Htom_Sirveaux

My '04 CL55 is having what appears to be the not uncommon issue of no left channel stereo sound. The dealer (mistakenly) diagnosed this as a bad left channel in the amplifier. I found a used one on eBay and got it. During the in-vain replacement I found this connector hanging loose among all the wiring for the amp/phone module/CD changer/DVD nav cluster in the trunk. Googling the part number indicates it may have something to do with a SAT receiver.

I can find nowhere that this could or should connect on any of the existing components in the trunk area. My day dream is that someone will tell me where to put it (umm, that maybe could be worded a little better) and the COMAND unit will start working. It's the only thing in the car that's not 100%, and results in a love/hate relationship with the car. The symptoms (beyond the no-left-channel-sound) are failure to read MP3 CDs (the message "Loading media" displays forever when an MP3 CD is in the console drive), and a constant "No NAV disk" message when you select NAV on the COMAND head unit, even with a NAV DVD in the NAV unit.

Thanks to all.

alx

Your broken left channel is a torn harness right at the accordion near the door hinge.

This is common.

The "loading media" is because you are burning on the wrong media at too high speed.

The no DVD is because your DVD drive is bad. This could be also th case with th mp3 drive, but my bet is your mp3 cd is just not created correctly.

So... IMO you have 3 distinct issues.

The hanging connector is present in most cars. I do not know what it does, but it is there.

Htom_Sirveaux

I've seen that mentioned, and I see where the unusual swing of the hinge "bites" right there, but I was skeptical since there should be a lot of wires through there for the mirror, windows, etc. and it seemed odd that only the speaker wires would be broken. But I'll sure take a look at that.

I wondered about this, since the unit is almost 10 years old, that it might be touchy about what types of MP3 disks it will read. I'll do some experimenting.

OK, if I decide that the Garmin Nuvi isn't going to cut it, I'll think about a used unit off of eBay, but I'll probably just write it off.

That's a relief.

Thanks for the quick and thorough response.

Htom_Sirveaux

Just tried burning a Phillips CD -R with a bunch of MP3s at various bitrates using Nero at 24x (instead of 48x). Success!

I'm going to name my first child after you. She's almost 30 now, so I don't know how she'll feel about that, but I figure she'll get used to it.

alx

For some reason the speaker wires go first.

Good luck

Htom_Sirveaux

You are two for two, my friend.

Now that I've seen it, my completely unscientific analysis is like this:

1. The speaker wire bundle is the bottom most of three and takes more of a hit when the door is operated

2. The speaker wire bundle is the most densely packed; the other two have more room and are considerably taller and flatter, so they get pinched less

3. (And the one I'd be most likely to put money on) Based on the physical distance between the severed ends of the speaker wires I'd say they were pretty taut at assembly

My car audio is now stereo, my love/hate relationship with this car is now wildly to the "love" side, and you have made my weekend, for sure.

Thanks again.

alx

This is excellent news