Kevin M.

OK, so here is the deal with the factory phone system. I'm not sure on all years, but I do know this applies to all 05 & 06's E class and CLS that did not have the factory phone kit option. First of all these cars are all prewired for the system, so installation is pretty simple. I used this for my installation instructions, its a great PDF on how to install everything. I've provided some additional pictures and tips. Also I purchased everything used from a guy that was selling his car. I do know that the completer kit is what is needed in order to get the system working. Those part numbers are on the last page of the PDF. You can also see all of the part numbers on the items I've installed. So here we go...

This is the complete kit..
1 MHI Control Module
2 Antenna Switch
3 Voice Control System (VCS)
4 MOST Adapter Cable
5 Linear Compensator
6 Contact Plate
7 Push-to-Talk (PTT) Lever



Step 1 Remove the trunk liner, also remove the right side shell.




Step 2 Now remove the black foam piece, it has 2 round clips that will unscrew.


Step 3 I believe it was a 10MM bolt, remove the two bolts that hold the black plastic lid in place. Now this thing was a little tricky, first off the middle of it is clipped underneath the back of the seat. So after you've unscrewed the two bolts, this whole tray will slide out, you have to kind of lift up and pull it out. Once that middle part is out, lift the cover off, its also snapped in on the left and right side, sticking a screwdriver in the top slots helped it pop out.



Step 4 Everything on the PDF was very detailed, a couple of things to add. Figure 11 step 4, when you take apart the existing yellow cable, there is a black cap that must come off first, careful remove this with a flathead screwdriver. Once the black cap is removed you simply give a tug on the right side of the yellow optic cable, its kind of snapped in there. Pic with cap off..




Down to step 22, there are several cables that are tied up in this area, only remove the ones seen in the pic. Also the power cable to the compensator was taped up further on the cable, just look close for it. Ok everything should be attached and secured down.



Step 5 On figure 26, regarding the CLS, not sure about the E, when it comes to removing this piece, there are no screws to take out, this piece is snapped in two places, use a flat head scredriver to snap out the piece, on the drivers side between the console and this piece, pop it out. Once that side is out, you can lift up on the top part of it, this will let you access the plugs underneath it as seen here..




Step 6 Not mentioned in this PDF is that you also need the bluetooth puck, this plugs into the adapter seen in figure 32. You can get these on ebay for $350, or also do a search, I've read the BMW one works as well, and its cheaper.



Step 7. I didn't have to the dealer program anything, once the puck was on I was then able to connect to my phone, everything works great accept my phone does not download my contacts, it does download my last dialed numbers and missed calls though. Also since I have Voice control, I can program it to add a address book with voice commands. The VCS is very nice, sometimes it gets the wrong number, but mostly it works great. Although it does not control the Navigation, DVD, SAT, or Ipod.

A couple of other things items, when you leave the car, and shut everything off, power still remains to the puck for a few minutes, you can disconnect from your phone, or if you hold down TEL for 5 seconds, this will shut it off, so you can walk out of the car and switch back to the phone. Also to turn it back on manually hit TEL again and it powers on.
Also call waiting does not work, you do hear the beep that a call is coming in, but you have to use the phone itself to switch over. Thats about all I can think of, I really like the system, the sound is great on both ends. I figured with the new law coming July 1st for California, this would be a good time to install it. Also for more pics click on my sig below, the last pages have all the pics from the install. Hope this helps!!






VCS stalk

blackcls63

wow, good job Kevin, you need to compile the part-1-2-3-4 , super-weekend PDF

yahya

WOW....

You the man!!!

juicee63

I alway Love your threads.

Great write up,

fuqua

Hey Kevin, great write up.

How much do all the additonal parts cost and where can they be picked up!

Kevin M.

Thanks Guys!!

Since I bought them used, I don't really know the retail price.
Here is a post on where to buy stuff online.

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ighlight=place

Blood Doctor

Holy cow...

this is exactly what I was hoping for...

Will have to try to do this as well...

Dealers always quote $2500 to do the completer kit.

Keep up the good work !

Blood Doctor

Not sure how many people are really interested in bluetooth since this thread kind of died quickly. But after Kevin's great write-up, I tried to find parts without much luck. Retail for the parts alone were sometimes up as high as $2250... ouch!

Then I came across & met with Keith Valentine aka cellguy85 on ebay.

He's not cheap either, but knows what he is doing, got me the best / newest OEM parts, and still saved me several hundred bucks by doing it myself. Basically if you take your car to any local dealership in southern cal, they call him to do the phone or satellite installs.

Bottom line, is like Kevin pointed out, all CLS come pre-wired and the installation is very simple especially with a cheater kit from ebay below for $1300 and takes about 1 hr tops with fantastic sound and convience.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mercedes-Benz-Bl...QQcmdZViewItem

The reason why it is a cheater kit is that it leaves out the linear compensator and antenna connection since bluetooth does not utilize the car's antenna. This is also the hardest part to install, but can be skipped & unnecessary unless you want to utilize a dock. This kit did not include VCS, but I was able to purchase those parts from him as well. All parts were new, the latest versions, and works very well. I was glad to meet with him, very friendly, and explained all the bugs on the previous versions. There have been 4 or 5 upgrades already to deal with prior version problems / incompatibility, etc.

Again, not cheap, but I'm really glad I activated Bluetooth & VCS to my CLS, especially since it is already pre-wired into the car. I do a lot of dictations and doing them via the CLS on the way home is great.

MJ50

great info! thx!

ices

I am bringing this thread back from the dead...

Has anyone been able to do this recently? How much for the parts and where can the parts be obtained from. I am interested in this . TIA

Blood Doctor

First off, let's not forget to give props again to Kevin M for doing this thread and other DIY threads in the 1st place

For me, I used cellguy85 last year and he was great.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/cellguy85

The prices he's listing for the CLS completer kit currently are several hundred less then what I paid about year ago. The dealer charges a little over $2k, but that takes into account that they install it for you. Since it is pretty straightforward to do, you can save yourself about $1k if you do it yourself as outlined above.

Good Luck,
- Ed

siswati

Hey Kev

I remember reading this post of yours way back, and at the time, when looking at the pics, I remember thinking "MYwife"????? As opposed to Jeff's wife, Robb's wife, ANO's wife!!!!!!!. I remember chuckling then and found myself chuckling again today when I read the resurfaced post.

Hope you are doing well, and hope to meet up one day!

benbac

i'm trying to do the same thing on my car, that black plastic lid (carrier plate cover) you said you were having trouble with, yeah i'm having trouble with it myself i pulled the tray out detaching it from the back seat, now it's just the lid itself i need to take off, i tried sticking a flathead screwdriver in the top slots on the left and right, pry'ed a bit, twisted, didn't help. i tried reaching behind it to see if i can pull on the clip or something to wiggle it out but not sure how exactly it's clipped back there, no help. it's so frustrating, i felt like i was going to break the damn thing.

i was wondering if there were any tips anyone can give me. any advice would be much appreciated.

Kevin M.

It's been so long, I recall the back are locked in by some sort of tab, try working with the front first, once you lift that the rear somehow popped out. Sorry so vague hard to expalin that one.

TheRealT-Cls500

Great Post Kevin! You would be surprised how hard it is to find good information in this. I ordered completer kit, should be arriving this week. I own a 06 Cls 500, for anyone interested It only cost me around $250. Part # Q-682-0954 & Q-682-0965 .

cls55AMG 916

i live in sacramento and i can come when ever you are free just need to know how much you want to sell it for thanks to much at the dealership

Kevin M.

Great glad you found the information useful.

khelawanb

Good job and good info Kevin.

bosbrucec

And 3 years later... I just did this... the two Kits needed are ~$300 if your dealer gives you close to invoice on them, and the bluetooth "puck" is $125-$300 on eBay ($500 at dealer, $400 for the enhanced Viseeeo version).

I just did this and it wasn't too bad... most difficult bits were popping the plastic tray out of it's spot in the trunk, realizing I need to press hard *underneath* the center console piece on the 3 tabs to cleanly release it, and realizing I had to completely remove the rear plastic cover of the trunk to get the side panel moved. Took me about 3 hours...

One more comment on the above instructions... The detail about just pulling the fiber optic cable until it pops is wrong... This may work or may end up popping the wrong side or damaging the cable... there is a visible plastic retainer that you can use a knife or very small flathead screwdriver to lift and then it comes it with no pressure at all (just don't bend it so much that it won't go back down to hold the new cable in place!).

See also :

https://mbworld.org/forums/cls-coupe...gs-needed.html

and

http://phdwebsite.powerpulse.cc/Phon...0E%20Sedan.pdf

Exotic-metal55

Very nice weekend project and thanks for the info.

WULplease

Does this setup allow you to play music via bluetooth?

Kevin M.

Not for me with all the stock equipment, unless there is another aftermarket device that you can add to make it work.

George_Rindov

Hi Kevin,

Please provide the PDF with instructions on how to install the Bluetooth. The link in the post no longer works.

Thank you.
George Rindov

Kevin M.

Sorry I don't have it, that was a link to someone else's.