Tom Sederburg

Just curious. :-)

Later,
Tom

Polar Bear

I always assumed it was for the center channel speaker for the audio system. I have never noticed air coming from it, but that's not to say it doesn't.

gaazmon

It's a speaker. Ya, the 05+ ones look like a speaker, as the 03-04 ones look like a vent. Don't know if there is a difference. That's also when the thumbwheel was taken off.

roadkill06

That vent is designed to transfer sounds coming from the audio system.

tashakes

On mine, it is designed to make the worst rattling noise and annoy the hell out of you, till you take it out, mess with it, add pieces of foam and get rid of the only rattle there has ever been in a 6 year old car. The center speaker of the Logic 7 system is located under it as well.

Tom Sederburg

What is this thumbwheel you speak of?

Curiously,
Tom

Scambo

I always wondered about the thumbwheel on mine as well. WHAT THE HECK IS THAT???

gaazmon

The thumbwheel is between the two center vents. I think it's designed for allowing more cool and fresh air in when the it is on blue and if you slide it off, it just blows the same temp. as the temp. that is set. Our 02 CL500 has the thumbwheel except when you slide it off the blue, it has an Auto mode. Also, I remember my 94 S420 had to buttons on the center, one was blue and one was red.

konigstiger

As mentioned, this is a speaker grille designed to accent the center vent assembly.

MB eliminated the thumbwheel (7) in question with MY05 production MY03-04 had the ability to bring cool outside air into the cabin through the center vents while in manual heat mode to lower headroom temperature. MB billed this as a safety feature to circumvent drowsiness.

onthewall01

Dare I ask why your airbag is deployed?

Chicago_Buckeye

As Konigstiger said...

cgcedisto

'm sure some of the confusion regarding this vent (2004 E anyway) comes from the fact that it looks like an air vent, and MB official user info (manual, web site, etc.) have pictures of the vent and label it as an "air vent, fixed", and also there are references to this model year having a "dash-top air diffuser". As has been pointed out on this forum, no air whatsoever comes through this vent, and the thumbwheel between the center vents controls the amount of outside air mixed in with air flowing throught the center vents. At least that's how it works on my 2004 E500. Having now figured this out thanks to this forum, I find it's a nice feature to have in the winter especially on long trips (warm air on feet, cool air in face).

cdi pa

oh. that... that's just a technicality.

Tom Sederburg

Actually that's not even my car.

It was 1:25am here when I posted this thread and I just needed a picture of what I was thinking of.

Later,
Tom

TheRealG

jokes.
10 posts before it was even asked.

G.

DiggerJim

So how do you take it out? My center speaker seems to be buzzing which means I'll need to get at it in order to replace, reglue or pad it.

TIA -
Jim

ozusa

see this thread:
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ker-grill.html

DiggerJim

Thanks - that's for the older model (up to 04 or 05 I think). Mine (06) doesn't have the 2 clips in the front. But somewhere about post #29 someone mentioned undoing it from the upper corners and working it off. I used a stiff bladed putty knife/paint scraper (1 1/2" wide) and pried it off. There are 4 metal spring tabs that hold it in place so it's stiff coming out but by prying up at the 10 & 2 o'clock positions the upper center pops up which provides a grip to pull the entire grille upwards & back (the front by the air vents actually has a series of projecting tabs that slip into slots in the vent housing that engage by sliding fore & aft when installing or removing the grille). Putting it back on is simply a matter of sliding the vent end's tabs into place and then dropping the grille downward (followed by a smack or two of the palm to engage the spring clips).

konigstiger

Check PM