Half-dead APS30 - Can anybody help?

[JCHR]

Hi,

This forum has been a real godsend... if only I'd found it before I bought my car I'd have been even happier.

I have recently bought an X-reg E320CDI (W210) Avantgarde. It came with an Audio 10.

From Ebay I bought an APS-30 and the v7.0 CDs (radio successfully upgraded from v6.0).
I also bought myself a Dension IceLink IPOD integration kit.

I got everything plugged up by a third party company but... CDC not seen on APS-30 and without the speed signal , although the nav display "worked", it wouldn't navigate... So far, so good.

This morning I went to my local ('ish) MB dealer to have the various bits of integration done and then it all went down hill:

- IPOD integration completed: appears as CDC but....
- According to STAR there is no navigation capability in the APS-30 and when you press Nav you get no display at all. I had left the v6 CD in the car as well as the v7 discs and it was that CD that they had used to try and recover the situation.
- Inserting the nav CD causes the unit to recognise that there is a CDROM but it does nothing else beyond saying "CDROM" on the display...
- MB dealer says it will take 3 man-hours to connect up the two speed cables (including bringing them up from their respective footwells).

Questions:
- Does anybody have any suggestions for how / whether I might get the nav display back? (Unplug it from the car for 10 minutes? Is there a reset switch somewhere?)
- I've read that the reverse signal isn't vital so, given access to the WIS, is getting the speed signal up from the passenger footwell something an amateur could do or am I likely to end up with a 3D jigsaw puzzle, entitled "Merc Interior"?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Regards
JC

 

[JCHR]

One hour later

I can answer the question about what happens next....

I had to go out again about an hour later and when I started up, bingo! "Life" in the nav bit of the unit.

Would still be grateful for views about cost / time to provide the speed signal.

Thanks
JC

 

[marnix]

Hi
To retrieve the speed signal is quite an easy job. All you need is a soldering iron, some wire, some isolating tape and a 2.8mm female spade connector.
In the engine compartment, left hand side, near the windscreen, there is a black box (with airconditioning sticker on it). Remove the cover. At the ESP- Module (or ASR-Module), there are 2 big connectors and 1 small one. The left one carries the signal (Colour Green/White)
The signal can be found too, in the passenger's footwell: green/white cable (in harness with green double-cable) behind toeboard. OR: 2 lone green/black cables, soldered together at their ends, behind vertical cover of passenger footwell pillar.
The wire needs to be connected to pin1 Block A (Bottom block next to the 10A fuse)
See link for connector blocks www.beckerelectronics.com/1492.html

 

[JCHR]

Marnix,

Thanks for the swift reply. I'm grateful for the clear description of the electrical piece (and I'd feel quite happy following those instructions)... It's the bit where I have to "dismantle" the car, either to get the cable through from the engine compartment to behind the dash or to get to the wire in the footwell and take a run up to behind the dash... The bit that makes me nervous is less the electrics and more the dismantling and putting it back together...

There's no Haynes manual for the W210... I'd be happy to have a go if there was a manual that provided step-by-step instructions...

Regards
JC

 

[marnix]

The footwell is already nearly under the dash.
you just need to route the wire under the glove box and you are then behind the radio. Would not take more than an hour if you stopped for a couple of tea breaks