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So I bought a 2013 GL550 about 6 months ago and finally started diagnosing why the Distronic Plus would randomly error out and shut down. To give you an idea, it was so bad (when working) that if you were in the passing lane (left lane) while passing a car in the right lane, D+ would think a car to the right was directly in front of you. You never knew when it was going to slam on the brakes.
Now that I've gained knowledge on the subject, it's pretty obvious that these 2 things do not belong together LOL!
So I removed the entire grill assembly, drove, and it's like I'm driving a completely different car. All the lane assist, blind spot, distronic, personal protection, etc.,etc.,etc, turned on and this thing is an absolute DREAM!
My questions to you guys. Since at some point, some clown glued this illuminated thing in the place of the grill (will destroy removing it), and there are some "decent" looking aftermarket replacement grills, does the Distronic (flat emblem) fit in these aftermarket grills? The parts catalog is a little confusing as it shows the carrier for the emblem, the emblem plate, and the emblem itself (all those 3 items for NON-distronic cars) as going into the grill. But will the same grill house a distronic emblem (one piece), instead of the 3 making up the non-distronic emblem?
Essentially, I obviously need to purchase a distronic star, but does the distronic star fit into the same exact grill as the 3 piece (carrier, plate, emblem) of a non-distronic grill? Are the grills the same and the emblems being the only difference?
Hopefully, this word salad makes sense lol.
Thanks in advance for any help! Radar can see something! Radar stopping device lol
So you had the illuminated grill and that interferes with the driving assistance?
It was that way when I bought it. I had been out of the MB world for a few years (last had an 06 E55 AMG) so I just figured it was a factory option. I would have never guessed in a million years someone would completely void 1/2 the safety / driver features for simply wanting a lit up emblem lol.
I hadn't given much thought to the distronic errors and wierd behavior until i finally told myself I was going to diagnose it and learn. Through research is when I learned about the system itself and it can't have that illuminated star in front of the radar.
Why anyone would do that and get rid of one of the nicest driver features of the car is beyond me. Oh well.., I get a cooler grill out of the deal and it seems the factory system is working just fine.
My '14 GL had the centre star with the "wind" holes because it didn't have distronic. I preferred the look of the "solid smooth" black/silver emblem like on my Sister-in-law's GLE63) so I took down the VIN number of a (2014,2015,2016 GL) on the used lot at the MB dealer that had distrionic and the smooth emblem. Ordered the part with that VIN number and removed my "cheapo" emblem and installed the new smooth one. In the process I learned the new one installs by "turning" it. I believe the multi-piece original I removed was a different type of install and thinking that it's engineering genius for them to design a grill and circular emblem receiver that works in two different ways for either emblem. Anyway - thought you'd appreciate my story. It's now been on the GL for several years with no problems.
Cheers. And I'd strongly suggest only a factory grill (ether the grey/silver one or the black 2 bar from the GL63).
All these dreiver aid systems are super snesitive to changes and generally need to be recalibrated when there's a change or an accident. Most shops don't know (or think) how to do it.
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