I want to put a cd changer into my 1999 E320 4matic wagon, which has Bose premium sound. Dealer has told me I need the changer numbered A 002 820 79 89 (model MC3198). Dealer also threatens I need a cable costing over $200. Others say the cable or cables should be in the car. This is, I gather, a fiber optic controlled changer. The diagram on alldata shows a D2B connector between the radio and the changer, plus another connection. On ebay I've found several changers of the right number, but I can find only one unconnected connector in the rear right well of the wagon, and that is a small one, with several very small wires in it, certainly not fibre optic. Is there an expert out there who knows what I need and what I am in for? I can get a changer on ebay (one of them supposedly has its fiber optic cable with it) but will I be able to get it working? Mason Smith

 

MC 3110, MC 3010, MC3198 will all work on your car. If your wagon is USA model, it should have the bright orange, twin lead harness already pulled and laid out with other wiring. Same goes for the requisite power cable...all black, terminating into a small 1/4x3/8" male plug. It is nearly plug and play here in the US, though the head unit can be finicky. If it displays "No CD Changer" in the head unit after you connect changer, report back.

other connections back there may be changer, fiber compliant cell phone...both uses D2B.

 

Dear Raymond, thanks for your note. There is an orange cable, already hooked to the radio unit in that well. Is it possible that I only need a D2B jumper between the radio and the cd changer? I've seen a wiring diagram on alldata that seems to show such a connection. The other small connector fits your description of the power cable. Thanks again---Mason

 

on the sedans, the fiber cable extends along the left side, ending just aft of the rear wheel. to access , you pull away some of the trunk liner and look for the other end of the orange cable to the end connected to the head unit. if you find it, you can test by shining laser pointer into one LED and look for light at the other end of the harness.

 

that can be near beacon hill reservoir.

 

raymond, thanks for those photos of the connections. I'll pull out the radio and amp from the back rightside well of the wagon and see if there is an open fiber optic connection on the radio. still hoping that a jumper from radio to changer is what's needed, since there isn't (so far as I can see or feel) a second fiber optic line coming from the front of the car. I'll also look on the left side, but that's the tire well and I don't think there's anything there. Does it make sense to you that there could just be a D2B jumper between radio and cd changer, rather than a second D2B coming all the way from the head? Mason

 

email me before you swing by. i'll pull out the barbeque!

 

floridathenovel:

i'm easily confused with story problems, as I was a by-product of the Seattle public sckool system. j/k

okay....
the D2B fiber exiting from the head unit should be directly connected to the changer. that is it.

the only reason why there may be something else in the D2B loop is if you have an active, onboard phone which is integral to your head unit. if not, then the fiber currently connected to your head unit has the other end dangling for your delight....to grab....and to plug in to your changer.

in my head, the fiber connect to the back of your head unit is "L" shaped...kind of like a xmas stocking...though it wouldn't surprise me if there are variants. am also guessing you have Audio 30 head unit...like that pictured here


your set up, if unaltered from basic factory issue, should be very common and no surprises. hook up should be a piece of cake. but it sounds as though you've not yet located the 'other' end of the fiber cable (twin lead) exiting your head unit. i 've not worked on a wagon so unsure. but i really thought they were mounted in rear quarter panel somewhere.


p.s. there are no jumpers to flip in order to get changer to mate with radio. it's pretty much plug and play

pps i just sold a short length of fiber with MB connectors for $25. had it sitting around and I didnt need. it was about 36" but dunno if that would have helped anyway as it sounds you may need longer.

ppps fiber cable is fragile. do not kink. handle carefully!! not as robust as typical copper strand wire

 

Dear Raymond, Ah, my car does have a telephone! There is a unit in the back that I took to be part of the radio but now I suppose it's part of the telephone. It has an empty socket on it that looks like the usual phone-wire connection but is larger. So maybe the one fiber optic cable from the head to the rear end is used on that, and I could relocate it at the head (would I need to?) and then connect it to a changer in back. The telephone is useless to me.

I think I misused the term "jumper." I saw in a wiring diagram for my car a D2B connection from the head to the radio, and a short one from the radio to what I thought must be the changer. I called that a jumper.

My head does not resemble the one in your illustration. The left-side button has radio, telephone, cd and aud on its 4 corners. When I hit CD the LCD says NO CHANGER.

 

heh heh....i was tired after work when i posted that link. i've corrected it. how's that photo now? should be same as yours.

still not quite confident i'm understanding the layout, but how about this? unplug the orange fiber from the back of that telephone
'thing' in the back of the wagon. temp plug in your CD changer. now locate power cable and plug that into the back of your
changer. now cycle the ejection and see if the 6 tray magazine ejects. (hope so). this tells me you have power.

if the answer is yes (ejecting properly) but the head unit still displays "No CD changer" . get back to me and we'll come up with
some tips for you to try. am at work now so quickly typing this...