rockridge

I have a high mileage C240 4Matic wagon with Command Navigation. One of the reasons we purchased the car for our daughters was that they loved the Navigation and integrated CD Changer.

It appears that I am now having a "Thermal" problem with the Command unit. Every morning, all of the features of the command unit work properly. If I take the car out for lunch, it will work fine on the way to the lunch place, but may or may not work when I go to drive back to work. It depends on the outside temp, and length of the drive. Some times coming back from lunch or going home in the evening, the Command unit will appear as if it has no power. All features dead, no lights or response. If I let the car sit overnight, the command unit will work perfect again in the morning, until the next outage.

I have pulled the unit from the dash, and seen nothing that would lead me to believe there is a problem. After trying to resolve this problem for 4 weeks myself, I have scheduled an appointment with MBService for next Monday. I am hoping for an easy fix, but am afraid it may not be.

Any Ideas?

samaritrey

I bet the dealer will want to replace the unit They don't fix them. I remember that you could get a fan that goes behind the nav unit to help cool it I saw the PN on here a long time ago when I was doing my nav retrofit. I didn't get one and have never had an issue. I doubt that if the internal fan is working that there is anything you can do but replace the unit becuase many of us on here run the nav units without any aditonal fans and they work fine.

rockridge

Thanks, I did see a large amount of insulation behind the unit, which I would have thought would keep the heat in. If there recommendation is for a replacement, I will look at clearing out the space behind the unit, so that it may breath better.

If the unit is toast? I am looking at several thousands of dollars to replace?

MacVidMB-V8

I got a perfect condition W209 Comand Nav unit for $700 on Ebay.

The W203 one is very similar.

rockridge

Went to the dealer today. At first they were unable to get their diagnotic computer to talk to my car, once they did, and turned the car off, they observed the same problem I have. Then they downloaded an update to the Command system, and since then things are looking good. I hope this is the fix, if so, It only cost the $129 diagnostic fee to get it fixed. Much cheaper than buying a new unit.

rockridge

It turns out it was not the fix. Now I am trying to decide If I should pull the dash apart again, and remove some/all of the insulation behind the unit, allowing it to breathe better, or go back to the dealer for another evalution. I Think I remember the internal fan working, when the unit if functioning, and of course nothing works when unit it dead.