E350 Audio - control knob not working

[Ardingly]

Hi, Can anyone help please. I have a 2010 E350 with COMAND. In the centre armrest there is an audio control 'panel'. Consists of two buttons and a horizontal silver wheel which rotates and has five other functions to move and select options for COMAND By tilting you can get UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT and by pressing you get select. The side buttons are Back and Cancel. In my case I have a DVD with 600 odd mp3 tracks and use the wheel to scroll through the tracks at high speed.
A passenger got in awkwardly with crutches and later I found that the rotating function had stopped working. All the other functions continued to work and I can still scroll through the tracks by tipping the wheel to the right but this is slow and cumbersome. The wheel rotates with the slightly cllcky feel as before but this doesn't change tracks.
I could possibly get a new switch but since it didn't go slow or intermittent I want to explore other possibilities first.
Any ideas?
NB This is not the wheel in the main console which just operates volume.
Thanks

 

[alexanderfoti]

Yes, unfortunately a common fault. The shaft breaks internally. It can be repaired with kits available or the whole switch replaced.

 

[EmilysDad]

is this the repair kit needed?

http://x8r.co.uk/mercedes-comand-co...h-button-scroll-knob-shaft-repair-fix-kit-434

 

[Chrishazle]

That's the puppy - had to get the S204 done a year or more back, looked at the instruction videos and decided it was beyond my sausage fingers so had a local ICE outfit do the fitting, cost me £120 plus the cost of the aluminium shaft (which I bought from a different supplier for a similar price, https://www.julau.de/)

 

[Ardingly]

Yes, unfortunately a common fault. The shaft breaks internally. It can be repaired with kits available or the whole switch replaced.

 

[Ardingly]

Thanks Alexander and also to Emily's Dad and Chris for also replying. Is it easy to get at the switch to replace it? I look at these sort of components built into the consoles and think I can't take a screw driver and just start levering away at the corners. I am in awe of people who dismantle half the interior and then manage to put it all back together again!

 

[Ardingly]

Wow, just checked YouTube -

Looks very, very fiddly, especially if you are taking the switch apart to replace only the shaft. £120 seems good value but I would think that replacing the whole switch is the cheaper option if you're paying for labour.

 

[Chrishazle]

Try asking MB for the price of the full switch - expect £180-200! I know when I was researching my problem I looked at the price of the switch, and buying the shaft and paying £120 for someone else to install it was cheaper.

If you open the link I gave and scroll down the page there's 2 videos, one for replacing the shaft once the switch is out and the second for removing/replacing the switch.

 

[John Laidlaw]

I'm sure @JBell did his himself?

 

[JBell]

I'm sure @JBell did his himself?

I have, really easy to do

You need one of these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes...648345?hash=item1efed8ed99:g:NUEAAOSw4yJdOukJ

and the youtube video

 

[EmilysDad]

I have, really easy to do

You need one of these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes...648345?hash=item1efed8ed99:g:NUEAAOSw4yJdOukJ

and the youtube video

I was right when I thought the one I linked to was expensive!

 

[Chrishazle]

That is risdiculously cheap compared to what I bought a couple of years ago, but the link I gave has 2 superb videos of how to get the switch assembly out and then how to do it.

 

[JBell]

This is the best video to take it apart

 

[JBell]

Broken shaft

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