W613 Roof mount GPS Antenna question

[justinp]

Hi

This is my first post so hello

I’m having trouble identifying what roof mounted GPS/GSM antenna my UK 2003 ML 270 CDI needs. From the document “Retrofitting COMMAND 2.0 DX to Mercedes Benz ML W163 Vehicles” it suggests I need the 163 820 15 75 MY 2002+ combined GPS phone antenna, but the picture shows 3 wires coming out the bottom of it.

I’ve looked under the rear headlining and I have a single wire which is connected to the back of the blanking grommet.

Looking from the roof with the grommet removed

Behind the dash I have

and

Which Antenna do I need, and do I need a splitter?

I went to my local Mercedes dealer today, and the say I need the later part, but as it’s a special order item if its wrong, I will still need to buy it.

Thanks

JusinP

 

[Alfie]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

You should have two cables in the headlining which are colour coded to the connections on the GPS antennae. From your picture, you have the right Antennae in mind.

One cable is for the phone and one is for the GPS signal. Looking at the connectors within the dash, you will probably need a HRS to wiclic converter cable to hook the GPS cable up into your COMAND.

Try sending a PM to steve_bcs he has installed COMAND into an ML before and knows quite a lot about it.

Hope this helps.

 

[justinp]

Hi

I only have one cable in the headlining, suggesting I need the earlier part with a splitter aswell.

Chees

justin

 

[richard]

Hi, check the model year code on the black sticker near one of the front door hinges - it should have 802 (for mY2002), 803 for MY2003 etc.

There is a MB harness you need that plugs into the wiclic connector and the C connector and changes all the connectors to make them work in COMAND. That wiclic connector goes to the roof space for the GPS aerial. (See www.almeida.org/mbstuff - theres a comand document there with the MB part number you need for the adapter loom)

Do you already have an aerial on the roof of your car ? I'm surprised there are any cables going through a gromment. There should be 2 cables there to plug into 2 of those FAKRA connectors on the combined antenna. The 3rd one for Teleaid (known as E-Call in the US) which is an independant GPS/Phone emergency system

The mini-uhf connector (and 10 way like-ethernet) connections you show as behind the dash end up under the right hand seat (probably cable tied to the back of the frame as a wiclic and a RJ45 like (but 10 way) plug. Also there is a blue socket, and another (opposite sex) wiclic, which will go to the roof space. So if that wiclic is there, then you definetly have both a GPS and a GSM cable that should go to the roof space

I'd be very surprised if your car only had one cable in the roof lining. The single cable was only used before MY2002 - so please have a good dig around there. Unless something very wierd has happened to your car (did you buy it new?)

[EDITED], OK. so I'm less surprised, there are others out there. It seems that at the front of your vehicle, everything looks as expected. I.E mini-UHF->wiclic_under_seat. wiclic_under_seat->roof. and theres a wiclic behind the head unit (for GPS) that should go to the roof. I know my wife's ML is correct (but then it was factory fitted, and that Maff has added the aerial and COMAND to his 2002 ML also, and that was as expected]

Hope that helps a bit.

Cheers

Richard

 

[justinp]

Hi Guys

I would just like to update this thread to say the GPS Antenna confusion on my 2003 ML is now solved.

As originally suggested I did indeed need the later Antenna with the 3 facra connectors.

On further inspection I found 2 facra connectors under my headlining, one purple(GMS) and one blue(GPS).

The blue one was connected to the cable fitted to the underside of the grommet in the roof, I guess it was pre-wired all the way to the roof for GSM only.

I removed this short cable and connected the correct Mercedes GPS /GSM antenna to the blue and purple facra connectors

A special thanks to Richard for convincing me to take another look

JustinP

 

[miro]

Hi Guys

I would just like to update this thread to say the GPS Antenna confusion on my 2003 ML is now solved.

As originally suggested I did indeed need the later Antenna with the 3 facra connectors.

On further inspection I found 2 facra connectors under my headlining, one purple(GMS) and one blue(GPS).

The blue one was connected to the cable fitted to the underside of the grommet in the roof, I guess it was pre-wired all the way to the roof for GSM only.

I removed this short cable and connected the correct Mercedes GPS /GSM antenna to the blue and purple facra connectors

A special thanks to Richard for convincing me to take another look

JustinP

The purple connector is actually Bordeaux Red (GSM) and the unused black connector is Teleaid for the USA.