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Wow, I had not realized that I didn't post in this thread even though I got a lot of my info from here when I put in my HU back in June. I'd like to thank @tw2 as the pictures and captions helped a ton, although there were slight differences between models. My added advice to this: If you know you have everything wired up right, but it still doesn't get power, replace the cigarette lighter and radio fuses!
Right at 3 months later, I have had zero problems with the radio not receiving power or anything along those lines. However, the AM/FM doesn't really get any reception. But nobody really uses that anymore. Plus, I can get it through my phone.
And if your "work station" never looks like this... you're doing something wrong
Haha, it's useful for sports or news but I think any music that's popular on the radio sucks. I have enough songs on my phone, and then Pandora. If all else fails, I'll start up TuneIn radio.
Wow, I had not realized that I didn't post in this thread even though I got a lot of my info from here when I put in my HU back in June. I'd like to thank @tw2 as the pictures and captions helped a ton, although there were slight differences between models.
Your welcome. I didn't even bother hooking the radio up in my last car. USB/SD and hundreds of mp3's is the way to go for me anyway.
I got the headunit for $90 shipped, the sub for something like $150, used the old Bose speakers and it sounds much better than OEM. It was a cheap mod and now I have bluetooth, Nav, DVD & IPOD hookups.
Sure, but it won't help...I bought it from some here in the classifieds. I think it came out of a SL55. I think you can find cheap Chinese one somewhere on the internet for under $200.
Moron- only because that is what I felt like when searching and trying to find answers, no offense to anyone.
There is so much fragmented information everywhere I decided to write up my experiences of installing my pioneer head unit. I have done dozens of installs on various cars mostly early 90's vehicles, subs, amps, head units, capacitors etc but the C-class is something else. I didn't know cars could have fiber optic systems, I assumed it was all still regular wire. My car is a 02 c32 amg with NON-bose system. If you have bose then simply use these instructions with the pacific accessory corporation products http://www.marcusfitzhugh.com/CLK/DIY/headunit2.html
So... in 2002 when this car was made I was already using mp3 cd's so the stock system is pretty limited. I personally like SD and also having the option for USB. I am full of iHate but I do have AUX in. Point is the easiest option is to ditch the stock radio and get something proper. I don't know anything about navigation nor do I want to but there is heaps of info it would seem on this topic on the forum so it is not covered here.
My system does not have a stock amp but it DOES have a stock subwoofer (yes really) in the parcel tray (rear deck). The sub is run off both of the rear speaker outputs.
Here is my original need help thread, there are lots of helpful links in it and more info on the exact products I looked at and what I ended up getting https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...tall-help.html If you want to retain the steering wheel controls then you need a small box to convert the signal to something your head unit can understand. There are 2-3 ways of doing this. I used metra axxess "steering wheel control interface". This connects to the CANBUS (digital communications) in the car (specifically from the steering wheel) and converts it to a standard signal for your head unit. It auto detects you car model and head unit model. This is a very simple way of doing it.
The other option is to use SWI-CAN which converts the steering wheel interface signal to a universal one, then use SWI-JACK (or other) to convert the signal to the brand of head unit you have. JACK covers JVC, Alpine, Clarion, Kenwood, there is one for eclipse, panasonic/sony and a couple of others. This seemed more complicated for no reason so I did not go this way. If you have bose this is a good choice since you can use PAC-OEM to use the stock amplifier despite the optical cables.
You can program the buttons for both the axxess and PAC.
Anyway I purchased the axxess, a C-class install kit from ebay which included the radio wiring harness adapter, antenna adapter (from euro to everyone else) and the plastic 2x single DIN surround. It was an excellent product package. Even the wiring adapter was the exact correct one (70-9401). I also got a 5 meter RCA cable in case I amp the sub later, 5 meters of 8ga cable for the amp, inline fuse and some ring terminals.
Lots of fun stuff.
Stock- doesn't it look great.
Follow the instructions here to take it all apart https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...tructions.html The only tips I can offer is you need a T20 torx screw driver (non-security version) and when you push down on the "hooks" to get the vent unit out you need to push down and pull the unit out at the same time. It took me a while to figure it all out.
The blue arrow is the antenna, no idea what the other one is? I found it easiest to leave the climate control there since I could not get the wire out the back.
The orange double cable is the fiber optic cable. Don't bend it too much if you want to potentially put everything back to stock.
Top right plug is the power, ground etc for the radio. The bottom is the one with the 2 CAN wires. I don't know what the other wires are for in this plug. The left plug is the speaker wires only, grey, green, violet and white.
Next step after the stock unit is out is to find an ACC wire. The w203 does not have a switched 12V wire for the stock radio so you will need one for an aftermarket unit. The closest one is the cigarette lighter. To get to this you need to remove the centre console trim. After removing the ashtray you simply pull the trim up. Slowly but firmly pull the trim directly UP starting at the front and working backwards. You will find it easiest to remove the shifter surround which simply lifts out also. The trim slides forwards to undo completely.
This is the trim lying upside down on the seat so you can see the clips. They simply pull apart, there is no prying or clips to undo.
You do not need to do this next part but I had to because I did not know what to do. Remove the cup holder, then press the small piece of plastic the size of your fingertip down the bottom of the "hole" and the small shelf will twist up and out. https://mbworld.org/forums/attachmen...-cupholder.gif Then you can pull the cigarette lighter backwards (it folds back) and you can see the wiring harness. Mine had 3 wires, brown was ground (surprise) and yellow/black was switched 12V. There was a blue one, no idea what this did. Anyway you did not have to do all this as I discovered the harness simply runs around the outside of the shifter so you can tap into it much closer to the head unit. Run a wire up to the stock harness.
To get the little "shelf" thing on the right out you need to press this tiny plastic button down the bottom, took me a while to figure that one out. Then the cigarette lighter will come backwards when unclipped at the top.
Twist and pull up.
The accessory wire can be tapped into here.
Wiring is a case of matching the audio wires from the metra harness to your head unit harness. The standard speaker colours are used making this very easy. Next you need to bring constant 12V from the car harness to the head unit one. Same with the radio antenna wire. The metra harness is labeled with each function. Now it becomes 5% more complicated. Match the 12V switched power wire you made to the head unit harness and also to the metra axxess since this does not use a constant 12V supply. Almost finally everything needs to be grounded, the axxess, the head unit and car harness all need to be joined. Finally the CAN wires need to be joined. Most of the axxess wires do not need to be used, the blue/pink and pink wires are the ones for the w203. Pink goes to "1" (labeled on the stock plug) and the blue/pink goes to "2". I was about to cut the stock plug off to wire them in when I spotted this in the garage. It was a plug for tweeters I removed from my gt4. They fit perfectly into the plug.
I put electrical tape on everything not being used and anything that could potentially touch anything it is not supposed to. I personally twist and heat shrink. Soldering is a great idea but I personally find overkill for car audio. You should have a monstrosity like this after you are finished...
Now try and stuff all that crap into the DIN slots
Test fit everything.
Finished!, unfortunately it does not show pioneer on the dash display but volume works, track up down works, telephone buttons are "attn" (halves volume) and "source" ie CD, SD, USB, tuner. Sound is maybe slightly better than stock but the rear required more gain since the head unit is powering both the rear speakers and the sub. The rear wires are 5.4ohms (2x speakers + sub) while the front are standard 4ohm speakers. I put RCA's in at the same time as the head unit and threaded them into the trunk. Sometime I will install my spare fusion amp 60rms x2 to power the stock sub.
If you want to run RCA's the easiest way is to pull up the trim along the door sills. The fronts simply pull up. You may need to removed the kick panel, it has a T20 torx screw in it under a small cover and it pulls outwards (with a lot of force)
At the back, take the side cushion thing out- you need to pull the bottom seat forward on its hinge and undo the 10mm bolt holding said cushion thing on. Also undo 10mm plastic nut holding the door trim on and it can be pulled up and out. Have fun!
Oh and the phone wont work with an aftermarket head unit so I removed it and also the 6 changer in the glove box. Take your CD's OUT BEFORE STARTING as it won't give them back once the stock radio is gone.
I hope someone can help me. I just got this Mercedes C180 Kompressor w203, and it already has an aftermarket Jensen system installed. Its a Dvd player/mp3/SD. It also has a 3000 watt amp in the back. The system switches on. There is power, but it seems that there is no power on the amp. The amp power light never comes on. The previous owner said it always worked. I know they recently replaced the battery. I wonder if some
fuse blew out. I can't find any fuses anywhere that needs replacing though. So I have a powerful sound system, without any sound. Can you help?
I hope someone can help me. I just got this Mercedes C180 Kompressor w203, and it already has an aftermarket Jensen system installed. Its a Dvd player/mp3/SD. It also has a 3000 watt amp in the back. The system switches on. There is power, but it seems that there is no power on the amp. The amp power light never comes on. The previous owner said it always worked. I know they recently replaced the battery. I wonder if some
fuse blew out. I can't find any fuses anywhere that needs replacing though. So I have a powerful sound system, without any sound. Can you help?
(first of all, you didn't need to quote the entire DIY tutorial ... makes for a very large post with irrelevant content.)
I can think of the following scenarios:
* no power to the amp
- blown fuse
- short in positive power wire
* no turn-on signal
- head unit not producing signal
- amp not acting on signal
- short in turn-on wire
If you have a voltmeter, check to see if the amp is getting 12v power when the system is turned on.
If you are getting 12v from the power leads at the amp, then either the remote switch wire that tells the amp to turn on is not getting it's 12v signal from the head unit, or there is a problem with the amp. Measure voltage from the12v remote turn-on wire at the amp to see if it's getting 12v signal or not.
If you are not getting 12v to the power leads of the amp, then as you are guessing the fuse must be blown, and you may or may not have a short in the positive cable.
So before you look for the fuse, to a quick continuity check between the positive power wire to the amp, and ground on the car. If there is continuity then the positive wire is shorted somewhere, probably pinched by some piece of body metal, or worn insulation from rubbing against something.
As far as fuse location, if you really have a 3000W amp, then you should have 4 gauge power wires, and the positive wire should go directly back to the positive battery terminal, or to a positve terminal crossbar that will be located very close to the battery, probably on the side wall of that compartment. If you have a hard time finding it, then please post some pics of the wiring at the amp and a clear shot of the battery compartment (with cabin filter holder removed) and we can advise you from there.
Yep as above, very simply wiring. Check the fuse for the cable off the battery, check where the power signal is taken from and where the amp is grounded. Changing battery shouldn't make a difference.
And yes please edit your post to remove the quote.
Thanks for the great information. I'm in the process of updating the stereo on my 2003 CLK 500 and I definitely have the fiber optic cable going to the amp from the head unit. I still have to locate the amp, but there are no speaker wires connected to the head unit.
How do I know if I need to find switched 12v power? It doesn't say anything about this in the wiring adapter instructions. I know that if it's not in the factory stereo harness I can get it from the cigarette lighter.
I hope the instructions for routing the RCA in my CLK are similar to what is provided in this thread....That looks like it will be the hardest part of this install.
Last edited by Bartjeman; Apr 3, 2015 at 05:15 PM.
Reason: typo
Thanks for the great information. I'm in the process of updating the stereo on my 2003 CLK 500 and I definitely have the fiber optic cable going to the amp from the head unit. I still have to locate the amp, but there are no speaker wires connected to the head unit.
How do I know if I need to find switched 12v power? It doesn't say anything about this in the wiring adapter instructions. I know that if it's not in the factory stereo harness I can get it from the cigarette lighter.
I hope the instructions for routing the RCA in my CLK are similar to what is provided in this thread....That looks like it will be the hardest part of this install.
Yes it is the same for the CLK as the C, just one less set of doors to route the RCA cable past. I have a link in my signature to the CLK info also.
What were you needing the switched 12V power for? You will definitely need it for the head unit and it is not in the factory loom because the car uses the canbus fibre optic signals to turn it on and off.
What would you like to run? Just stock speakers? Replacing speakers? Stock sub/aftermarket sub?
I would have a look at all the decent brands once you decide and go from there. I like soundstream, rockford, pioneer etc. I doubt you will find something to fit in exactly that spot. Maybe you can do what I did in the C32 and hang it under the parcel tray, just need to extend some wires a bit.
What would you like to run? Just stock speakers? Replacing speakers? Stock sub/aftermarket sub?
I would have a look at all the decent brands once you decide and go from there. I like soundstream, rockford, pioneer etc. I doubt you will find something to fit in exactly that spot. Maybe you can do what I did in the C32 and hang it under the parcel tray, just need to extend some wires a bit.
I started by just wanting to replace the head unit, but because of the fiber optic cable I need to replace the amp as well. I still would like to keep my stock speakers. I got a Kenwood DDX 372bt head unit and would prefer to find an amp that can be installed in the stock location, work well with my head unit, and work well with my stock speakers.
I tried to find an amp that would fit in there, but couldn't. There is a Kenwood that you can cram in there but you will have to deal with heat issues. I ended up getting the Alpine MRX-V70 and hung it under the parcel tray just like tw2 did.
I found this amp at Crutchfield http://www.crutchfield.com/p_530PN56...-PN5-640D.html. It sounds good, reasonably priced, and is compact. The only thing is, I don't see anywhere that it mentions it is 2ohm stable.
Edit: I found it at Amazon for an even better deal, and it looks like it does work at 2ohms.
i'm currently trying to run 4ga wire from battery into cabin on my clk55 which has the same firewall grommet setup
so before i start pulling at things, it appears that there is the overall large vertical firewall grommet which then has a series of plastic grommets inside of it?
i'm guessing you just yanked the bottom plastic grommet out but was there more to it or is it as simple as it looks? with the angle of this part i want to make sure first.
i'm currently trying to run 4ga wire from battery into cabin on my clk55 which has the same firewall grommet setup
so before i start pulling at things, it appears that there is the overall large vertical firewall grommet which then has a series of plastic grommets inside of it?
i'm guessing you just yanked the bottom plastic grommet out but was there more to it or is it as simple as it looks? with the angle of this part i want to make sure first.
thanks
Yes, that round plug was about 2" long. I pulled hard and steady and it eventually slid out.
I've been following this forum. I drive a CLK320 2003 model 2004 chassi w209. It has a radio cassette with cd-charger and 8-speaker Bose system. The fiber optics runs from the HU to CD-charger, Amp at the trunk, the TeleAid and phone (don't use it). The audio is D2B. I wan to replace the HU with a double din from AvinUS, the Avant-2. The problem is the fiber optics. When one is disconnected, all the other optic devices doesn't work. I would be fine with that because I don't use the TeleAid or the car phone (don't have the phone, just the wires is in there). With the double din Android, I don't need the CD-charger. So the problem is how to replace the Bose amp. I got an idea, which is to replace my Bose amp with fiber optics for another Bose amp without fiber optic, used by a CLK320 one year older than mine. That model doesn't have fiber optics. I look at the amp photos posted at eBay. They look the same as mine, except that mine has a plug for the fiber optics. The harness plug look also the same. If it works it would be just plug-and-play. Any comments?
Guys, is it necessary to disconnect the battery when installing/replacing a HU? WIS seems to say disconnect, so I'm a bit leery here...
I did not disconnect mine until I wired up the amp. For the head unit, the only live wire is in the plug attached to the car's wiring harness ... hard to touch those pin contacts to a ground point.
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