No I did not have to remove the center console. If you have an earlier model with the clamshell armrest it's not too hard. Not sure how to do it on the later models with the breadbox center console.

First, open the lower compartment and remove the false floor. Once you pull the felt lining out you'll see two rectangular holes on either side near the front. Just use a screwdriver and pry up on these and it should pop out. Then remove the piece of trim at the rear of the compartment that the two coiled wires go down into. You are going to feel like it's going to break but it won't. Just stick your screwdriver in where one of the coiled wires goes down and carefully but firmly pry forwards and it will unsnap. Then you will be able to see a single screw going from the rear of the armrest into the trim panel below the rear vents that contains the rear ashtray. Remove that screw and then you can pry off the lower trim with the ashtray. This will allow you to access the two lower screws that hold the rear vents in place. Loosen those (they won't come all the way out which is by design) and then use a tiny flathead screwdriver to depress the two tabs inside the vent near the top and the whole thing should snap out.

I referenced the following video on YouTube for the process, but it does NOT show the removing of the screw inside the center console. If you don't remove this screw first you risk breaking things. I was lucky that I did not.

 

You are correct about the rear controls not being functional. They will light up and display temperature, and even allow for the adjustment of the temperature on either side, but they will not actually cause anything to happen. It is purely for looks. The reason I did it was to give my rear seat passengers a bit of a placebo effect in thinking they have control of the temperature so they won't always complain about being too cold, and so far it seems to have worked!

As far as the front controls go, everything on mine seems to function as normal. The passenger side air direction control knob does nothing, but besides that the dual zone temperature controls work, defrost works fine, and the driver's side vent position dial controls the vent position for both sides, similar to how they worked with the analog climate controls. I always keep mine set to full auto so this doesn't bother me at all.

One benefit of doing this even if you do not do the "full" swap, is to have access to the hidden menu and see various readings from the climate control without connecting a scan tool. Also I really like the fact that when I get into the car in the hot summer it displays "MAX COOL" on the digital display and blows ice cold for a few minutes before it goes back to normal auto mode. It might be just in my head but it seems to cool quicker and regulate the temperature better in general than the old analog unit. Of course this could be just a bit of the placebo effect working on me.

 

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the wire, but it's just a plain black wire that is covered in what looks like heatshrink tubing very similar to the wire that you have now for the lighting on the rear vents. The connectors on the end are black and are a bit wider than the white connector on the lighting wire.

As far as your error, I selected the particular digital climate control unit I have based on numerous posts by others who said their setups were plug and play, and sure enough mine was. I did not have to do anything, it just works. Perhaps some combinations are not compatible, or cannot be reset without coding.

 

Old Post, but I thought I'd report that I replaced the 2 zone controller on my 2005 e320CDI with a non US version 2118302390. This is a 2 zone with LED display that does have the 'Rest' button. Most units on Ebay are from Europe, I found one in Canada. Dials are in Celsius. Replacing the old unit also cured the dreaded AC delay and blast of heater air on 'warm' start up. Install was plug and play.

 

I have the two dials in Fahrenheit if you want to replace yours let me know in a PM.

Isn’t it nice to get from LO to HI and vice versa in about 2 seconds instead of 15 if you keep the button pressed?

 

I have finally decided to attempt this and I have the new climate control apart but i can't find out how to swap the buttons over. The knob and the rest button are two pieces but i can't for the life of me figure out how to separate the two.

EDIT* Knob and button are 3 pieces. In playing with the button i was able to separate it randomly somehow. But it is a straight forward process and you can swap the dials from your Fahrenheit climate control to Celsius with ease.

 

Finished the job today. For reference I bought 2118302390. The unit came with some moderate scratches on the screen but i was able to sand them out with 1000, 1500, and 2000 grit sandpaper then compound and polish. The swapping of the dials was interesting. I am not sure if the differences were on account of the US vs European Market or something else. I swapped the physical dial hardware and left the respecting boards alone. Meaning that the boards that the dials are connected to stayed with their respective HVAC units. The funny thing about this is that I thought that the one without the rest buttom would have a different board behind the button blank, but when you took it apart it had a button on the board. Not sure if you were to carry that board over with a button if that would do anything or not.

Anyhow the dials them selves when you have it remove from the board via the two clips looks like it is one piece. But on the back where it clips into the electrical board if you pull the piece that would make contact with the board it will release the face of the button blank or button. From here you can do your swapping. What was interesting here was that the European HVAC I purchased vs the one from the car the way that the buttons went together was slightly different. Take for example the "AUTO" button. The mounting points for the two buttons was different meaning that you had to swap the button along with the piece that makes contact with electrical board between the dials. One had the mounting point above the text and one below.

Last problem I had was that the Climate Control unit had a stored code for low refrigerant. I had to have someone clear that code to get the A/C to work otherwise I had the AC light blinking 5 times whenever i tried to use it. Beyond that the rest button functions and things are pretty sweet.

 

Hi, I'm so sorry for post it after a years but I've already found it. What to do if I don't have that connectors? Can someone post a wiring diagram from rear panel to.... where it goes? Do I need any extra module for light the rear panel up? Front one with a rest button was plug and play and works, rear one doesn't have a wires.

Sorry for my non professional English, still learning.

 

To get the rear to work, I needed one extra wire that I grabbed from a junkyard car that had climatronic. it runs thru the center console, connects to the rear HVAC panel, and the other end connects somewhere right around the shifter. There are no other modules, the rear panel will light up as long as you have your front panel connected and you have that wire connected to the rear panel. Don't expect the rear panel to do anything tho, you can change the temperature from the front or rear and it will change the numbers on the screen, but that's it. It's basically just for decoration.

 

I can't find any free connector around a shifter. It is a European Version, maybe here is a problem.
I know that rear panel don't work, it's just a cosmetic look and I want that. I can get a wiring from rear panel to anywhere but I still don't know where it should be connected. Is it a linbus cable right? I think it's not enough to connect one cable from rear panel to front panel, it will be too easy for Mercedes 🤣

 

Is your car a facelift? If so, that might be it too. I remember reading in another thread a while back that the facelift cars don't have that part of the harness. I'll know for sure soon enough, my old car was pre-facelift that I did this to, but I'm going to attempt it on my new one, a 2008 facelifted E320.

 

Mine is 2005 but normally I should have supported both doors modules for activate of cornering lights, I activate I think everything via StarDiagnosis and it doesn't work. So maybe my car is something like between old and lift W211.

 

I read some and skimmed through most of this thread but just need one clarification. If I already have the digital display controller (2008 E350 4Matic Sport), there is no benefit to changing for the 4 zone unit or is there? Is the main reason people are doing this to get a digital display or am I missing something else? Thanks!

 

Functionally, there is no benefit. It's only for aesthetics. Everything will work the same as before, you'll have two zone climate control and only the mode selector wheel on the left will affect the modes. The one on the right hand side will do nothing, along with the rear controls.

If you wanted to actually have 4 zone Climatronic, you'd have to swap over the air boxes in the dash, complete with all the solenoids and actuators, the front door cards, and the B pillar trim (to get the rear side vents). At that point you might as well start thinking about just buying a car that already has it.

 

thanks for the recap! One less thing I need to think about then.

 

I did this retrofit while ago, and I knew it only for the look. My car is a facelifted model, and does has a connector inside the middle console. I need the cable that connect between this connector and the rear controller. I have been searching for years without sucess. Do you by any chance have the part number for this cable?? or where to buy one? thank you

 

I have no clue of the part number, but I got mine from a junkyard E500 with Climatronic.

 

if you ever open that part of your car again, can you check to see the cable's part number? there should be a tag with part number on it. Thank you

 

I don't have that car anymore, but I'm about to do this on my "new" w211 in the fairly near future. Next time I go to the pull-a-part I'll grab one and let you know the part number. I do remember there being a tag on the wire, wish I had taken a picture of it.

 

If by any chance you find more than 1 of that cable, can you please grab that for me? I will buy it back and pay for the shipping for the part. Thank you. I live in southern california, most of the junk yards around my area dont have any w211 or newer mercedes

 

Sure, no problem! If I can find two, I'll be glad to send you one.

 

Thanks in advance...

 

I have 2007 w211, with the "lower" digital controls. I bought the "full" lcd one, did the swap, for looks mainly. But I ended up with some caveats. When controlling the driver side and passenger side temps differently, for example driver side vent next to the door would blow warmer air (as the missus likes warm), and only the middle one would blow cold. And the same shenanigans with the passenger side. Now in the cold weather, the 2 middle ones really lack the warm punch. I can get them working when fiddling a lot with turning automatic off and playing with the air direction button. I have no idea if this is caused by the 4zone control panel not communicating correctly with my lower system, or something else is amiss. I will swap my original part back, and report back.