Hi there.

I am resorting to the forums as neither Discord nor Reddit nor Google have been able to actually help me with any of my issues.

First of, let me say this is my first Mercedes-Benz ever! At 20 years old, I couldn't be prouder to have bought such a beautiful classic, and am rather enjoying the safety and potency of the car (compared to my 1.2 diesel Ibiza). It's a 50K miles, 2010 C180 with beige interiors and black exterior; as well - it's the Elegance version. Some people have told me it's a bit of a classic car, but I work and study finance, so it suits me well with the suits I wear to work every day (when the offices are open).

Insurance and price-wise are very good considering I'm in the UK and have 2 years NCD, plus 3 points in my license for speeding (80 on a 70...). Haven't we all been there though?

Anyway, I am not here to question about the prices or likability of my car. Rather, I am here to discuss a few pertinent issues that I have been having with my Mercedes, specifically with the aftermarket radio.

So I bought it tailor made for the W204, and although this isn't a conventional head unit, it's the one I found the nicest out of all of them. It cost me about £180, and it is really made for it.

Not many tutorials online, but still, I've managed to do most of it as it tends to be quite straightforward - only, it is not.

Now, yesterday, the new screen would turn on and play and it was all fine. I turned the car on and the screen turned on, drove to the supermarket and then turned the car off - still working even with car off, pulled the key off and it obviously turned off. I went inside, did my shopping (only shopping for the night, took me 15 minutes in total), came back, turned the car on, and the radio did not turn on anymore. Obviously, I need it to turn on. Today, I tried reconnecting the cables. Off and on and I did so three times, each time turning my car fully on and the unit simply doesn't switch on anymore.

Besides this, when the unit was on the steering wheel control keys, radio unit (the actual radio buttons) and main scroll wheel on the armrest do not work. I have a Bus Encoder for the W204 and through the app, tried arranging it with software but didn't even detect my keys as I pressed them to code it - perhaps I'm doing something wrong? 3 out of the 3 original ways to work the radio not working is a bit significant to me.

And lastly - I have disassembled the glovebox, I have disassembled the whole freaking centre of the console, and I have been unable to fit my radio back into place (it doesn't snap or click into place, just keeps a gap and I can't push it forward if I tried). I tried pushing my cables in, I've tried to pull them through the glovebox (although I cannot do that for the main pin connector) and a plethora of other things. It doesn't work.

I even tried taking off the screen and just connecting it as it was before (so a professional could do it or a mate of mine) and it was not possible to fit it. It simply doesn't snap back into place, even in "factory-hardware settings". I don't know which cable is occupying space, but there is something taking space and I can't figure out what.

I can provide pictures, even videos, but it won't be much help as you are not here to see it for yourself and the camera doesn't capture dark spaces very well. I can nonetheless showcase the different pieces.

I have considered:

• Taping the wires along the inside structure so they don't move
• Drilling the plastic and allowing the wires through anyway (but I'm not sure if I'd be drilling the right place)
• Zip ties to tighten the cables

Yet none of this is either efficient nor easy to do.

I guess I am looking for a bit of guidance. For the past 7 days I have attempted to fit this into the car. For over 20 hours I have tried. I have literally wasted nearly a full entire day of hours in this, and have failed. What else can I do my friends?

Please provide me with some guidance.

Much appreciated,
-DS

 

Maybe this will help some of your issues

 

Hi,

I don't think this is the issue. They talk about optic fiber things when the car has Harman Kardon? Correct?

My car has the basic stereo system no harman kardon. I will double check this however.

Still having issues with the other things: unit turns on 1 out of 4 or 5 times. Typically turns on after the car has been off for a long period of time (24h+)

 

Who fitted the unit?, is it new?, does it have warranty?, if yes, then get them to fix it.

If not and it fits in the same way as the factory radio, you may not have the 2 screws at the top screwed out enough, and pushed down, these provide the locking mechanism for the radio to stay in place and if are holding the mechs up slightly will stop you from pushing the radio in all the way, at 1.32 in the vid he takes the screws out, dont take them out just leave them just in and push them down, that way you can screw them back up without having to find the thread.

 

Hi, the car is 2010 W204 C180, not the same as the video but they're quite similar nonetheless.

The factory radio is the same, the screen is aftermarket/new - I used the wrong terminology here so I'm sorry for the lack of clarity. I have removed all screws, hence was able to remove the radio, but pushing it back inside seems like the cables are taking up space. Even when it's just the factory radio (and no screen).

I'm unsure exactly what's troubling it, but I don't want to fit if it turns on and off sometimes only.

I bought it new from Aliexpress so they're being unhelpful with returning it and seem to not be keen on doing so. Can't raise a dispute 'cause the time has already passed for that.

Not sure where to go from here to be honest with you and regretting the purchase altogether.

 

I've been following this tutorial although the screen is slightly different

 

Sorry I forgot that you did mention your car was pre facelift.
Ok watching that vid he even has problems refitting the radio, only thing I can suggest is make sure the wiring has gone down in that hole at the bottom, also it looks like he slides the radio in slightly raised from the bottom, then it drops down into place, it does not just slide straight in.