I have an '01 CLK 430. Apparently she's led quite the life before she came to me. Among many other of her flaws, the radio just stopped working one day a couple of weeks ago. Buddy with a stereo installation business tells me it isn't getting power. Hubby says different -- the radio is getting power just fine, but the radio has been violated -- cassette door is jury-rigged shut and this "fix" caused the square section where the power button is to lose contact and no longer get power. He un-rigged the cassette door and now I get power, but the doggone door won't latch shut any more. I went to the dealer for the code (thinking I could probably live with the door open) only to find out that the code is incorrect. Some b*st*rd has apparently swapped out the head unit somewhere in the 56K miles before I bought it and didn't have the courtesy to write the code anywhere on the unit. So, now I have a head unit that I cannot use *and* the d*mn cassette door is forever open! ARGH!

SO...

I bought a used unit from an '01 E class on ebay. It gets power, the code is good, but it won't communciate with my CD changer. Radio works, but it says "NO CD CHANGER" when I push the CD button. I emailed the seller to tell him that it doesn't work and he tells me that I need an adapter plug. What??? Is there such thing?? Is he just trying to save the sale, or is there something different between the E Class and CLK Class that I'm not aware of stereo-wise?

Thanks in advance for any help and advice you can offer. I'm really struggling with this car. It's beautiful and runs/drives like a dream, but the details are killing me...

 

Man, Sorry, I clicked on this thinking I could help, since stereos are my specialty, but you've got me here. My guess, though, is that the cd changer on the CLK and the E are arranged differently. I don't know what you can do other than take it to a dealer and see what they have to say, or a custom stereo guy. I bought my 99 clk, and at the first sign of trouble, opted for a custom stereo. Keep us posted though, and good luck!

 

So, I've done some homework and found out that Becker did not make the radio for the CLK -- Alpine did. The radio that was in the car when I bought it was a Becker and the radio I purchased on ebay was also a Becker. I found a harness diagram for the Becker unit on the Becker website by looking up the E class radio. It's great except it gives no details about the pins in the CD Changer bank. ARGH!

Does anyone know which pins do what for the CD changer in either the Becker or the Alpine unit? I would hope that they are the same... That would help me quite a bit, as I can feed power to the Becker unit that I have a code for and make sure that what goes in does indeed come out in the right place. If the power is right, then it must be the pin arrangement that is different between the Alpine unit and the Becker, right?

Totally sucks to have two head units and between 'em still have no CD changer.

 

Not too informed on this, but I hear there are adapters that you can get to solve the problems...don't quite me though.

 

Boy, do I feel dumb...After talking with Becker (again) and them insisting that there is a fiber-optic line that must be plugged in, I went out and looked (again) and found it. Bright orange, no less. I plugged it in and it works just fine. YIPPEE!

 

Would u mine send me the Becker harness diagram that u found or please send me the link? Thanks.

 

http://www.beckerautosound.com/6003-...2/harness.html

 

thanks for the diagram link axncatsma.
Do u know if is it possible can add a after market EQ to this Becker deck?