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Doing a search on that part number A2038205826 reveals that is the Motorola telephone module that once hooked up with motorola V60 allows voice activated calling/commands and tele-aid. http://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCEDES-C32...-/181149332580
I tried to trace some of the fiber optic cables today, got as far as the passenger seat and gave up. Just seemed like I needed to tear too much stuff out.
So I give up putting in the BOSE.
Almost got the seats put back together.
Another dumb question..
If I don't transfer over the BOSE Sub & Amp, Can I still transfer over the speakers? The ones in the doors.. are they BOSE and do I need the amp to drive those as well? or are they plug and play?
Like I said earlier, I'm pretty sure your C240 is already prewired with fiber optic cable. If it's not and you need the fiber optic cables from the C32, it's not that difficult getting it out. From behind the head unit it runs under carpet through passenger footwell area then along passenger floor-sidewall to rear of car. It's easy to lift carpet, plastic trim just overhangs the carpet - use a plastic molding tool instead of steel tip screwdriver.
I'm not a Bose expert but I'm pretty sure you need the Bose Amp to effectively drive those Bose speakers in the doors,... they use unconventional Ohms. Without the Bose amp, those Bose speaker will barely work.
Most folks with Bose, upgrade to non fiber optic system with nav. Very few go from non-Bose to Bose because of the cost VS benefit analysis,... cost too much for very little beneficial gain. Much better to spend the money wisely going to a Nav system with better sound quality. When I upgraded my non-Bose system, I just got Powa's old Pioneer Avic D3 with Nav and bluetooth,... and will add Infinity Kappa speakers.
But in your case, you already have a Bose system available in the C32,... so just transplant it into the C240 and it'll be an upgrade over your current non-Bose factory system. Since, you're ripping the C32 doors apart to get the Bose speakers,... you should also grab all the door lock actuators, so you can solve future pogo lock problem.
Have you pulled the C240 radio yet? I bet it will have the fiber attached if so then head to the trunk pull the carpet and then climb in to right behind the seats and pull out the plastic cover. Under it you will see a few box's and some orange fiber wire. If it is connected to something you should be able to retrofit the Bose system fairly easy by connecting the amp into the loop back there.
I haven't pulled the radio out from the C240 yet, but from comparing stripped out trunk of the C240 vs C32, the C240 doesn't have optic fiber cable.
There is 1 orange fiber cable in my C240 that is unused but I have no idea what that cable is supposed to be attached to. That same cable is also present in the C32, and it isn't connected to anything either.
I should have taken more pictures as it's quite complicated to explain.
Not sure how visible this is, but I can zooom in with my phone and see the plugs. Basically, the bundle with the red cap, is bundled with the fiber cable with the green cap. Both these cables are present in the C32 and C240, but are not attached to anything. (not in the trunk at least) Mean while, the big bundle with the black connector in front of the red clip is for the AMP. Behind the red clip bundle is also the rest of the fiber cable.
I traced the orange cable up to the passenger side. Lost it under the center console, as I don't really know how to take apart that yet. Maybe have to remove the passenger chair in order to free up all the wires?
Anyways, I have already put back a portion of the folding seats and re-installed the rear deck already. I don't think I will transfer the BOSE system over. Unless I decide to tear the trunk/ seats out again on the C240.
full electric seats are now working, along with partial heated seats.
Couldn't get the driver side heated seats to work, won't even light up.. I think it maybe something wrong with the seat itself. Passenger side, only the seat back heats up. Better than nothing I guess.
Electric steering, I couldn't figure out how to take out the steering rack / column, so I gave up on that.
Memory seats aren't working.. might need to have it coded in or something..
Interestingly, front door panel lights are pre-wired. I was thinking about how to put the c32 door panel lights over, when I peeled back the door foam and its pre-wired and wrapped up with tape from factory. ( just behind the door foam)
Whats next?
- will attempt to swap air boxes.. seen quite a few threads on this, but seems need to fabricate something to connect it, as it doesn't seem plug and play. Any insights on this would be fabulous.
- Suspensions / sway bars. The C32 does have 200k km on it.. so not too sure how the suspensions hold up. I'm on the fence about this one, since my C240 has only 70k km on it. Suspensions should still have quite some life in them..
Sway bars, does anybody know if I can swap them over regardless of age? (Kms) I don't want to have them fail after I swap them to the C240..
anybody know if C32 suspensions go kaput close to 200k kms?
Xenons..- I have the depos sitting for a few months now. Still have no idea why plugging them into the C240 doesn't work, but plugging into the C32 works. They are DEPOs and are made for Halogen headlight.
As for the rest of the C32, there isn't much left, but if somebody needs something from it and can potentially savage it, let me know and see if I still have it.
get the sway bars and all you have to do is buy new sway bar bushings when installing them on your c240. the c32 springs and struts swap is going to be your decision since we really don't know if those are the Original struts that came with the car or if they were replace at certain point.
full electric seats are now working, along with partial heated seats.
Couldn't get the driver side heated seats to work, won't even light up.. I think it maybe something wrong with the seat itself. Passenger side, only the seat back heats up. Better than nothing I guess.
Electric steering, I couldn't figure out how to take out the steering rack / column, so I gave up on that.
Memory seats aren't working.. might need to have it coded in or something..
Interestingly, front door panel lights are pre-wired. I was thinking about how to put the c32 door panel lights over, when I peeled back the door foam and its pre-wired and wrapped up with tape from factory. ( just behind the door foam)
Whats next?
- will attempt to swap air boxes.. seen quite a few threads on this, but seems need to fabricate something to connect it, as it doesn't seem plug and play. Any insights on this would be fabulous.
- Suspensions / sway bars. The C32 does have 200k km on it.. so not too sure how the suspensions hold up. I'm on the fence about this one, since my C240 has only 70k km on it. Suspensions should still have quite some life in them..
Sway bars, does anybody know if I can swap them over regardless of age? (Kms) I don't want to have them fail after I swap them to the C240..
anybody know if C32 suspensions go kaput close to 200k kms?
Xenons..- I have the depos sitting for a few months now. Still have no idea why plugging them into the C240 doesn't work, but plugging into the C32 works. They are DEPOs and are made for Halogen headlight.
As for the rest of the C32, there isn't much left, but if somebody needs something from it and can potentially savage it, let me know and see if I still have it.
Passenger seat back heats up??? On my coupe its only the seat bottom,.. not back,... but I'm not that familiar with C32. For issues with driver seats maybe it needs to be STAR coded to enable the centre switch buttons.
Pretty sure memory seats need to be enabled via STAR coding.
For suspension, I'd stick to the C240 struts/shocks until they give; should be in better shape than C32 struts/shocks with 200k,... of course that also depends on road condition and how hard the car was driven,... so if you drove the C240 hard and the C32 was driven by a little old lady, then your C240 struts/shocks with 70k are probably in worst shape than the C32 struts/shocks with 200k.
Spring and sway bars don't wear out as fast,... main thing is stiffer torsion bars on C32,... sway bars on sedan and coupe are 20mm front and 13mm rear; C32 are 22mm front and 16mm rear (you should notice big difference in handling just by changing rear sway bar). The Eibach I got from Tommy are 24mm front and 22mm rear. All pre-facelift coupe and sedan uses the same sway bars. Should always change bushing,.. when installing new-used sway bars,... and treat any rust spots.
Oh, and after you change all your struts/shocks, springs, sway bars, etc,... good idea to get wheel alignment done.
Have your C240 already been coded for BiXenon present via STAR coding? 35W vs 55W.
Passenger seat back heats up??? On my coupe its only the seat bottom,.. not back,... but I'm not that familiar with C32. For issues with driver seats maybe it needs to be STAR coded to enable the centre switch buttons.
Pretty sure memory seats need to be enabled via STAR coding.
For suspension, I'd stick to the C240 struts/shocks until they give; should be in better shape than C32 struts/shocks with 200k,... of course that also depends on road condition and how hard the car was driven,... so if you drove the C240 hard and the C32 was driven by a little old lady, then your C240 struts/shocks with 70k are probably in worst shape than the C32 struts/shocks with 200k.
Spring and sway bars don't wear out as fast,... main thing is stiffer torsion bars on C32,... sway bars on sedan and coupe are 20mm front and 13mm rear; C32 are 22mm front and 16mm rear (you should notice big difference in handling just by changing rear sway bar). The Eibach I got from Tommy are 24mm front and 22mm rear. All pre-facelift coupe and sedan uses the same sway bars. Should always change bushing,.. when installing new-used sway bars,... and treat any rust spots.
Oh, and after you change all your struts/shocks, springs, sway bars, etc,... good idea to get wheel alignment done.
Have your C240 already been coded for BiXenon present via STAR coding? 35W vs 55W.
I have no idea what's wrong with the seats. I just gave up on them. The memory seats work now, some how. They just suddenly started working..
The C240 were driven by old lady.. lol so I would assume the suspensions are pretty much mint. I will ask my mechanic if the struts / shocks have ever been changed or they are still the same ones for the past 200k km.
Will get the sway bars / brakes and wheels swapped over at the end of August.
No, I have not had the time to meet up with the coder to get it coded yet. I hope we will figure out the problem why his STAR wasn't reading my car at all. (got some great replies from you guys, so we will test it all) Hopefully it will work. If not, I if I can take the C32 harness or something and get it t work.
I also swapped the CD Changer over from the C32.
I basically had to build my own fiber optic harness from all the ones I pulled out from the C32. When plugging it into my C240 radio, I would always get the "NO CD CHANGER" error. It worked for a little bit, then back to NO CDN CHANGER error. I Put in the C32 radio and the CD changer worked, except it would cut out after 30 seconds or so with PROD error. (fixed by replacing the fuse at the back of radio)
Another problem I have now is that.. the main air vents, driver side, middle and passenger side has very little air coming out of them. I have replaced my instrument panel with the black one on the C32, so I'm just hoping some of the tubing isn't put in properly. (although I'm pretty sure everything is plugged in properly) Guess I need to pull apart the instrument panel again...
With the weather that we've been getting the past week, I'm gonna get a heat stroke soon.
PS- one more question, does anybody know what kind of Y piping I need to transfer the C32 airbox over? There seems to be some information about the swap, but most if not all the pictures of people showing the swap or the Y-pipe that is required cannot be viewed anymore.
get the sway bars and all you have to do is buy new sway bar bushings when installing them on your c240. the c32 springs and struts swap is going to be your decision since we really don't know if those are the Original struts that came with the car or if they were replace at certain point.
yep, I will transfer over the sway bars when I change over the brakes and wheels.
so many questions ... don't want to thread jack :|
I've owned the w203 for 2 weeks and already looking for the c32 bumpers, trunk spoiler, sports grille
Congrats on the car!
Yea, having the AMG bumpers really transform the car. Search around often people that parting out their cars. You'll be able to find some good deals on the AMG kits.
2019 C300 Wagon; '75 Triumph TR6; previous: 2004 C230 6spd sold after 17 years of driving
you can swap over the C32 sway bars to other models as long as it is not a 4matic. To use the swaybars on your car you will have to get new bushings and use the brackets from the C32 as well as new end links (I am sure they are worn after 200K), they are thicker and have a larger diameter bolt, which means you will have to drill a larger hole on the strut where the link attaches (I believe it is 10mm).
I did this to my stock C230 without sport package and made a huge difference.
As a note, most likely you will strip out the threads holding the sway bar in the aluminum sub frame as the mixture of steel and alum +salt + water + time will lead to galvanic corrosions and small bits of threads will come out as you are undoing the brackets. Easiest solution is to get longer bolts same diameter and through-bolt them on the frame, one of the sides is a bit tricky to get to but since there is a lip at the top of the subframe you can drop in your box wrench and let the lips hold it as you tighten from below. Through-bolting will actually be a much better mod than what the engineer's initially designed
you can swap over the C32 sway bars to other models as long as it is not a 4matic. To use the swaybars on your car you will have to get new bushings and use the brackets from the C32 as well as new end links (I am sure they are worn after 200K), they are thicker and have a larger diameter bolt, which means you will have to drill a larger hole on the strut where the link attaches (I believe it is 10mm).
I did this to my stock C230 without sport package and made a huge difference.
As a note, most likely you will strip out the threads holding the sway bar in the aluminum sub frame as the mixture of steel and alum +salt + water + time will lead to galvanic corrosions and small bits of threads will come out as you are undoing the brackets. Easiest solution is to get longer bolts same diameter and through-bolt them on the frame, one of the sides is a bit tricky to get to but since there is a lip at the top of the subframe you can drop in your box wrench and let the lips hold it as you tighten from below. Through-bolting will actually be a much better mod than what the engineer's initially designed
Thanks!
I will look into it and get it figured out. can't wait to see how the C240 will drive after the sway bars, and / if suspensions. Right now it feels like a boat in the corners.. lol
- All the rust on the C240 is fixed.
- Side skirts from the C32 are fitted already.
- Front and Rear bumper painted, waiting to install.
- Door handles swapped (black plastic ones to painted one)
- Swapped aluminum brake pedal. (Haven't done the accelerator yet. Not exactly sure how to do it yet)
I have actually run into a bit of a problem. I am planning on switching over the brakes and wheels, but that would make the C32 a giant paper weight. I'm thinking of putting my C240 brakes / wheels on the C32 and hopefully it will work.
Another more major problem is.. retrofitting the interior is a lot more troublesome than I had thought. Can't do the front seats until I get STAR working with my car, which should figure out with in the next few weeks. Rear seats, the C32 has folding seats while my C240 does not. I have no idea how to swap this over.. If anybody has a DIY on how to retrofit folding rear seats, please point me in the right direction!
Furthermore, Bose Speakers. are all the speakers in the C32 from BOSE? and are they plug and play for the C240? Same as the HVAC digital control and the CD changer.
If anybody has had any experience with these retrofits, I would greatly appreciate it if I can get some tips / DIY instructions!
Will upload some pictures later.
Thanks!!
Patrickkc - - 3 year old thread here, but i am in similar situation as you with a c32 to swap out parts from and put into a c240.. my 2003 C32 was in an accident with front end frame damage (motor still works perfect) so i am keeping the car for parts and have a 2004 c240 4matic wagon that i am considering putting the c32 brakes into.
Did you have a 4matic and if so did you get the c32 brakes to swap into your c240? in my research seems the 4matics w203 are different from the RWD w203s so am guessing you cannot do this, but would love to know if you did figure out how to swap the c32 brakes into your c240 (even if only the rears?) ?? thanks buddy
Patrickkc - - 3 year old thread here, but i am in similar situation as you with a c32 to swap out parts from and put into a c240.. my 2003 C32 was in an accident with front end frame damage (motor still works perfect) so i am keeping the car for parts and have a 2004 c240 4matic wagon that i am considering putting the c32 brakes into.
Did you have a 4matic and if so did you get the c32 brakes to swap into your c240? in my research seems the 4matics w203 are different from the RWD w203s so am guessing you cannot do this, but would love to know if you did figure out how to swap the c32 brakes into your c240 (even if only the rears?) ?? thanks buddy
Hi,
I did put the C32 brakes onto my C240, but my C240 was not 4-matic so I don't know if they will fit on a 4-matic or not.. sorry.
I had my mechanic do it, so I really didn't know what process was exactly done. He didn't complaint to me about it, so I am going to assume it was a straight forward swap.
I did put the C32 brakes onto my C240, but my C240 was not 4-matic so I don't know if they will fit on a 4-matic or not.. sorry.
I had my mechanic do it, so I really didn't know what process was exactly done. He didn't complaint to me about it, so I am going to assume it was a straight forward swap.
Thanks Patrickkc for the response.... would assume the rear brakes on c240 and c240 4matic are the same? so if you could get the c32 brakes on to your c240 non 4matic then perhaps i can as well. the front brakes in a 4matic and suspension is different from what i hear from the w204 non-4matic so maybe i can get away with doing just the rears.....
Thanks Patrickkc for the response.... would assume the rear brakes on c240 and c240 4matic are the same? so if you could get the c32 brakes on to your c240 non 4matic then perhaps i can as well. the front brakes in a 4matic and suspension is different from what i hear from the w204 non-4matic so maybe i can get away with doing just the rears.....
thanks for the response my friend
All RWD w203 front brakes are interchangable but 4matic is very different. The entire front suspension, steering and brakes are unique to the 4matic. The RWD caliper sits behind the axle, 4matic is ahead of the axle.
All RWD w203 front brakes are interchangable but 4matic is very different. The entire front suspension, steering and brakes are unique to the 4matic. The RWD caliper sits behind the axle, 4matic is ahead of the axle.
05-14-2015, 01:18 PM
