Hey guys, I'm usually a lurker on here and usually don't post... but I did a DIY today that I'm not sure if anyone else has done. It's kinda ghetto, but works great! Plus, it's nonobtrusive and totally undoable. No cutting and no tools.

Basically, I discovered the aux jack in the glove compartment and hooked up my iphone 3G up to it to see if I could stream Pandora through the stereo. So after some thought, I figured I'd take a dual-ended 1/8 audio jack and see if I could wire it through to the ashtray compartment in front of the shifter. After ejecting the ashtray reservoir, I discovered that it has a small white plastic piece you can pop out, so I figured that's the perfect spot to pull the jack through.. if I could only find a way to snake the wire from the glovebox.

1. Remove side panel of center console on passenger side (there is a method to this: start from rear of console, pop outward toward door... then when you get to the area near glovebox, you pull toward the rear of car)
2. Insert the jack through a rectangular hole that is close to the ashtray area
3. Snake it through about 4 inches and you'll see the jack through the ashtray area (after removing the container)
4. Pull it through, slip it through the new opening in the container and reinsert container into place
5. Reinstall the sidepanel of center console
6. Insert other end of audio jack into glovebox aux input, making sure you find the right spot for clearance of opening/closing glovebox

Voila! I would do a writeup with pics and all that... but it's already put back together and was really just a test to see if there was a possibility of it working. Got it in 1 try and I'm too lazy to take it all back apart. However, if anyone in Socal wants this done, I'll gladly do it for them and they can document it. Hope this helps someone out, cuz it sure made my day!

Effort: 15 minutes
Cost: $0.00
Tools: none
Function: Anything that works off of a standard headphone jack will work with this, I'm sure (ipods, iphones, mp3 players, etc etc)

Sure, you can't control it through the Comand system, but hey it's free and it works and it's totally hidden. Cheers!















-Long

 

Wow that's awesome, I didn't even know about that..

 

I just moved from Texas about 2 months ago! What's tragic about this discovery is that a buddy and myself roadtripped it to Cali from Houston in the SL (instead of shipping the car). We hit Vegas in under a day! Anyhow, in the deserts/mountains with no radio reception, we had nothing to listen to but a couple of old cd's I had (color me unprepared), so we had to listen to my buddy's ipod through it's tiny little speakers for hourssssss. Wish we would have seen this audio jack BEFORE the trip, lol.

Now I can use my ashtray for something other than collecting unwanted pennies from fast food change!

 

Awesome write up... thanks!

I use a Belkin TuneBase FM with Handsfree for iPhone in my other vehicle and it works great... has both an FM transmitter and a direct AUX jack for better quality sound. Only problem is it won't fit in the SL as the gear shift hits it when going into park.

Belkin also has a TuneBase Direct model, but I'm not sure if the plug is any smaller without all the FM tuner electronics. Thinking of buying one to test fit.

The handsfree feature of the Belkin adapter works great... people say there is little background noise and that I'm coming through loud and clear. I also bought G-Map for CA, a $20 turn-by-turn nav application for the iPhone, and its audio prompts now come over my stereo speakers.

 

That iphone app sounds neat, I might have to try that. Since Pandora's audio works through the jack, I'd imagine the turn-by-turn directions from that app would come through as well.

I don't know if I'm just missing something or what, but my GPS in the car doesn't show any streets in CA (only major hwys). Do I need to update it with a new map?? I can't imagine that a 2004 car doesn't have any charted streets in CA... most of the time I'm just driving around in uncharted gray territory! Is the GPS preloaded with regional software from whatever state it was purchased or something? So whack.

-Long

 

I bought some moleskin and lined my ashtray with it. Now I can put my iphone in that spot without doing damage to it.

The moleskin is great for stopping squeaks too!

http://www.tintprotector.com/strips/index.htm

 

I believe there are different CD/DVD's for different parts of the country. You need to get the CA one.

 

Good DIY and write up

 

I don't see it in my car??? I have a 2005 SL55

 

Ya, unfortunately, only up through the 2004 model year did they have AUX inputs in the glovebox.

 

DAMN YOU MERCEDES!!!!

 

I use my BT HF/Streaming Audo (Jabra BT3030) that is connected to my AUX which I have rerouted to the center compartment to have the AUX more convenient placed and stream music from my HTC phone. Conveniet to have it fully wireless.

 

Kind of an old thread but does anyone have any pictures of this? Do all 2003 and 2004 SL55 AMG cars have this in the glove box? I have not noticed anything in there.

Thanks

KAMIL

 

Yeah, mines on the left side wall of the compartment ('03). Moving it to the ashtray is more convenient for me. Nice write-up FLSL55!