E420 radio
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E420 radio
Last week a friend helped me jump the car after I managed to leave the lights on most of the night. He accidently switched the polarities with the jumper cables and now the radio wont turn on at all. I checked the 3 fuses associated with the radio under the hood, next to the driver's dash and under the rear seat and even switched them with other spares just in case. This is on a 97 E420. I took the car to the local car audio monkey and he told me that there was no other option short of replacing the head unit with an aftermarket and having to pay considerable "rewiring" expenses. When I originally went in, he didnt know that it was a mercedes and said that there was probably a fuse on the back of the head unit that needed replacing. After he found out, he told me that there was no fuse and that this was the only option. Personally, I cant tell whether he is trying to hustle me or not because he said that he could replace my head unit within the day, but when I asked him for the tool to remove it and check the fuses he said that they didnt have such a tool. Any help is greatly appreciated!
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Joined: Nov 2001
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From: Philadelphia area
2010 ML550, 2010 E350 4M, 1966 Corvette Convt C2
If the unit does not ask for the code to be entered it is "dead". Fried with the reverse polarity. I suggest you go to a dealer or an audio shop that is reccommended by the dealer who is familar with the Benz radios. They should be able to give you an honest no guess opinion and supply what you will need to correct the problem.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Apr 2003
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From: SoCal OC
S, GL, Escalade ESV, my shoes
Re: E420 radio
There's another fuse for the radio, it's BEHIND the radio. You need to take out the radio to see it.
You will need the keys to pull out the radio (most dealer will give it to you for free, or charge you around $5). Stick the keys into the two slot on the radio and pull it out. You will see a fuse on the back on the radio. Very good chance is it's blowned, it's happened to me. If you forgot the radio code, just go to dealer, they'll look up the VIN number and give you radio code. And that's all.
This's happened w/ me before. Just because you drive a Benz, don't let people think they have rights to rip you off.
If you need picture of how the back of the radio look like & how to take it off, email me, and and I'll send you instruction & how to debug it.
In case your radio really go dead, you have couple options:
* There's a place in San Diego that fix Mercedes radio, they're the best & reasonable priced
* eBay
* me !! ( :-) ). I have an extra one.
Only go with after market if it's the last resort. Most after market ones don't look well or nice as the OEM head unit. The cost of rewiring shouln't be more than $30, Mercedes have very simple/standard wiring for radio head unit (ground, ignition, battery, and speakers, and that's all). You can buy an adapter and tap it right into the wire. That's the case if you have Becker or Alpine head unit. If you have Bose, then there's more rewiring work, since you have to bypass the amplifier. However, this's usually happened with S and SL only.
Look at the fuse behind the radio first, before you spend any money unneccesarily
You will need the keys to pull out the radio (most dealer will give it to you for free, or charge you around $5). Stick the keys into the two slot on the radio and pull it out. You will see a fuse on the back on the radio. Very good chance is it's blowned, it's happened to me. If you forgot the radio code, just go to dealer, they'll look up the VIN number and give you radio code. And that's all.
This's happened w/ me before. Just because you drive a Benz, don't let people think they have rights to rip you off.
If you need picture of how the back of the radio look like & how to take it off, email me, and and I'll send you instruction & how to debug it.
In case your radio really go dead, you have couple options:
* There's a place in San Diego that fix Mercedes radio, they're the best & reasonable priced
* eBay
* me !! ( :-) ). I have an extra one.
Only go with after market if it's the last resort. Most after market ones don't look well or nice as the OEM head unit. The cost of rewiring shouln't be more than $30, Mercedes have very simple/standard wiring for radio head unit (ground, ignition, battery, and speakers, and that's all). You can buy an adapter and tap it right into the wire. That's the case if you have Becker or Alpine head unit. If you have Bose, then there's more rewiring work, since you have to bypass the amplifier. However, this's usually happened with S and SL only.
Look at the fuse behind the radio first, before you spend any money unneccesarily
Originally posted by GotLean
Last week a friend helped me jump the car after I managed to leave the lights on most of the night. He accidently switched the polarities with the jumper cables and now the radio wont turn on at all. I checked the 3 fuses associated with the radio under the hood, next to the driver's dash and under the rear seat and even switched them with other spares just in case. This is on a 97 E420. I took the car to the local car audio monkey and he told me that there was no other option short of replacing the head unit with an aftermarket and having to pay considerable "rewiring" expenses. When I originally went in, he didnt know that it was a mercedes and said that there was probably a fuse on the back of the head unit that needed replacing. After he found out, he told me that there was no fuse and that this was the only option. Personally, I cant tell whether he is trying to hustle me or not because he said that he could replace my head unit within the day, but when I asked him for the tool to remove it and check the fuses he said that they didnt have such a tool. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Last week a friend helped me jump the car after I managed to leave the lights on most of the night. He accidently switched the polarities with the jumper cables and now the radio wont turn on at all. I checked the 3 fuses associated with the radio under the hood, next to the driver's dash and under the rear seat and even switched them with other spares just in case. This is on a 97 E420. I took the car to the local car audio monkey and he told me that there was no other option short of replacing the head unit with an aftermarket and having to pay considerable "rewiring" expenses. When I originally went in, he didnt know that it was a mercedes and said that there was probably a fuse on the back of the head unit that needed replacing. After he found out, he told me that there was no fuse and that this was the only option. Personally, I cant tell whether he is trying to hustle me or not because he said that he could replace my head unit within the day, but when I asked him for the tool to remove it and check the fuses he said that they didnt have such a tool. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Last edited by zam2000; Mar 5, 2004 at 12:28 PM.
