Can someone tell me how to reset the time on the digital clock on the instrument panel of a 2004 S500? It should be easy, but I can't find it in either the S-Class Operator's Manual or the COMAND Operator's Manual.

 

Press buttons in this order "SERV - SYSTEM - TIME" and you'll be able to set clock with the left, right, up & down buttons but remember that this car uses GPS time so you'll only be able to change in increaments of 30 minutes. Another simple way is to use you navigation in route guidance. Once you reach your destination and turn the car off the time will be set.

 

I don't find the index of either the owner's manual or the COMAND manual to be particularly intuitive. Finding stuff requires you to know the term the writers used, not the term that may come to your mind. Then you'd have to find the system under which they discuss it, since they organize the manuals that way. You'd have to know in your case that it was described under "clock" and not "reset time" and that "clock" is discussed under "controls in detail" then under "instrument cluster." Even worse, in the case if the instrument cluster clock, resetting the time is only partially discussed in two separate manuals, and you'd have to find both to know what to do!!

So here's the workaround:

I download a .pdf version of the Owner's Manual and COMAND Manual - they are electronically searchable - and use them, much more than the printed manuals. It is especially useful when verifying advice I provide in posts (to the extent that I can).

You can download your COMAND manual at http://home.earthlink.net/~phdwebsite/comand_manual.htm; the instructions for setting your COMAND system clock (it is just as described by kenstudios) begin at page 196 for your car. What the COMAND Manual does not tell you is that when you set the system clock, it sets the instrument cluster clock too. That information is buried in a 2-line entry in the Owner's Manual, entirely separate from the COMAND Manual (mine is on page 142 - yours may differ). Really intuitive - Oh, yeah, especially for something you may do several times a year with Daylight Savings Time, at intervals just long enough to forget.

You can also download the Owners Manual and Service Manual for MY '04 and later on the MBUSA website (www.mbusa.com). Register free as an owner, set your default car (you need the VIN) - and you will find several ways to download the manuals. One is in the "My Quick Tools" portion that will appear after you set your default vehicle; and the other is through the site map.

Saves a LOT of frustration.