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I have an 06 Wagon with two of the over head consoles with the outer lights. Do you need that part number?
Sure that would be great. I have the rear part number which shows correct when looking online for replacement parts. The front I am unsure about but I am guessing it could either be the front control unit or a different ribbon cable? I honestly don't know. Because S70Houston has a picture and his cable is just like mine but he also has front/rear ambient lighting so not sure why the rear ambient lighting I have doesn't work...arg!
WDBUH83J96X202363 = harness 2114401906. Front dome 2118206201 replaced by 2118208701, rear 2118202001, 2118206601, 2118207501.
Gotta ask the following:
Just took down the front overhead console to verify part.
Our 2009 e350 front console: A211 820 07 23 : I can't even find this to go with anything. Searching on MB site it shows overhead console but doesn't state which models/years...?
The rear console that came with the car is : A211 820 73 01 / 7F94. Works fine and shows no faults. Does not have ambient lighting.
The harness for the rear light I have is: 211 440 21 06
The part that you have listed that I also have two of for test purposes. A211 820 75 01 / 7F94 (last one you posted) Throws faults and rear ambient lighting and main console lighting (also button illumination) do not work. Only map lights work. What is the difference between the three rear console part numbers that you have listed?
Why is this so confusing with part numbers? Why does it seem like my part numbers don't match up with anything? Do you need my VIN? VIN: WDBUF56X29B432025
See pictures of what I have:
What am I missing in terms of why the rear ambient lighting is not working? At this point I am determined to get this right and have rear ambient lighting..lol
Pictures attached. Last two are of the rear console harness 4 pin. Same as the 3rd picture but the 3rd picture is of the front harness.
Thanks for all the help! It's greatly appreciated!
Add another thing that did not work. I bought the 3 pin wiring harness on the older w211's. Tried it with the rear ambient console I had and experienced the same things. I am going to get some help here shortly on hopefully what is needed to make everything work in the rear. Good old MB...lol
Thanks to S70Houston I ordered that exact front overhead console. Now I wait until next week when I get it. I have the rear overhead console that he also provided the part number to. I also have the 3 pin cable harness. We shall see once everything comes together.
I do feel like this is a soap because something as simple as just adding some ambient lighting that clearly some models came with shouldn't be this damn difficult...lol Who knows though. MB are weird like that I guess.
Thanks to S70Houston I ordered that exact front overhead console. Now I wait until next week when I get it. I have the rear overhead console that he also provided the part number to. I also have the 3 pin cable harness. We shall see once everything comes together.
I do feel like this is a soap because something as simple as just adding some ambient lighting that clearly some models came with shouldn't be this damn difficult...lol Who knows though. MB are weird like that I guess.
I'll post pictures and updates next week.
-Nigel
You are very welcome Nigel, always glad to help.
Hopefully you can solve the mystery now and make it all work to your liking.
SUCCESS!!!! I ordered the front console that S70Houston had in his 07'. Plugged it in and now I have rear ambient lighting!!! Everything works on the rear console as it should. Doors open and the main lights come on, map lights, adjusting ambient lighting, ambient lighting illuminated buttons...etc.
I will note one thing. On my 09' front overhead console I had the auto open for our normal (NOT PANO) sunroof. I could push the button back and then do it one more time to auto open. I could do this for the top position and the down position. If I clicked the down position twice it would auto close. I did not have a forward button position on the console. With the newer console I have the forward position however when I click it twice it will not auto close. I can auto open it and vent...etc. But the auto close turns into a manual close hold the button type deal. Not a huge problem but I have to check STAR to see if there is a coding thing that needs to be done. I can't imagine that there would not be an auto closing feature.
I will post pictures tonight when I get home but I now have rear ambient lighting. As confirmed the front overhead console has to match with the rear console as far as the light module. That's why when I plugged the rear ambient lighting console into my front one nothing happened because it wasn't compatible.
2008 sunroof:
2009 sunroof:
-Nigel
Last edited by NewShockerGuy; 03-12-2019 at 09:58 AM.
Small update to my auto closing feature not working once I changed out the over head console.
I ran the car through STAR and a bunch of faults were present presumably because I had both front/rear console out of the car along with other stuff as I was finishing up cleaning up the auto power trunk feature I added some weeks back.
Did the quick test and the overhead console sunroof obstruction sensor was not normalized even though I synced the sunroof manually (which allowed for auto open/vent but did not allow auto close/close vent). I went through star (See pics below). Ran through the obstruction sensor calibration, which pretty much opens the sun roof, closes it, tilts it, then closes it again. Once that is done STAR ask if everything worked. yes/no. I hit yes since it did, and then when I got back into the car and did the auto close/open it worked just as my original console did. I actually prefer this console to my 09' simply because it has the back and forward positions as opposed to just the down/back/up feature of the button on the 09'.
Posting the information and screen shots incase someone that has a sunroof that the auto close doesn't work with the one touch button or you have to manually hold the close button to shut the sunroof, this might be the cause of your problem.
The entire process took less than 15 seconds to calibrate.
Now all buttons on overhead console that function sunroof are 100% functional and do exactly as they should.
Ambient lighting: YAY!
-Nigel
Last edited by NewShockerGuy; 04-13-2019 at 12:01 AM.
I see this is an old thread but I could add what I came across when doing the modifications to my 08 E350.
My original front upper control panel was 211 820 94 01 which still has the 4 directional button for the sun roof. The rear was 211 820 73 01. Originally I got the 07 rear (211 820 75 01), however my front unit could not control it. Only the map lights worked. Long story short, both units from an 07 are needed to get the ambient lighting to work. Apparently there are newer part numbers for the 07 front and back, 211 820 01 23 and 211 820 84 01 respectively, but I cannot confirm as I didn't find these parts used to be able to test.
SUCCESS!!!! I ordered the front console that S70Houston had in his 07'. Plugged it in and now I have rear ambient lighting!!! Everything works on the rear console as it should. Doors open and the main lights come on, map lights, adjusting ambient lighting, ambient lighting illuminated buttons...etc.
I will note one thing. On my 09' front overhead console I had the auto open for our normal (NOT PANO) sunroof. I could push the button back and then do it one more time to auto open. I could do this for the top position and the down position. If I clicked the down position twice it would auto close. I did not have a forward button position on the console. With the newer console I have the forward position however when I click it twice it will not auto close. I can auto open it and vent...etc. But the auto close turns into a manual close hold the button type deal. Not a huge problem but I have to check STAR to see if there is a coding thing that needs to be done. I can't imagine that there would not be an auto closing feature.
I will post pictures tonight when I get home but I now have rear ambient lighting. As confirmed the front overhead console has to match with the rear console as far as the light module. That's why when I plugged the rear ambient lighting console into my front one nothing happened because it wasn't compatible.
2008 sunroof:
2009 sunroof:
-Nigel
This is good, i have also been struggling with the same problem for some time. Bought and changed two different rear dome lights with ambient but they couldnt work, even changed the entire harness cable but nothing, so maybe someone has found a solution for us. this is good. can you kindly share the part numbers you got for the front and rear dome lights that match so i may also get the front dome that will match with the rea light.
Parts are posted in the thread already. Just go by the pictures for the front and then make sure it matches for the rear. Post #32 has Houston's part number which he had, and then I found on ebay and bought. Soon as I swapped to that front overhead console my rear ambient lighting worked no problem.
02-06-2019, 04:02 AM
Fascinating topic; I hope you get it working! It's so frustrating when you're near, yet so far.
Glad it all worked out to your satisfaction Nigel.
