Clock will not set

[dflambe]

Hi All,
I recently acquired a C220 Coupe 2012. The time is wrong on the clock and I can not get it to adjust. I go through the correct procedure but the time does not stay correct. I have a four button steering wheel so It's not the newer type Dash clocks and display. Is it a main dealer job?

 

[peterws1957]

Hi All,
I recently acquired a C220 Coupe 2012. The time is wrong on the clock and I can not get it to adjust. I go through the correct procedure but the time does not stay correct. I have a four button steering wheel so It's not the newer type Dash clocks and display. Is it a main dealer job?

Try doing the process first thing in the morning after the system has slept all night. If you have a facility for altering the date do this first. Sounds ridiculous but this was the only way I found of correcting the clock. You have to be quick though, otherwise the clock will revert to its incorrect setting. It's a ridiculous system.

 

[dflambe]

Thanks Peter. Do I start the car or just turn on the ignition? The date is already correct so do I need to reset the date anyway?

 

[V6Matty]

Does your car have command if so the time is set there rather than the cluster display

 

[dflambe]

Yes Matty, the clock is set at the centre display rather than the cluster and is controlled by the joystick on the centre console. I have a 4 button Steering wheel as opposed to the 12 button so the menus on both are simpler with less options.

Will try the early morning trick this weekend and report back.

 

[peterws1957]

Thanks Peter. Do I start the car or just turn on the ignition? The date is already correct so do I need to reset the date anyway?

Just turn on the ignition. If the date is correct you should be ok.

 

[V6Matty]

Just another thought but you don’t have any aftermarket equipment added to the command unit do you? We had something similar with our 169 which had a parrot kit fitted, when it failed and the clocks went back we noticed the instrument cluster clock didn’t change but command did, then over time they both slowly got more out of sync

 

[sonic]

On my 212 2011 vintage I am sure the clock time comes from either the sat nav or radio. I think the only change option I have is country, to get the time zone correct.

 

[Blobcat]

@Botus

 

[Botus]

GPS roll over event in april 2019 changed the way all satellites see the time and date - they operate for not so long, and so live in a strange 19 years clock cycle... so in 2019 they went back to year zero and your car didn't

four ideas

1) get at it with diagnostics some mercs can be flipped back to manual time and date entry and away form nav based time signals
2) hope your car was loved enough they made a patch and get dealer update so the service schedule copes, the time of arrival for nav is valid again and the cars date and time come back in sync with the world - not likely unless the model was under 7 years old from 2019
3) hack a merc comand update and replace the broken car's current understanding of what epoch it thinks it is (with a patched vespucci file)
4) swap the country setting in the comand between daylight saving countries in the EU running 1 hr ahead of GMT in the summer and UK GMT in the winter - then disconnect the battery at 11:59 and 50 seconds and reconnect at 11:59 and 55 seconds and see if the car wakes up reset to noon on the clock and carries on coping for a bit - service bit will stay lost and time of arrival can be weird

 

[dflambe]

GPS roll over event in april 2019 changed the way all satellites see the time and date - they operate for not so long, and so live in a strange 19 years clock cycle... so in 2019 they went back to year zero and your car didn't

four ideas

1) get at it with diagnostics some mercs can be flipped back to manual time and date entry and away form nav based time signals
2) hope your car was loved enough they made a patch and get dealer update so the service schedule copes, the time of arrival for nav is valid again and the cars date and time come back in sync with the world - not likely unless the model was under 7 years old from 2019
3) hack a merc comand update and replace the broken car's current understanding of what epoch it thinks it is (with a patched vespucci file)
4) swap the country setting in the comand between daylight saving countries in the EU running 1 hr ahead of GMT in the summer and UK GMT in the winter - then disconnect the battery at 11:59 and 50 seconds and reconnect at 11:59 and 55 seconds and see if the car wakes up resest to noon on the clock and carries on coping for a bit - service bit will stay lost and time of arrival can be weird

Thanks Botus. My car doesn't have the Navi system so does not have country settings, daylight saving times, etc. The only options I have are too:

Set Time
Set Date
Set format

It has the older style display (see photos) if you know what I mean. So I'll try Peter's suggestion first, then if that doesn't work I'll disconnect the battery at noon!!

Thanks.

 

[Botus]

I wonder if the cluster has a user menu option to toggle between nav time signal or manual user input? I think later cars had the user choice to have either clock setting method.... my car its nav only

It wouldn't surprise me if the menu is there on all cars, and some bright spark moved to nav clock signals it doesn't have - doing this locks you out of the ability for the car to recognise/remember manual changes via the display screen

 

[dflambe]

I wonder if the cluster has a user menu option to toggle between nav time signal or manual user input? I think later cars had the user choice to have either clock setting method.... my car its nav only

It wouldn't surprise me if the menu is there on all cars, and some bright spark moved to nav clock signals it doesn't have - doing this locks you out of the ability for the car to recognise/remember manual changes via the display screen

Just checked. No option on the cluster!

 

[peterws1957]

GPS roll over event in april 2019 changed the way all satellites see the time and date - they operate for not so long, and so live in a strange 19 years clock cycle... so in 2019 they went back to year zero and your car didn't

four ideas

1) get at it with diagnostics some mercs can be flipped back to manual time and date entry and away form nav based time signals
2) hope your car was loved enough they made a patch and get dealer update so the service schedule copes, the time of arrival for nav is valid again and the cars date and time come back in sync with the world - not likely unless the model was under 7 years old from 2019
3) hack a merc comand update and replace the broken car's current understanding of what epoch it thinks it is (with a patched vespucci file)
4) swap the country setting in the comand between daylight saving countries in the EU running 1 hr ahead of GMT in the summer and UK GMT in the winter - then disconnect the battery at 11:59 and 50 seconds and reconnect at 11:59 and 55 seconds and see if the car wakes up reset to noon on the clock and carries on coping for a bit - service bit will stay lost and time of arrival can be weird

Strange in a model with a normal none digital clock that you can change the time easily with Comand (providing you do it before systems wake up). Different tech obviously.

 

[dflambe]

Try doing the process first thing in the morning after the system has slept all night. If you have a facility for altering the date do this first. Sounds ridiculous but this was the only way I found of correcting the clock. You have to be quick though, otherwise the clock will revert to its incorrect setting. It's a ridiculous system.

Well Peter, tried this first thing this morning. Half way through setting the time (about 5 seconds in) something flashed up on the screen. It was too quick to read. Maybe I'll video it and look back frame by frame? Anyway the time did not correct! Pull the power at noon is the next attempt. I'll update on the video thing if it works.

 

[peterws1957]

Well Peter, tried this first thing this morning. Half way through setting the time (about 5 seconds in) something flashed up on the screen. It was too quick to read. Maybe I'll video it and look back frame by frame? Anyway the time did not correct! Pull the power at noon is the next attempt. I'll update on the video thing if it works.

Sounds as though your system is not the same as that on mine. Botus is the expert on this as above.

 

[Botus]

comandonline would regularly do the change on the old cars when doing retrofits (I guess of comand systems), you could toggle back and forth between modes for the clock setting using dealer tools (I guess the idea Merc had was build to do things automatically on nav cars, and manual set up for non nav cars)...

on my car there is no choice where they expected to find the menus using diagnostic kit...

I'm wondering if your car does pull the time via GPS, but there is just no sat nav to use... many BMW's have it in there and coded out these days - its a cheaper way to go about life (its a 5 pence chip in the headunit and the customer gets the time and date right - then when they tick a box ordering the new car and pay £800 for sat nav, they just code nav on when flashing the original software configuration and no doubt throw £30 at some map company for the privilege of making BMW a bonus 769.95 pounds...

old tomtom's time went wrong for the same reason you can add a third party patch and it boots up with time right - tomtom couldn't be bothered - they sell tomtom's not improve old ones and its the same with the cars.

when you pulled the battery off - what date setting are you left with when when the car wakes up ? the bug started with the known 2019 rollover event, as the years move on the confusion that left the car stuck in year 2003 I believe is playing some weird catch up. I had read this year Honda's woke up believing the info they see for 2023 means their cars now think its the correct year - not sure how that works - checking today - I suspect its internet drivel

 

[dflambe]

comandonline would regularly do the change on the old cars when doing retrofits (I guess of comand systems), you could toggle back and forth between modes for the clock setting using dealer tools (I guess the idea Merc had was build to do things automatically on nav cars, and manual set up for non nav cars)...

on my car there is no choice where they expected to find the menus using diagnostic kit...

I'm wondering if your car does pull the time via GPS, but there is just no sat nav to use... many BMW's have it in there and coded out these days - its a cheaper way to go about life (its a 5 pence chip in the headunit and the customer gets the time and date right - then when they tick a box ordering the new car and pay £800 for sat nav, they just code nav on when flashing the original software configuration and no doubt throw £30 at some map company for the privilege of making BMW a bonus 769.95 pounds...

old tomtom's time went wrong for the same reason you can add a third party patch and it boots up with time right - tomtom couldn't be bothered - they sell tomtom's not improve old ones and its the same with the cars.

when you pulled the battery off - what date setting are you left with when when the car wakes up ? the bug started with the known 2019 rollover event, as the years move on the confusion that left the car stuck in year 2003 I believe is playing some weird catch up. I had read this year Honda's woke up believing the info they see for 2023 means their cars now think its the correct year - not sure how that works - checking today - I suspect its internet drivel

Hi Botus, Tried disconnecting the battery today at noon. No change!!! The time and date were the same when I reconnected???? I tried this with both batteries, the trunk one and the hood one. I think it's a trip to a main dealer to be lightened by a few hundred Euro!!

 

[Botus]

can you change and get it to remember - either the time and or the date?
have you checked the owners manual for the process they think you should follow?

going to a dealer is usually a waste of space they have no idea about anything - and even less likely they will even try to resolve anything - they just like to collect the £250 diagnosis fee for achieving nothing at all

we should make it mandatory - if you wish to ask a question you must give the correct model info - I guess its a FG 204.302 (61F)

Mercedes-Benz C-Class - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

the W204 C-Class was released on 18 January 2007 and replaced by the W205 on 4 February 2014 made at the Bremen plant

as usual on the web its just lies, confusion and idiots

Time/Date
This menu is only available on vehicles without audio system or with audio 20
The audio 50 or comand systems use Time and Date received from GPS satellites and therefore cannot be set using the onboard computer.

Yet this engilsh guy says you just do it whilst the official merc forums say otherwise

 

[dflambe]

Hi Botus,
Thanks for you replies.
In answer to your first two questions:
1. No. I can go into the menu and adjust it but it just switches back.
2. Yes. Followed it exactly.

As per the model This is all I have. See attached.

I've watched all the videos and scoured the web to no avail. Got a quote from a Main dealer of €100 to do a software update.