There's good news & Bad news.

Good News: 2002 Bi-Xenons came in today from PP. Both assemblies installed easily in my 01ML320, all tabs were intact and they fired right up.

Now the Bad News: The passenger (right) side is great for squirrel hunting because at 25', it is aimed about 4 feet above the left hand one.

I adjusted the 2 aiming nuts at the bottom front of the assembly, and the bottom mounting tabs are flat against the frame mount for maximum downward adjustment. Both the projector beam and the halogen beam are aiming high so I know it's the whole assembly. The top tab and mounting bolt are in their right places and the unit appears to fit normally and externally looks just like the left side.

Any ideas about how to adjust this beam downward would be greatly appreciated. I feel like I'm missing something really obvious. Otherwise, it's a trip to the dealer tomorrow (IA in MIlwaukee) to get flogged. If it's really bad I may take a trip to Madison to see you.

Also, do you have Xenon aiming data? How many feet from the wall and what height for proper adjustment? Of course, if I can't get this assembly pulled down from they sky, precise aiming will be unneccessary.

Thanks in advance,
'One Eye' Elmer

Visited the dealer and after removing the headlight, Bob (head ML tech) determined that the shaft from the leveling motor had popped loose from the lamp assembly.

We learned a couple of things about the headlamp unit:

1. The halogen lamp and the bi-xenon lamp are tied together into one unit, so the leveling motor affects both lamps aim.

2. The internal lamp units are spring loaded so if the leveling motor shaft is disconnected the unit will aim itself toward the sky. That was the cause of the problem and why I was out of adjusting range.

3. The H7 bulb does not appear to be a standard replaceable bulb, but some proprietary assembly which uses a H7 bulb. I was going to pop my old Vision Plus H7's into the assembly, but after removing the wiring harness, saw that it looks like a different beast inside and left it alone. If anybody wants to dig inside and confirm this, you're on your own.

Comments from the tech and service writers about putting a 2002 bi-xenon unit into an 01 was . . . cool!

I am intersted to learn your experiences since I am thinking about installing the xenon units in my 99 ML320. I also like that big screen radio/cd setup from MY 2000 onwards. I have the old style Bose. I don't suppose there is a retrofit for that is there?

Gilly, anybody??

There is a lot of discussion on http://forums.mbnz.org/forums/ about Xenon lights. Everyone enjoys the change.

Re retro fitting the MCS into your '99 it would probably be less expensive to install either a Garmin GPS or just buy a '00 ML than to retro fit the MCS into your '99. I was told that the price of the base unit, excluding all options (phone, GPS, CD player, wiring harness) was about 5K. And really, IMHO, the MCS it is by far the most idiotic "feature" offered on the ml. It adds little to the driving experience unless you want the uncompetitive (read that outrageously) priced phone and GPS, at well over US *$1000* each.

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

Tim,

In the last 11 months since I bought my ML, I've added (in order) the Nav system, Timeport phone and 2002 bi-Xenon lights. Here's my logic, your needs, likes and checkbook may vary.

NAVIGATION.
Regarding the NAV system, over the past 3 years, I've run a handheld Magellan ColorTrack GPS alone and also tied it into a 15" display laptop as well as a separate DeLorme Earthmate GPS with a Sony CLIE palm device. Both setups gave me realtime moving map navigation with some advantages and disadvantages of each.

First the laptop. I needed to run a power inverter, or do laptop battery management. The moving map display on a 15" LCD screen is great, but can be too bright at night, and it also fills the front seat, so whenever I have a passenger, it's not good. You also have to provide aux power to the handheld GPS. You end up with a lot of cockpit clutter with cables. Its also hard to safely secure a laptop and GPS without some type of seat-top workspace device. Route entry is about the same, with the advantage that I prepared routes at my office on the laptop ahead of time before traveling. The databases available from DeLorme are pretty good (using Street Atlas 6.0, 7.0, 8.0 and Deluxe over the years). The laptop is not flexible for re-routing or off-route performance. The nice part with the handheld GPS, is that I could detach the unit and go hiking / hunting with it. Accuracy of the system was outstanding , with surveyed errors on the order of 3 ft and was strictly a function of Selective Availability being turned on or off (it was turned off permanently a couple of years ago - the one good thing Clinton ordered). I could use either the Magellan ColorTrak (around $275) or the Earthmate (about $125) for the laptop. That, plus the cost of Street Atlas ($50), a DC/AC inverter ($50), and some cables ($20) and excluding the cost of a laptop you're in business for under $250.

Wanting something smaller, when I bought a CLIE (palm OS), it was compatable with Street Atlas. You have to add Solus, which is an application that clips maps from Street Atlas and saves them as files you can display on a palm OS hahheld. Bascially, you use Street Atlas to select and crop an area from your map display, and save it as a file which is downloaded to the palm CLIE and viewed through SOLUS (the palm application). As with the laptop, I got a moving map display and good street level detail in small areas, but the memory limitations of palm devices (8MB) result in you having to select either a small area map or an unacceptable low level of detail for longer trips. With the CLIE (color backlighted display), I could get about 4 hours of operations on a battery charge (Lithium Ion internal rechargeable), and 10 hours from the Earthmate (4 AAA's). The CLIE / Earthmate system was a fairly basic solution, and its biggest advantage was it was a space saver. The Earthmate sat on the dashboard, and the CLIE rode in a dual Palm / cellphone holder suction cupped to the windshield. Route planning and map selection is done on the mother computer that synchs with the palm device, and there is no off-route redirection capability.
Costs run about the same as the laptop hookup, because instead of getting an inverter, you need to buy SOLUS. DeLorme had a package with Street Atlas, Solus, and the Earthmate GPS receiver for under $200, and you get a $20 cable. FYI - the Earthmate has no display, it must be hooked to a computer or palm.

DeLorme just announced an upgrade to Street Atlas and Solus, where they now have one product called XMap Handheld Street Atlas USA which can be seen at - http://www.delorme.com/xmaphandheld/default.asp
- this combines the two previous applications into one, plus allows you to clip larger maps by using removable memory devices such as the Sony memory stick to load your database, which the palm application can access directly. Previously, you had to load maps to the internal palm memory (limited to 8MB for all applications and data on the palm).

So, back to reality. After using both these options, I decided to do the MB NAV upgrade. I wanted the following functionality.
1. A cleaner cockpit with no cable clutter. Less crap rattling around is a good thing. Wife refused to have laptop sitting on her now non-existent lap.
2. Better off-route redirection and responsiveness from the system.
3. A better database of addresses, telephone numbers and points of interest.
4. A right sized screen (palm was too small, laptop too large)
5. On the fly activation, deactivation, and route planning.

I am a licensed pilot and former Navy Fleet navigator, so operating a vehicle while doing other tasks is not excessively challenging. Cockpit management is the same the world over! My dealer quoted me about $2300 for installation, and I was able to get the MB system from Clairparts with costs as listed:

Nav unit - $1300
10 Nav Disc CD pack - $270
Shipping - $15

Dealer install - 1.5 hours - $140 (incl tax)

Total - $1735

This compared to the best local dealer quote range of $2200 - $2395 for their package (with only 1 CD, not the entire set).

So, I made the decision that the cost was an acceptable factor for the functionality I was buying. I don't use the voice nav capability, but have found the onboard database handy for finding gas stations, specific resturants, a branch of my bank while traveling, and telephone numbers of various businesses I wanted to call while on the road. Even though the nav routing may direct me on a route I don't want, the off-route recalculations are very quick and are helpful in getting me where I want to go. What I miss are being able to display are the satellite constellation and status, as well as a current lat/long, course and speed. That's the navigator part coming out, becasue I can often tell based on the number of satellites and their geometry how good or tenuous a fix will be. The MB system tracks much better than the others, due mostly to a "snap to" feature where the system pulls you onto the nearest road if their is GPS fix "float". Also, the vehicle has an internal gyro, which I believe also feeds into the ESP steering assist system, as well as provideing gyro inputs to refine satellite fix data. I am very pleased with the system despite the cost.

Regarding Lebenz's post, I agree that there are other functional solutions available. A dashtop unit like the Garmin Street Pilot may meet your needs. I'm planning on keeping the ML for a long time (had a 240D for 13 years), so upgradeability of the database was a factor in choosing a CD based system. The Garmin's are a good small sized and accurate stand alone system at an ever lowering price point. They can be hard wired for power and I believe the databases are upgradeable. That might hold you until you decide to trade your '99. The 2003 ML NAV sytem is going to be DVD based. I don't believe it would be cost effective to upgrade a '99 to th MCS system, it may not be possible because of the switch to fiber optic wiring in the '01 that I have. The connection between MCS, NAV, the antenna, both cell phones (TeleAid & Timeport) is a technical nightmare.

Continued on next post . . . .

TIMEPORT
I've had a StarTac Sprint PCS phone for several years, and initially had no plans to upgrade until I saw a deal on some parts from a guy who had the factory Timeport install and upgraded to Motorola V60. I did some checking and thought that what was being sold was all I needed and could be done for about $700-800 bucks - installed. Well, everybody screws up sometime. In this case, what happened was that the parts I bought were about 1/3 of the parts needed in the vehicle to do the job which I found out after making the purchase.

The saga reads as follows:
I found a 'good deal' for the parts to install the Timeport from a guy who was upgrading his system from a Timeport to the V60, believing (based on my specific questions to him about this) that these parts were all that was necessary. The parts I purchased were as follows: (all part # are MBUSA numbers)

PSE Unit Q6820648
Cradle Q6820649
Coilcord Q6820464

These bits ran me $250

I also purchased a Motorola factory refurbished MB Timeport model P8367 (Sprint PCS) for $270 from Clairparts. The factory new ones were about $450.

My dealer estimated 3.5 hours of shoptime (@ $80/hr for $280)

The total estimate was $800 complete with dealer installation. Now the bad news.

I get to the dealer, and the big revelation is that when I purchased the in-vehicle parts, the cabling and other critical parts to complete the installation are not factory pre-installed, but are part of the 'Standard Telephone Kit', MBUSA part number Q6820563 and were probably still in the vehicle of the guy who sold me the parts (and who is a frequent poster on the forum). So my dealer's parts manager wants to sell me a complete kit, telling me that the $800 price for the kit is less than the $1200 it would cost me to buy the remaining parts I need individually.

Not liking that price, I contacted Kevin at Clairparts and he provided me with a listing of exactly what remaining parts I needed and a price for those remaining parts, which was actually $525, not the $1200 quoted by my dealer.

Then, I contacted my dealer's parts manager again who provided story #2 - that he could not order the 2001 individual parts, only kits. At that point, I advised him that there was another supplier who was willing to do so. We then commenced with story #3 which was that he could get all the parts except for 3 cables which he did not have individual part numbers for. I then read him with the part numbers of the cables which he was then miraculously able to find in his system, but could only get for over $600. I told him I had a quote of $525 which he then finally to meet.

The additional parts to complete the kit are:

Compensator (dual band) Q6820657 (big bucks)
Install hardware general Q6820462
Cable, PSE/ Optical D2B Q6820672
Cable, Coax Ant to Ecall Q6820673
Cable, Coax Ant to GPS Q6820674
Bracket, Compensator Q6820473
Antenna Switch, Dual Band Q6820652 (lesser bucks)
Template, Installation Q6820481

As I said, total for these was $525.

We're now at $1325 installed. Note that the factory price for a Timeport is $1395 - and I bought a refurb phone, not a new one.


Lessons learned:

1. If you're buying something secondhand, all the assurances in the world that you're getting everything you need to do what you want to do are of little value. You really won't know until you lay the parts out on the table with the technician and do a parts & pieces count.

2. Do business with guys you can trust. I highly recommend Kevin at Clairparts.

3. Dealers prices on parts and kits seem to be a moving target. Refer to lesson #2 above.

4. $1325 was WAY above what I wanted to spend to integrate a phone into the vehicle considering that I had a working StarTac, non-integrated, sitting in a holder on the dash. Although the $800 was a lot for a phone, the prospective reduction from dealer list was large enough that the added functionality of MCS integration was worth it. Unfortunately, by having to do it in chunks, for the money I'm ultimately spending, I should have just bought the damn V60 and been done with it and gotten the additional capabilities that come with the V60.

As of 4/12/02, the installation was completed. The install cost a total of $825 - - $525 for parts and a flat $300 for the labor and tax to do the install. So, bottom line, we fininshed it for about $1345. I love it. The sound quality is fantastic and I love the integration with the MCS - cd, radio & tape.

So, why switch from the StarTac to Timeport (basically the same phone)? I kept the same wireless carrier and plan (SprintPCS).

1. The Startac rode in the combo CLIE / phone holder on the dash I mentioned earlier. It was another power cord hanging down into the aux 12VDC receptacle that ran everything else over by the passenger's side. When I was driving alone, who cares? Once the wife got in, she was constantly banging her legs / purse against the power cords.

2. I used a boom headset to plug into the cell phone for hands free operation. See earlier cockpit management comments. I don't like people who drive around with one hand holding a cell phone, believing that they'd probably drive better holding the phone between their cheeks (pick a set). Also, the headphone does tend to block more outside sounds which are useful cues when driving (No your Honor, I didn't hear that train coming).

3. The phone was one more piece of crap hanging off the dashboard, and I'm mildly organizationally compulsive after being in the Navy for so many years. No fuzzy dice, no St. Christopher, no crystal danglie from my mirror either.

4. When the phone rings, you've got to quickly transition the CD player down, answer the phone, plug in the headset all while staying in your lane. Many phones, including the StarTac, will not ring externally if you keep the headset plugged in, so you can miss calls.

5. I love the integration of the radio / tape player / CD with the phone. When traveling out of town, I listen to a lot of books on tape and the incoming call feature which mutes other audio is great.

6. The voice quality of the ML installed mike is truly outstanding. It has excellent noise cancellation and is less subject to wind noise when driving with a window or the sunroof open. Audio through the speakers is good also, without losing a feel for sounds coming from outside the vehicle. Oftentimes callers have no idea I'm on a handsfree speakerphone.

7. I use the same memory / internal phone book in the vehicle that is in the Timeport. One negative is that you only get to use the first of four numbers that can be stored in each of the phone's memory locations (up to 99 locations). The workaround, is if I need to call someone at one of their other numbers in slot 2 through 4 of a location, I simply open the phone up and manually select that location just like I was away from the vehicle. When I select the number and press talk on the phone, the MCS system takes the call over using the vehicles internal mike & speakers.

8. One other gripe. I have caller ID and the MCS simply says "CALL" when I get an incoming call. Once I answer, THEN I get the caller ID info. I think MB programmed that one bass-ackwards, because I'd rather know who's calling before I answer. That engineer should be sent to the Russian front in a punishment battalion.

9. The phone cradle mounts in the center armrest console, and actually does not take up the whole console. One more thing out of view ( from a theft deterrence standpoint), off the dashboard, is a good thing. See earlier comment about wife and cockpit crap management.

Bottom line, it was expensive and I wish it was cheaper, but I'd do it again.


Continued on next post . . . .

Bi-XENON Headlights
I was running Phillips VisionPlus H1 & H7 bulbs, with regular H3's in the internal foglamps as well as a set of PIAA 520's amber ion fogs on my brushbar. Good light, although slightly less than legal because on low beams with the fogs on, I actually had 6 lights shining. You couldn't tell because the low beams and integral fogs are so close together. The Hi-beams were good and strong, but the left one seemed to aim high even though the low beams were right on target and correctly aimed. Light color was good, more red-yellow, with great side coverage from the PIAA's.

The group buy at Performance Products caught my attention because they were coming in with 2002 bi-Xenons for a very good price ($1100). Remember, you could get Xenons with the 2001 light set as a factory option, but it was only one beam and you had to buy the sport package as an option, which I didn't want. The PP package included a set of adapters to make the 2002 assemblies work with 2001 and earlier models.

In my opinion the styling facelift with the 2002 lights is a superb change. From a looks standpoint, I see a world of difference between the 2001 and 2002 light assemblies. Also, the 2002 setup provides both hi and low beam xenon lighting.

I was also able to drop the low beam - fog lamp combination back to 4 lights from the 6 previously. Nice to be legal again, with no loss of direct or peripheral light. This also resolved the problem of overloading the fog light circuit withe teh two internal and two PIAA lights. I never had a problem, but why tempt fate?

The lighting pattern of the xenon's is simply unbelievable. Color is a clear, pure white with a little bluish tinge at the very edges of the pattern. There is a clearly defined horizontal cutoff with a rise off the right side iluminating the right hand shoulder of the road. High beams are likewise spectacular, with a semi-circular lighting halo to the front and several hundred yards of good light ahead. In fact, it was hard to notice the PIAA fogs when activated with the low beam except at the left & right periphery - alongside the car & close in.

The retrofit into 2001 and earlier models does not get you the auto-leveling system or the headlamp washers. I think the auto leveling system is a waste of time, but the lack of headlamp washers on all ML's really aggravates me. I think MB went cheap on this, and don't believe that the cost of a system is that high. For those of us living in the snow belt (Wisconsin) crapped-up headlights are tough to live with, especially in a slush & salt environment. Maybe we could trade it for the "door ajar" idiot light, but oops . . . they forgot that, too! Another engineer to the Russian Front!

Anyway, the Bi-Xenon look great, give me what I would estimate is a 25% better light on low beam, and probably 50-60% better light on the hi beams. Since I'm getting older (and wiser), more light at night is a good thing. I've had LASIK eye surgery and find that I get less halo effect from the bi-Xenons than I did from the halogen Vision Plus bulbs. I believe that this is due to less back-glare from a white which is more blue than red, even though we used to use both colors for night lighting on our ships.

This ended up being a lot longer post than I first intended, so I hope you find it useful. Bottom line, spend what you can to get what you want. I agree some MB options are overpriced, but I'm willing and able to pay for those options which I believe provide functionality or convenience that I desire.

Good Luck,
Elmer

Elmer,

What a great post! Welcome to mercedesshop.com and to the ML forum!

You illustrate a detailed and excellent example of making the most of the opportunity, and showing the benefits of doing so. In fact you make me want to call Clair parts (in my phone list for years) and PP to order the stuff sent overnight so I can play, even though I don’t see the value! Presentation is everything....

For lights I went a different route and put some hella euro beam driving lights on the burshguard of my ML. These have serious overkill power. So much so that I keep trying to remind myself to get lower wattage bulbs than the 100 watt bulbs installed. They work wonderfully, of course, but the problem is that when I have to turn them off I’m temporarily stricken by retina lag due to the sudden lack of light. The euro beams are so bright that I can otherwise turn everything off and not suffer due to lack of illumination except for the right shoulder. Like you (before the fix), when everything is on I have the driving lights, headlights, and fog lights illuminated. I drive mountain roads a lot and the extra illumination is fabulous and has kept me away from more than a few Elk. The dealer made a change in the ML’s AAM that that permits the operation of the fog & driving lights with the headlights off, but the parking lights on. They also wired the driving lights through the rear fog light switch, incorporating a relay, to permit independent operation and keep the dash looking OEM.

Anyway I mention this as I always like to rant and also wondered if the Xenon high beams cause momentary retina lag when you turn them off?

Beyond that my other comment (in addition to thanks for the nice post) is in your tag line: “'Most problems are resolvable with the application of massive quantities of high explosive of bandwidth - your choice.'”

I think you indented to put “or bandwidth” rather than “of bandwidth” but it is interesting either way ~ ~

Regards

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

I was gone to Chicago for 3 days for R230 training, glad you got it sorted out. Is the H7 you're talking about the one for headlight "flashing" when the Xenons are turned off?
Gilly

__________________
Click here to see the items I have up for auction at EBay

Click here to see a photo album of my '62 Sprite Project Moneypit (Now Sold)

Yup - that's the one. The "flash-to-pass" beam. Reason I mentioned it is becaue one of the guys across the road on another forum has figured out how to tie in the Xenon high beam and the halogen H7 beam together. Its a two wire snip and splice and you're done.

What you get is all four lights together when you switch on the high beams. I haven't seen it, but heard its a heckuva light show! You get the 2 H7's for flash to pass, but all 4 when the headlights are switched on and you either push or pull the control stalk.

Might not be strictly legal with 4 high beams, I'm doing some research on it with NHTSA standard #108 as well as Wisconsin law in chapter 347 of the statutes dealing with MV equipment. Also, I'm not sure that I want to wash out the nice white projector xenon beam with the halogen, which seems to have a lot of "splash" to the sides.

Elmer

By "pulling" the lever with the Xenons "on", you should get all 4 anyways.
Gilly

__________________
Click here to see the items I have up for auction at EBay

Click here to see a photo album of my '62 Sprite Project Moneypit (Now Sold)

Elmer,
Do clairparts have website?Could you give me the phone no.

__________________
96' E320

nowadays, everything plus a dotcom would be an URL

http://www.clairparts.com/

I have dealt with them many times, good guys.

Gilly;

Just FYI - there is a relay that cuts out the halogen "flash to pass" high beam when your xenon headlights are on and you either pull the lever for flash to pass, or flick the lever forward for high beams. In those cases you get the xenon highs only.

What I did was open the light assembly and bypass the relay, so I get all four lights (xenon wide open on high plus halogen H7's) when I have the headlights switched on. This works for both flash to pass and for steady high beam on. It's absolutely awesome. I have light 300 to 400 yards down the road, great peripheral coverage across both shoulders of the road, and outstanding definition of objects in the distance. The job took about 15 minutes per light to cut & splice the wiring.

My wife calls them my "100 megaton" lights! I have to be extremely aware of oncoming traffic or when following at a distance, but when on the road by myself it's perfect for seeing those "buck in rut" deer cluttering our highways in Wisconsin in the fall when coming home from work after dark.

You can see the modification instructions at the link here:

http://www.benzworld.org/publications/pub.asp?id=67

Regards,
Elmer

To clarify, on the non bixenon system, the H7 is the highbeam bulb and the flash to pass bulb.
On bixenon, if the xenons are operating, the xenon bulb is utilized for high and low beam and also flash to pass. if the xenon bulbs are off, the H7 bulb is there only for flash to pass, as it takes too long for the xenon to get up to full intensity.
Although it may bring great joy to modify your wiring in such a manner, in general I discourage it for lots of different reasons. Mainly, it can be a hazard to other road users, it can do some pretty funky damage to the electronics of the vehicle, and it's illegal.
In addition I wouldn't want xenon if it didn't include the HRA (Headlamp Range Adjustment) feature.

Gilly

__________________
Click here to see the items I have up for auction at EBay

Click here to see a photo album of my '62 Sprite Project Moneypit (Now Sold)