriel on that at the back squished in under the foam, and it works fine - be careful on the aeriel connector because you can damage the cable as it comes straight out of the back of the unit on the blue FAKRA connector, and when you push the unit is it will stress the connector and cable. I damaged my 1st aeriel in this way and was getting suspect satellite reception which was fixed by wiggling the cable - so -new aeriel.

Anyway - overall it's a piece of cake.
You will need to get the car coded to tell it that it has COMAND for the directions to show in the dash display.

Good Luck





What are you waiting for?

 

[Alfie]

Use the proper MB antenna connector and the issue of damage goes away

 

[pos.k]

Use the proper MB antenna connector and the issue of damage goes away

sadly, I believe that the proper MB antenna connector is usually found attached to the £100 plus MB antenna. My £8 ugly ebay special is not great, but basically works and at £8 who cares?

seriously though, I would be more interested in utilising the roof mounted aeriel which I believe is shared with the phone. It looks like there is only 1 cable connected to it though.
Do you know if it has a 2nd cable for the GPS, or is there a splitter / band pass filter module that goes between it and the COMAND.
I have seen such a gadget on mercupgrades, but IIRC not for the COMAND APS?

(BTW sorry for the hijack)

 

[br0ke]

Thanks guys.

I got it fitted OK and only drew blood once - pulling off the upper control panel.

Powered it up and everything was great - except I hadn't put the GPS aerial in because I wanted to check the unit was OK.

Tonight I took it apart and connected the GPS aerial. The receiver is sitting under the grill in front of the PDC and behind the vents. All looked OK and when I powered it up this time and went to set the clock it was happy. Last night it wouldn't let me as it had no GPS signal.

Popped the v10 disc in and waited an eternity for it to update - thought it had died on me. Anyway, comes up Ok and I can see all of Europe. Tried to find current position and it doesn't work.
Went down to off-licence to get some wine and when I turned it on again, it thought I was in Germany.

Reset it and now it doesn't see this disk.
I'm not sure I'm seeing any satellites but will try again tomorrow after finishing the wine.