Hello,

I’m hoping someone can help. I only bought my car in August and I have spent the better part of 2 months taking the car in to the dealership and trying whatever solutions I can find on the Internet myself - none of which have fixed the problem.

You’re going to laugh but my Apple CarPlay only seems to TRY to work at some time after about 6pm. I start the car and connect the phone using the USB to lightning cable (I even bought the Mercedes-Benz one on the dealership’s recommendation) and it vibrates to indicate it’s charging but within 2 seconds it stops charging and in another two it vibrates and starts charging again ...and so on. If I open the “Connect” Menu and select CarPlay I can see my iPhone XR appear and disappear during this process. When I switch the engine off and leave the phone plugged in, Apple CarPlay suddenly starts working fine. If I start the car again, it starts playing up.
If I try the above in the morning or early afternoon absolutely nothing happens. The phone doesn’t vibrate and start charging. It’s as if the connection is “dead.” I tried changing the nightshift settings thinking it was because my phone’s brightness changes in the evening but that didn’t change anything. I tried my partner’s iPhone 7 and the same happens. I have also tried: restarting COMAND; switching the phone off and on; changing the USB restriction setting on the phone; switching screen time off; different cables; clearing the bluetooth connection and re-pairing it; clearing the CarPlay connection and re-pairing it.

The dealership has replaced the media interface USB port and tried to blame my phone but when I told them the problem persists with an iPhone 7 they agreed to have another look. I’m waiting for them to bring the car in but I’m not holding my breath.

Another point is that I got a Thinkware F770 dashcam hardwired into the car but the guy I use is well-established and retrofits everything from SAT Navs to reversing cameras for dealerships as well as the general public so I doubt it has anything to do with it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,

Alan

 

While I doubt it would matter, I would try your iPhone in another vehicle (perhaps on the dealer lot) with Carplay just to confirm the phone is fine. You might also try posting in the Sedan, W213 (sedan version of C238) as that forum has more traffic. Best of luck.

 

Thanks teksurv. It’s booked in for the third time next Thursday and I might suggest that to the technician as he has asked me to come in 15 minutes early to discuss it. I get the impression they’re stumped. I think it’s something to do with the power getting to the media interface USB port but can’t think why it would only work in the evening time - it’s crazy.


Kind regards,

Alan

 

Half serious suggestion... if you switch from day to night setting on the display will it work? I’m assuming you have the night display or even your lights on when it’s working. Grasping at straws...

 

Hi Mopars. Thanks for your input, half serious or otherwise! I changed it from auto to night view but it made no difference. I tried connecting the phone this morning when it was still quite dark outside but it didn’t work. Then this evening at 6pm, sure enough it came on.
One thing I did notice - when I plugged it in at 6pm and it started to charge the phone, I waited for the dash to go dark and when it did, I heard a faint crackle and the phone stopped charging. That makes me think more than ever it has something to do with the electrics but as for the 6pm thing ...I have no idea.

 

So I turned the headlights on and the phone started charging. I’m thinking it must be the way the dashcam was installed.

 

Abit late to this thread but did you get this issue resolved? I’m having the same problems with my c238, CarPlay only works when ignition is off and the dipped lights on. Soon as I turn my engine on, it says CarPlay could not be started. The previous owner had a dash cam wired, so I’m thinking it might be that.

 

As long as we're throwing out silly ideas, have you tried changing your time zone in the car and trying earlier in the afternoon? That would help ID the 6pm thing.

 

It's the automatic headlight switch. Seriously. That's why it happens after 6pm.

I bet you have your lights on "auto" so they turn on just before dark.

Try switching it off from auto while the phone is plugged in.

Having auto on either seems to cause a wiring issue or swamps the bus that uses the USB for carplay/android auto.

I've showed my dealership this issue and they were just as bemused as I was.

 

That’s exactly what it was Promdeanglais. Once I pointed out that it worked as normal when the car’s lights came on they were able to get the instructions from Germany to recode the car so it would work as expected.

 

That's great to know! And the recoding worked? I've been using the car without android auto for around 2 years now, gave up trying 😅

 

Oh no! Yes it worked perfectly following the re-code.

 

Sounds kind of crazy, but have you tried cleaning out the lightening port on the iPhone? i have an iPhone 12 that seemed to intermittently cut out charging sometimes and was also "in and out" with CarPlay (2020 450 coupe). I cleaned out the port with a wooden toothpick; apparently over the years some lint had collected in the port preventing a solid connection. Works great now. Low tech solution.

 

Hi, I have the same issue. Only works if the lights are on. If Iturn them off it stops.
Can you let me know what dealership helped you as my local one is stumpped?
Thanks

 

Did anyone manage to solve this issue as the same thing happens to my car and it only works on ignition

 

hi again Alan. Brought car to MSL North Dublin other day and they weren’t able to fix issue. I had said that they had fixed your car with the exact same issue but they were stumped too. You hardly know what recoding they did or did they change out the auto headlight switch or something like that to fix the problem?
thanks
Alex

 

1. Hi Alex,
   
   I had a look through my e-mails. I was dealing with a Brendan Canning in the service department but the mechanic who fixed it in the end was Eastern European. They didn’t replace any hardware. He ran a series of tests on the dash via the “front SAM” and opened a “tips case” with Mercedes-Benz in Germany. It was the 3rdNovember 2020 when I collected the car and they got Apple CarPlay working perfectly.
   
   I hope this helps.
   
   
   Alan

 

Hi Alex ,

Did you manage to get this sorted ? I brought mine to a dealer here in Munster and I might as well have brought it to Halfords.. Wouldn’t mind getting this sorted in Dublin if it can be fixed

 

Hello Alan, I have the exact same issue here. CarPlay works with ignition on but will not work when I turn the engine on. It works every now and again when I mess around with the auto headlight function too.

Do you happen to know which coding needs to be requested from Mercedes to fix this problem? Or what I could ask a local specialist to request from Mercedes?

 

Hi ConorAlfie,

I’m afraid not. They had to contact Germany for the coding.


Alan

 

Hi Alan,

Okay I’ll have to see if I can find a garage to do the same. Thanks for the info!

Connor

 

I am having the same issue so it must be a common enough fault. I brought it to one Dealer and they did a full vehicle update but that didn’t work / fix the fault , so it must be a specific program that Germany has to fix the issue.

 

Hi guys just thought I’d give a little update for anyone still struggling with this problem.

After reading through this post I took mine to a main dealer down here in Kent and was fortunate enough to speak with a very helpful service advisor who had no problem going into the workshop to pester the techs with my questions. I mentioned it could be a simple coding issue and if we can request some coding from Germany however one of the techs was well aware of this problem with E-Classes and ensured me it is a wiring issue concerning the headlights and apple car play. He said it’s just a case of removing the centre console and doing a bit of wiring, taking no more than half hour. I thought about doing it myself because I have removed the centre console and changed the USB port hoping it would fix the issue however I am no good with wires so I thought it’s best to let a professional do it . So I booked it in and they did some wiring and sure enough the apple car play works perfectly! I’ve had it back a week now and no problems at all.

Just thought I’d post this so others can hopefully find a technician to do the same and fix the issue. I hope this helps.