COMAND Retrofit
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Last Updated: 29 Dec 2007
Retrofitting COMAND to Mercedes Benz
Vehicles
24th October 2006 –
Version 1.18 1.18 – Change © info,
add CLK wiring info, fix link 1.17 – Correct/add to
info for AUX input 1.16 – Add CL info,
more Comand part nrs, SL programming note, buying info 1.15 – Add some preÕ99
ML info 1.14 – Add detail of
what dealer must do with Star Diagnosis system 1.13 – Some W210
E-Class notes. Another ML-GPS aerial picture. Some other minor tweaks. 1.12 – A long time
since the last update – general additions, pictures, re-arranged to group
vehicle specific information together, added some more COMAND part numbers. 1.11 – more C/CLK
info, also more nav. Sensor angle info. 1.10 – add C/CLK parts
information. CANbus doesnÕt need shielded cable. 1.9 – fix part number
for GPS aerial 1.8 – additional part
numbers for COMAND and various extra information 1.7 – fix speed signal
on C2 pin number 1) Introduction
This document describes how
to retrofit COMAND to certain Mercedes Benz vehicles, and how to fit COMAND to
non-Mercedes vehicles. This document relates to the
original COMAND system fitted up until around 2004/2005, where it was replaced
by COMAND-APS. The original COMAND system has CDROM, the later system is DVD
based. The newer system uses completely different technology to the older
COMAND systems. The document is somewhat
lacking in pictures, because when I initially wrote this, I didnÕt have a
digital camera, and there werenÕt many pictures of COMAND around. This document applies to
European and North American vehicles, and not to Japanese COMAND systems. It is the summary of
information that I know (from playing with COMAND systems for a while), and
information gained from various discussion boards. I donÕt warrant that any of
this is correct, and if you damage your car then that is your responsibility.
If you have Teleaid/E-Call, be careful to check that all works once you have
finished. Do this at your own risk. If you do connect things wrongly you could
considerably (and expensively) damage your car. If you are in the US and want
Teleaid to work, you must use US COMAND unit not a European one. Retrofitting COMAND to
Mercedes Benz vehicles (where COMAND was available but was not ordered from the
factory) is not that difficult. It is made considerably easier if the aerial
cabling for the GPS aerial is already present (which it is in the M class and
for many US vehicles, although some extension cables or a splitter may be
needed on some vehicles), or if you are willing to install a separate GPS
aerial rather than the Òfactory fittedÓ version on the roof/front-window of the
vehicle. There are two types of
COMAND, with 4 varieties of one of
those types. COMAND
2.5 – the original COMAND unit with a cassette deck used in S and CL, it
is 2.5 din units in size. This was installed until the end of MY2002 COMAND
2.0 – this unit takes 2.0 DIN units (i.e a double DIN slot) – there
are 4 varieties of facia though, and different units have different processing
power and features:- Original: Square
facia as used in ML, original CLK and E classes) 203: Curvey
facia As used in the new CLK/C/G-Wagon 230: As
used in the SL – these have more detailed mapping functions 220: 16x9
Widescreen unit as used in MY2003 S/CL – this is sometimes known as
COMAND MOPF. A ML Class COMAND Unit
(original COMAND 2.0)
A C Class COMAND Unit (203
version of COMAND 2.0)
An SL COMAND unit (230
version of COMAND 2.0)
A S/CL COMAND unit (220
version of COMAND 2.0)
This document really only
deals with installing COMAND 2.0 units – i.e. those pictured above. 2) Purchasing a COMAND
unit The cheapest place to
purchase a COMAND unit is from Ebay – there are some useful searches
shown in my buying guide at http://www.mercupgrades.com/buyit.htm You can obtain warrantied
used units from: - COMAND.co.uk
www.comand.co.uk – speak to Mark MBenzNL
www.mbenznl.com - speak to Steve or Wanda Megacomm
www.megacomm.de Audiocomp
www.audiocomp.info If you have a relatively new
car, you should buy the latest available unit for your model. Mercedes part
numbers take the format: - A
XXX YYY ZZ BB The XXX is the vehicle model
number that the part first appeared in. Here is a selection
You should purchase the part
starting with the correct code for your car otherwise the catch mechanism will
be wrong, the gyroscope angle will be wrong, and at a minimum it wonÕt work
until a MB dealer has re-coded it, and in fact it may not work. This is because
different units expect the Speed, Reverse and Lighting signals to be wired
either via the carÕs CAN bus, or via discrete wiring, and cannot easily be
changed. Be ware that if you have one
of the earliest CLK or E (ie model year 1999 and before) then you need to
purchase the exact unit that would have been in the car, or a M class unit
– consult your MB parts department for the part number. The older cars do
not have CAN bus connected to the radio/command (and nor does the M class). Also, if you are installing
in a ML (or a car not designed for COMAND) you must by a ML unit –
although some W208 CLK units can be made to function. I believe that the new
CLK/C/G-Wagen units may be interchangeable, but they will only fit in Mercedes
Benz vehicles as they have non DIN shaped front panels. It may be that the
speed signal is on the A connector on the G-Wagen unit, but they may be able to
be coded to behave like a C/CLK unit. The SL unit is a different shape. Here is an incomplete list
of COMAND unit part numbers – note that this includes COMAND 2.5 systems
for the S/CL (upto MY2002) which have very different wiring to that described
in this document. A more complete list of part
numbers can be found on my website http://www.mercupgrades.com
If you use a European COMAND
unit on a US vehicle then weatherband will not work and AM radio reception will be incomplete because Europe
uses a different spacing between stations than USA. European COMAND units have
a TV button. US units have a blank button instead. The latest US units can be
made to work with TV, older ones canÕt. Early COMAND 2.5 units do not support
TV. US units do not support RDS text, European units do. I suspect that having a US
dealer install the latest US software on a European COMAND unit will make
weatherband work again, but lose RDS text. The COMAND unit has an
inbuilt gyroscope, which must be aware of the angle that the unit is mounted in
the dash. On the side of the unit is a special clip – different coloured
clips are used for the different angles – if the wrong one is installed,
navigation may not work well. These are the clips I am aware off: -
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