daking1959

I have tried the search engine and can't find the answer I was looking for.
So here goes..My 09 is wired for blue tooth, and I was curious if i could just have the completer kit installed, then buy the "dongle" or puck over the internet, and put it on the plate. Would I be able to sync my iphone 4 to the blue tooth?
Could it be that simple?
any guidance would be helpful
regards
david

Rice Owl

I'm very interested to the answer to this question as well. Bought a pre-owned 2009 CLK 550 about 6 months ago. It is "pre-wired" which I found out to mean that it simply has the wiring from the navigation unit to the center console. My wife asked our dealer back in October about finishing it out so we could use a blue tooth phone and they quoted us a price. Then by the time we decided to do it (December) they told us that Mercedes have stopped making the parts needed to get bluetooth or any phone to work with our car. I did some digging and think there are 3 parts needed. The completer kit that you mentioned. Then I think there is something that drops inside the center console (this will provide the metal contact plate for the puck) then of course the puck. I just took my car in for warranty work and the tech advisor gave me the name of a local company that does this work, but my concern was this would void my warranty if someone else installed something in the car.

So does your car have a contact plate in the center console? If so, my guess is you could just buy a puck over the internet and slip it on. I had two dealers tell me to do this and not buy MB puck b/c its triple the price. Are you getting the completer kit installed at a MB dealer?

Here are the parts I found are needed from my research:

Phone/Bluetooth MHI Core Installation Kit
MHI Contact Plate (this is part of the compelter kit)
MHI Bluetooth Interface Module (I think this is the puck)

I did find a source on the net that referenced a company that sells OEM parts for Mercedes and was able to find all the parts. I couldn't get a clear answer if I was able to procure the parts if MB dealer would install and still honor the warranty.

I'm interested in others' experiences as well. I'm very dismayed that as of now I can't use a bluetooth phone w/ the car.

daking1959

just talked to the deal..he said he could put the completer kit in for 600.00 $180 for the kit and $400 for the labor. (pretty high labor..huh?) You can get oem dongles on the web for $250, but the dealer will not install it if it doesnt come in the factory box. Mercedes reminds me alot of Rolex, the have such tight control over their products, that they can get theses high prices. Rolex will not put on a aftermarket dial, bezel.etc if you send it NY, Dallas, LA. Im not saying its wrong..just profitabel for these 2 companys. sorry to ramble...

Rice Owl

Yeah no doubt! But that's a lot better price than I've gotten. I talked to two local dealers an one priced above $2000 and the other at $1600. That was for parts an labor. Like you said when I looked up the parts it blew me away how much in labor they were charging. But now it appears I don't even have that choice as they are telling me they can't get the parts. So I may be screwed!

It's definitely a racket though!

Rudeney

Here's the deal. Ignore the "prewiring" feature - it's a $5 piece of wire. To add BT, you have to install all the same equipment as if you were adding a docked cell phone that will sue the car's built-in antenna - there are interfaces, linear compensators, antenna impedance matchers, etc. Then, instead of plugging a phone-specific docking plate in, you plug in a device that emulates a phone to the car, and talks ZBT to your phone. You can buy all of these parts for about $800 as a DIY project (search eBay - cellguy85 sells the kits). An alternative is an aftermarket BT interface, but those are still in the $500-$600 range, but easier to install and sometimes with more feature (like streaming audio), plus they don't take up precious center console stowage space.

Basically, if you have a connector like the photo below, then you're less than $200 away from BT. If not, your $500-$800 (+labor) away: