ychoy79

Guys, need some advise.
I'm looking to install Sirius on my car. It's a 07, bought it late 06. I don't see the fiber optic cable in the trunk. I've looked both sides of the trunk and attached pictures of both side. I don't even see the amp that's supposed to be there. Am I looking at the wrong places? Please help.

Martinsvi

You only get a amp if it is h/k premium sound. Do you have audio 20? if so I believe most of your fiber is up front. I would look also at the front of your trunk under the carpet is a plastic cover held down with 2 screws, remove those and that is where your satelite reciver will be mounted if you use the facotry unit. I installed a mobridge and was able to install it under the floormat in the front passenger footwell. I hid the antenna under the rear package shelf and everything was good.

ychoy79

I did removed the plastic piece that was hold down by two plastic screws, all I found was some electrical wires, but no orange fiber optic cables. I do have the stock audio 20. Can you get good reception with the antenna being inside under the seat?

Martinsvi

Under the seat..no. Under the rear package shelf(which is made of some compressed fibre with a cover on it) yes.
You evidently have the standard audio system in the car. If this is the case and you want to upgrade to sirius the get 1 of the small recievers and have it custome mounted into the ashtray area of your dash. Run the audio out of the sirius into the aux input and you will be cooking with gas. You should etain all the steering wheel controls for the system by doing this. Also by you having audio 20 you can upgrade to more power and better speakers without some of the headache of the h/k system with logic7.

acr2001

For the 07s pre-wiring became optional.
Based on the photo of the right side of your trunk, your vehicle is NOT pre-wired for *anything*.
Normally on the W203 there are tons of wires on the right side for the telephone, Sirius, Tele-aid, optional AMP (HK), etc there should also be a bracket pre-installed on the right side of the trunk to bolt the Sirius receiver into - even if you do not have any of those options. For 2007 all of this was removed unless ordered specifically. This means those options can not be easily installed - none of the wiring is there.

Audio 20 vs HK makes *NO* difference in any of this and never has. Sirius can be installed just the same with Audio 20 as it is with the upgraded system.
Because you do not have the HK system, you have no AMP back there. That's normal and has nothing to do with your issue.

Sorry, a factory Sirius install is not easy in an 07 since it's stripped down. At least you have the new power-train!

Martinsvi

Yeah, I forgot about that. That was part of the cost reduction for the c-class for the US. My 06 has all of the fibre so adding the stuff was not an issue.

acr2001

Ah, you just reminded me, I almost forgot to mention - the Sirius module is not mounted under that plastic area in the back of the trunk as you mentioned. It is mounded in the 'well' on the right side of the trunk. That's where the factory mount comes pre-installed. The only items that go under that plastic cover (as far as I know) are the tele-aid module and the VCS module, but I'm not sure if / when VCS was a factory option in the US on the 203.

ychoy79

Wow, it's so disappointing. I wanted the factory one so wires wouldn't be going all over the place and a separate reciever. Am I able to control channel, volume, and would the display show the channel or text at all? If all fails, guess the last thing is to have it done by BestBuy.

acr2001

I was just thinking about this a bit more, and if you're willing to get creative I think you might still be able to install the sat radio receiver. Do you have a CD changer? You could always tap into the fiber loop there by the dash and figure out where to hide the Sirius module behind the dash or under a front seat. If you don't have a changer then you would have to order some fibers that will plug in between your head unit and the sat receiver. The only issue would be figuring out where to get power and wake-up lines for the sat receiver. Maybe you could use the same ones that go to the CD changer? I'm not sure if it's a standard connector or not. With that done, you could install the Sirius antenna right under the dash (in the same area where the GPS antenna is installed for a COMAND retrofit). Just an idea. Oh and please don't use best buy!! There are too many horror stories.

ychoy79

That sound like a great idea. The dealership sell the fiber optic cable separately with it's own part number. If the reciever can be mounted under the passenger seat, would the antenna cable be long enough to reach from the dash? The whole thing might get a little costly after everything is said and done, what you think, is it worth it?

I don't have cd changer. My car is pretty basic with sunroof package and auto, it's about it.

acr2001

I think the antenna cable will more than likely reach. If not you can always grab an extension cable off ebay that plugs into the end. The wake up and power connector for the CD changer (even though you don't have one) is probably pre installed even in the 07 (I hope). If you can find it (it's normally near the passenger side transmission tunnel behind that carpet, or up in the dash near the glove box) then you just have to find out of it fits the plug on the Sirius unit, or if you can get a pin-out and splice in. That's really the only thing that may be a challenge with this idea.

If you don't mind doing this sort of thing then I think it's worth it. You only have to spend money on the fibers and maybe some cheap parts from radio-shack if you have to splice in the power / wake up. If the dealer is charging tons for the fibers then I would look on ebay or at a junk yard.

mtrevelino

Have you looked at this company's offering for satellite radio?

http://cartronics.com/MBMost.html?MBClass=E&VIM=1

I only had my 2006 E320 for a couple of weeks and am considering this.
Mike T.

ychoy79

Itronic, its the first time I looked at that, it cost just as much as the factory unit. I might look around on eBay for it. $800 just for the kit not including installation is a little too much for me right now. What you think about getting all the parts needed and bring it to a MB specialized shop? I do drive a lot, about 30-45 min one way just to work. So having sat radio will help out a bit.

acr2001

$900 is an unbelievably high price. If you wait long enough you will find the MB Sirius tuner for under $350. I've seen them sell for $200.

Martinsvi

I would get a mobrige and tap into the fibre the way acr said. The loop doesnt care where the module is and it will report to the head that it is available. or look around and find a factory on for cheap on the forums or ebay.

ychoy79

I found a shop near by that has the part and they will install for $499 plus tax. That sounded like a good deal to me. What ya think? Because my car doesn't have any wiring pre-installed, they will do that included with the price.

acr2001

$500 just for the install? That's a lot, but compared to any dealership that is a great price. The dealer would either refuse to install it or they would charge you upwards of $1500 to do the install plus wiring.

Martinsvi

499 plus tax installed, I would jump on it.

ychoy79

No, $499 plus tax is for both parts and install. So based on what you're saying, it's a great deal then.

Martinsvi

Big roger on that.

acr2001

Wow that is a very good price if we're talking about the factory Sirius unit.
Go for it. I Just hope they know what they're doing.
Hopefully they realize 2007 = W203 because the W204 Sirius unit will not work on a 203.

ychoy79

I hope so too. I talked to the receptionist. She called me back after talking to the mech and said that's for parts and labor. This is at Orange County, if anybody is interested in the area, maybe they can give us a discount?

Moviela

The location of the module in the loop is important. If the SAT receiver is the only item in the loop, it does not matter, but if there is any other device, TEL, CD, AID, AMP, iPod, or SAT then it must be in the proper pecking order.

The Head Unit must be told that the SAT receiver is present to enable the soft keys for tuning. You need a dealer or a Star Diagnostic rig to do this

MbenzNL.com might have a "kit" with necessary harness to install SDAR in a 2007 W203. Write and ask.

ychoy79

I thought about getting the iPod interface kit for the car. But if I have sat radio, there's really no point of having the iPod kit. For about $7 a month with 50 channels, that's not a bad deal at all and without the hassel of loading sounds onto the iPod every so often.

The shop called me back today when I asked them if they need to drill into the car for the antenna. They said it's not required, they can run the antenna to a different location other than the factory specific location. So there're no drilling on the car and everything will be hidden. $499+ tax for parts and labor, not a bad deal I guess.

acr2001

Not to sound like I'm second guessing you but wouldn't it be automatically detected by the head unit as long as the MOST loop is enabled on the head unit?

This means that on his car he will still have to have it enabled as you said, because he has *nothing* on the MOST loop from the factory, so it is certainly disabled. I'm just trying to make the thread accurate for anyone else reading. I know that I've swapped COMAND units into my car and had the phone system auto detected without problems.