mbussado

First time poster here. I recently bought a 2010 GLK which I am thoroughly happy about, but really wanted all the media gimmicks.

The car is a Vancouver 2 year old vehicle bought at companyofacrs.ca (great guys btw) which came with the standard Audio 20 system.

I wanted the Comand NTG4 system with Bluetooth, Navigation, DVD playback, rear seat entertainment and reversing camera - so this is how I got it all for $1,200.00 and about 2 .5 hours worth of work.

No adverts here - just to show you what I bought...


First the COMAND System - I bought a 2010 NTG 4 system (LCD and 1 DVD player head unit only) from a gent on eBay. It was originally listed as being in Ireland, but arrived from Latvia... There is no blood on it, so I am assuming nobody died in its procurement
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=110953408397

As it is an European system, you will need to either get access to or outright buy the North American maps so you can update it. IT IS COMPLETELY POSSIBLE to update an European system with North American maps... Buy you have to follow the below instructions.
I bought this (only a V9 disk but with 2012 map data) off ebay and will eventually sell it on after the update:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-Ben...vip=true&rt=nc

I also bought a chinese wireless rear view camera also from ebay - look for a CMOS one without guide lines, but there are plenty specifically designed to fit the GLK's slot just to the left of the trunk lid handle.

Then you need a FAKRA connector and coaxial wire such as:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290602808618...84.m1497.l2649

You will also need a GPS antenna with a FAKRA connector like:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261087063343...84.m1497.l2649

I also wanted DVD in Motion (long trips up to ski slopes and US with kids, requires this) and I bought the plug and play one from these guys SPECIFICALLY because it does not disable the navigation capability while DVD's are playing (Navi will interrupt playback with instructions):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251148178449...84.m1497.l2649

mbussado

The takeapart is not a nightmare, but requires a bit of dexterity.

Best is doing it with the shifter in gear (put key in "run" position with engine off, press the brake pedal and pull the gear shifter to Drive, then press down the parking brake - DONE! No, you don't need to worry about power being ON when you do this and NO, you will not drain the battery if you work at a moderate pace).

1) you need to pull the dash bent block (the one under the display) out. Takes some wrangling and there are plenty of writeups on how to do it - I did it bare handed.

2) you disconnect the emergency button wire from the extracted vent unit.

3) you remove the upper and lower strips on the head unit (just pry them with a small PLASTIC tool)

4) you need to remove the 2 TORX screws at the top left and right corners of the head unit (covered by the upper trim strips you just removed)

5) just inside of the TORX screws, there are (one per side) a small protrusion that needs to be lifted up - this releases the Head Unit.

6) pull the head unit out - a bit co careful yanking may be needed

7) disconnect all connectors from rear, paying attention that you press the release tabs, and particular attention to the square metal shielded display cable.

DISPLAY

Remove inner trim (pull it out by sliding hand underneath it where the vents used to be. It will pop out. Once you did that, you can pull the actual display fascia out leaving the display unit exposed. There are two TORX (same size as the ones holding the head unit in place) on either side of the display that need to be removed - do that and out pops the display.

Remove the two connectors from behind the display and you are done...

mbussado

7" Display power:
1) The new display has a different connector to that of the standard audio 5" display. I bought an inexpensive ($30) adapter from a guy in Germany (www.kabeldaviko.de - part number 204-705).

First of all just pull off the display fascia - very easy to do as it is only held by some plastic clips.

Attached is the cable schematic and pictures of the display connectors.
You can clearly see the difference between the connectors on the 7" and 5" displays. The adapter will plug directly into the 5" display connector your car is wired with and convert it into what the 7" display needs.

Enclosed is the wiring conversion so you can make you own from the same connectors as fit the USB/Audio connectors on a computer's motherboard, then rearrange the pin connections - the pin spacing is the same - but you don't get the "cool" quadlock connector and felt tape wrap

Once you have plugged the new display into its power cable, you need to take the other display cable (square metal plug, and plug it in upside down from how it fit on the 5" display.

Pull the wire up when you do this to buy you some length, then once fitted you can pull it down again. It is a slightly tight fit, buts beats spending a minor fortune on a longer cable from Mercedes

You will need the TORX screws from the original display to refit the 7".

I snuck in the GPS antenna in a gap behind the display and just under the dash. This is a good time for you to do the same

Once you have done this, you can clip the fascia back on it and reinstall the bigger plastic trim - your display upgrade is now COMPLETE!!!

mbussado

The VIM module I bought came with a loom splice which fits between the car wiring and the head unit. In between it takes power and can bus signals which are then processed and fed back to the radio fooling it to think the car is not moving.

I then went back to the bat cave and spliced in the VIM unit wiring to the wireless rear view camera receiver, and while I was there I also converted its output to FAKRA for direct connection to the green connector on the head unit.

With this modified loom, I then went back to the car inserted the VIM loom in between the head unit and car wiring. There are two plugs in the original qualdlock connector that need to be transferred to the VIM quadlock plug as they need to be connected to the actual head unit so the rotary dials and AUX connections work.

mbussado

I marked up the Head Unit connectors so you can see where everything goes.

The GPS came with a FAKRA but it would not fit in next to the bluetooth antenna FAKRA connector that came with the car. You can disassemble the FAKRA connector and pull the internal connector which will fit in next to the bluetooth without any interference. There is no movement back there and so no reason for the GPS antenna plug to fall out. if you are REALLY paranoid you can buy converters, or even better put a dab of hot glue (which can be easily removed later) to hold it in place.

Refit the white radio antenna dual fakra, the green reverse camera FAKRA, the GPS (lower left double blue FAKRA outer plug), the Bluetooth antenna (inner plug), the display square connector (be careful) and the head-unit quadlock with the sockets transferred.

You will need to do some cabling organization behind the head unit for everything to fit, took me a few minutes but everything worked out.

This is also the time to ensure you don't forget to the small wire on the bottom right side of the head unit that drives the seat warmer and whatever other features your car has attached to the buttons under the head unit.

Once refitted

mbussado

Press the on/off button and it should greet you with a Mercedes Benz logo. Test all functions Bluetooth Pairing, Radio AM/FM, CD, DVD, using the rotary knob etc. To enable the reverse camera function see further down.

Mine worked fine so I reassembled the car - the rest is done in engineering mode....

mbussado

DISCLAIMER:
The author is a moron - doesn't know how to read or even how to go to the toilet on his own. The information described below is completely unreliable, may cause you to go blind, pee your pants and steal candy from little children. If you decide to use any of it you are an even bigger moron than the author (who can't read or go to the toilet)

Get it? anything goes wrong due to differences in firmware, bad weather or fat fingers, you can only blame yourself and you will only be rescued by your own wallet.... If you do any of this while your car is in motion, you will go to jail - DON'T DO IT!


Entering Engineering Mode (EM):
Press and hold together "Hang-up" (red phone button)" + "#" (hash or pound or number sign depending where you are from) + "1" (number one) for about 10 seconds.

The head unit will then enter the famed Engineering Mode. If you followed me so far, you are nuts and should stop

NOTE!
Everytime you make a change, you need to hit "back" on your control knob until you get to the first page of the EM menu, then scroll all the way down to the last option market "Exit". When you are back in the standard interface, you need to shut power off to the car, open and close the front doors and wait 30 seconds for the Can-Bus to power down. Then turn power back on and the settings will be active.

Enabling Compass Mode:
Go to option 7, select it then again option 7 in the following menu - you should see an Offroad Function - change it from not installed to installed. You will have a compass option in one of the navigation sub menus - the read out may be inaccurate until you have fixed your initial position - set it to navi and drive around the block.

Changing System Region:
This is especially important if you bought a head unit from outside your region (as have I). Mine is an European Comand head unit. I have North American maps to update it with. You need to change the region to the region of your map disks.
-> HW SETTINGS
-> HU PARAMETERS
-> DVD/MARKET SETTINGS
Then select your preferred region

DVD Region Free:
Once you change the region settings (as above) more than 5 times, the system locks as per the requirements by the MPAA. You can "unlock" that for a further 5 attempts. I did this a couple of times and believe it is unlimited, at least with my current software version.

When you are in the page where the region settings are now greyed out, press "Hang-Up" + "*" + "#" for 8 seconds. This will reset the counter for s further 5 attempts. The installed maps will continue to work, but you will now be able to play DVD's from another region.

Camera Activation:

-> HW SETTINGS
-> HU PARAMETERS
-> Option 4
Select SRVC (Standard Rear View Camera)

Then exit the EM and in the standard system settings page, set it to activate SRVC with reverse gear.

If the camera you bought has guidelines on it, you can disable the Comand SRVC guidelines in the last menu item.

My camera transmitter unit was not installed in the car at the time the picture was taken.

ble2716

I've just finished reading your posts and my eyes were blurry and almost pissed in my pants.

Excellence work and write up.
Can't wait to see your next project.

mbzusr

Agreed. Very fine tutorial for his 1st-7th post.

Koenig1

Hi, a 'noobie' myself!!! Congrats on the fine writeup! I have the same dilemma as you... 2011 GLK with audio 20, 6 CD, w/5" screen. I have investigated the UNI Nav+4 update... would mean shelling out $1200. or so! My problem is really the SMALL 5" screen, and no backup camera. I really enjoyed the backup camera in my last Murano, made hitching trailers, parking spaces a breeze! So... my choices are: UMI Nav+4 update, or change out to a factory Command/Nav/backup cam unit which will undoubtedly cost me just as much from a recycler ! In your screen transformation, could I just obtain a 7" display(with the $30 adapter connection and just have the convenience of a larger screen. Would all the functions of the audio 20 work? I then could add the UMI nav+4 and have a larger screen! The reason I'm staying away from the factory Nav unit is that there is no traffic updates. The Nav+4 apparently does have traffic and also the ability to add a backup camera.
any thoughts?

mbussado

Hey Koenig1,

Unfortunately, you can't just upgrade the screen. The on board computer's frame buffer is matched to the number of pixels of the screen it is built for - just like you can't change resolutions of display sizes for your laptop's internal screen.

I had a picture of a cross connection of the screens (I tried for fun) and if you connect the 5" to the Comand head-unit, you get a quarter picture and if you connect the 7" to the old Audio 20 head-unit, you have an interleaved expanded image of appx 8x magnification and every 4th pixel scan line. Basically no smoke and flames, but it doesn't work...

I'm waiting for the latest map update (I installed V.9 for testing purposes) as I have seen the TMC+ logo in the European maps and it seems to be receiving the protocol in one of the radio diagnostic pages.

Traffic in Canada (and US) is still delivered by TMC, which is a "main road only" batch mode (eg. every 10 mins) reporting system. In Europe you have a much more granular traffic reporting system that, while pioneered by TomTom BV., uses a lot of information sources, including TMC, Cell tower movement reporting (all cell providers track sample cellphones in a given quadrant to determine movement) and so on, to paint a much more granular and near real time (about 1-5 minute update cycles) traffic picture. You'll find that TomTom GPS devices from 2006-up'ish have unbranded SIM cards in there for that purpose, while in North America they still only have a TMC receiver.

The best implementation for traffic on offer in North America right now, is Apple's maps (I'm talking only of traffic) as it uses a similar system to calculate real information. Google is still a TMC aggregator.

I looked at the Navi+ system and was really touch and go, given the price similarity and I believe that a future non tecchie buyer may be keener with a car with a bigger screen than a smaller one.

I had all the info to build a video input so to play back iPod/Pad/Phone video input and the integrated Bluetooth Audio capability is excellent too, but in the end I really wanted DVD playback, rear camera, large screen etc. I have now added the rear seat output so can drive the DVD output to the rear seats while using Navi/Radio at the front.

I have figured out how to unlock the disk partitions and as soon as I have applied the v.10 map update, by backup hard disk will be redundant (I'm keeping it at hand as some have reported failing updates) and I will experiment with adding a 500GB disk. Then with that I will transfer all my song librarry from iTunes onto the disk and not have to worry about iPxx integration.

pgeller

Excellent write-up! Thank you very much, this is exactly what I'll be doing soon. I'm sure I'll rattle your cage when the time comes.

pg

Koenig1

'mbussado' again, thanks for a very informative post. Dam... so a quick change out from the 5" to 7" screen is not possible. It begs the question... what MB engineer decided that 2 different screens were better than 1??? Dam! Well, that leaves me with purchasing a full-blown MB setup, such as you, living with the 5" screen, or possibly purchasing the Chinese touch screen setup, that I just feel won't have the quality within. There are some who have installed these, one has re-installed 5" screen in the ashtray compartment.... just can't see the reasoning! If anyone has other suggestions, I would like to hear...

shotgun_banjo

why does your car have that overhead view of the GLK while the screen is showing the satellite information? Does all GLK have that view? I can't check mine as it is sitting inside the service department shop now.

mbussado

Pgeller, you're welcome - and feel free to ping me on marco"at"bussadori"dot"com.

Koenig1, when you get to it, let me know and if you are up for it you can test the unit with my North America Map DVD (v.9 only). I will be working on increasing the Hard Disk to at least 250GB and installing the rear seat display system - I already have 2 sets of connectors to build out the wiring harness.

The Audio 20 and Comand systems are fundamentally different architectures. The Audio 20 having direct roots in the "all in one" version of the same which was manufactured by the same people and had the same 5" screen as used in the B Class (2010+), Vito van and a few others. The Comand system is built by Melco (a subsid of Mitsubishi I think) in Japan and has totally different engineering roots.

Steer clear of the chinese crap. First of all they don't have sound integration ,requiring you to use your Aux connector, secondly, the menu systems are in "chinglish", thirdly, the display quality is crap poor, fourth, it integrates very weakly withe the on board button, fifth, the Navigation is a ripped off copy of TomTom, or Route 66 or whatever else they can get their thieving hands on, leaving you to get the necessary maps etc. and lastly the build quality is absolutely not worth more than $50, let alone what they charge...

shotgun_banjo,
to get the overhead car display with the compass, elevation data and steering wheel deflection index, you need to enable the "off road" function in the 7th page of the engineering menu (Hang up + 1 + # for about 10 seconds).

Once done, save the settings, and when in the main display, shut the car off, open the door, step out, set the alarm for 30 seconds, then go back in and power up - it should have activated the new settings on reboot.

To get to it, go to the Navigation menu, then on the bottom row, the middle item and then the last item in the pop up menu (sorry, I remember the motion , but not the verbatim labels).

All the best to all and thanks for reading...

Marco

Kevin R

Great write up!

Do you happen to have any of the Comand system update discs (if that is how it's updated)? I'm assuming they are different than the map update discs?

mbussado

I don't have the disks... I understand the Comand has 2 sets of codebases. The basic OS (custom version of Win CE) and binaries (programs) for the specific applicaitons, such as navi, gracenote and a bunch of other stuff.

I don't yet know which part sits on the Navi update disks and which is on the MB updates. I have the "booster" enabled firmware (the late 2011 version) though 2008 Q4 maps.

I am having the car go through a full diagnostic (including adding the Navi in Star) as it is about to get to 75K km and I want to make sure any niggles get done under warranty.

In that I have asked them to upgrade the Navi firmware by lying about the sound volume on the AUX connector changing at random. I can then compare binary versions after that and before I apply the North America maps (v.9). I see you are in Van. If your maps are older than the v.9 I just got, you are welcome to update with my disks...

pgeller

I just snagged a sweet Comand system on Ebay. The seller is in Lithuania; I'd love to go there to pick it up! I'm looking forward to this upgrade.

My GLK has XM/Sirius (which uses the MOST network) and the iPod interface. Any tips on keeping either with this setup?

BTW, if you want to pool costs on upgrade map disks, just let me know.

pg

mbussado

I think you can keep the sat radio, but either need to reset the MOST ring via the engineering menu OR it will need coding.

Re. the lithuanian purchase - that's where I got mine. I have just updated it with Kevin's V.10 DVD. In the spirit of passing it forward, I can lend that to you.

Funny thing is you can set the head unit to US DVD market, do the update, then set it back to Europe but with NTSC as a video standard.

This way you get TMC (Traffic information Radio) - I think only in the USA - allowing you to have dynamic routing on the sat nav, AND you get all the stations showing up in your radio display by their name and not frequency.

M

pgeller

Very interesting! I love tweaking!

Here's a question: My audio 20 has the OEM (I think) iPod kit as well, there is a black iPod cable coming through a grommet at the top left of the glove box. iPod info shows up in the instrument cluster and can be selected using the steering wheel buttons (no iPod display on the monitor).

Is this kit at all useful with the Comand NGT4 upgrade? Or will I need some other kit to add back iPod support?

Cheers

pg

mbussado

The iPod control works by sending commands based on a specific communication protocol to control all functionality, then uses the standard L/R Stereo and video input lines to play media. IF your ipod controller is the MB specific one and connects via MOST, you're fine (the connectors are on the quadlock). If it is an aftermarket one, then I'm unsure.

I don't have an iPod kit, so can't say for sure.

mbussado

My dealer would NOT recode the car for the retrofit, quoting MB in Germany refusing to update the Vehicle record. So I can't have the navi instructions on the speedo LCD panel. No biggie. But I did get them to do a FREE update of the NTG4 firmware and converted it from European to North American firmware.

The only discernible difference is the ability to select North AMerican timezones, eg. PST - otherwise everything else stays the same.

To add North American Navi Maps to an European NTG 4.0 you only need to set the DVD Market to USA and do a DVD update of the maps - all works well, then you can select south american timezones that are compatible with the North American ones. All else works well.

Incidentally, ALL dealers will do the following software updates for FREE on cars with valid warranty:
Head-Unit to latest firmware (not map) version if you tell them the AUX audio changes at random
Engine ECU to latest version (6 Hp more and 0.5 MPG better) if you tell them the engine randomly needs extended cranking when cold
Transmission ECU - 3 versions from original, including changing the shifting unit if it cannot have a S/W update if you tell them it shifts hesitantly from 1 to 2nd when cold in "S" mode
The ESP (Electronic Stability Program) code to the latest version (less wheel slippage and tighter coupling than the 2010 original) if you tell them the front wheels sometime slip when accelerating out of a sharp corner on wet road surface.

The speedo ECU will also be updated for free (sometimes you get the ability to have additional lighting modes and blind spot logic enabled by mistake) if yo t ell them sometimes it just displays 99mph at random.

My car feels a little tighter and sharper. The shift points in 1,2 and 3rd gear in "S" mode are clearly more defined, so worth doing on their dime.

Enjoy!

Kevin R

Great info, thanks for posting that!

kman2k

Thanks

bop11

I noted that you rear view camera, like mine, shows only a small section of what is behind, unlike some cameras which are pointed more up and show a panorama type view. I was disappointed with this at first, and thought about changing the angle until I did some parallel parking. This view is very useful i determining just how close you can back up in tight spots, so I kept it.
Nice report.
By the way the Sirius traffic in the US seems to updates continuously. However,its criteria for yellow and red are sometimes nebulous. My daughters 2013 Sirius traffic integration in a C300 is much better.