jtse

My First DIY Guide ever.

I did it to pay back all the help I have gotten from this community. Love you ALL!

J

Geo3

Many thanks.......nice write-up........Geo.

cal1

Thanks for sharing the write up. I had the complete lamp assembly on the passenger side replaced under an extended warranty 3 or 4 years ago, but I am quite certain I will be dealing with this issue on the driver's side soon enough.

It is stuff like your write that makes this community so awesome.

thanks bro!

mcguirja

Really nicely done, thank you!

jtse

Thanks guys for the accolades. It wasn't some crazy amount of work to document my progress with the modern day smart phones. I thought what the hell, I'm sure some people would need help replacing this some day.

All in all, I know there are dealer guys and mechanics on here. I respect these guys who share their knowledge with us. I have made the mistake a decade ago where I insulted some people for calling them stealership and all without giving them recognition. It was my bad in the past but now I do respect these people who share with us.

However, being in Hawaii, and on Oahu, there is only ONE dealership that has a complete monopoly. We have a love/hate relationship where they love me as a customer but hate me being an informed and smart buyer. It has been going on for years and I've bought five cars from them in the past five years. I'm pretty sure there is a picture of me in their office somewhere by now. (I had to recently push for lemon of my 2014 GL550 because it was giving me incredible amounts of issues. You can find it on the X166 thread.)

So, I called up my service advisor (who if you don't know works with commission for every job. Now if that isn't conflict of interest, I don't know what is.) and he told me the job is at least $1,500. The part is like $950 and it will be 4-5 hours of labor, which includes the tech leveling the lights, taking the bumper off, disassembling the headlight fixtures, and so forth. Also, if you didn't know the mechanics are also paid by time, which means, that if he/she can finish a job 1/2 or 1/10 of the time, he can move on to the next job which increases his/her productivity thus more money. Since, every mechanics efficiencies are different. So if this job, which the dealership quotes you 4-5 hours can be done in 30 minutes by this mechanics, everyone there wins.

Not content, and knowing dealership is the most expensive but the most reliable work, I called up an independent shop. Same thing, but about $850 for part, and 3 hours of labor at $110 an hour.

So, there you have it, my motivation isn't purely about $$$$$ but more about the experience and knowledge I gain from doing these jobs. I can afford either dealership or independent shop but since they aren't non-profit, and I'm not donating to charity, I get a much more manly ego boost after I successfully repair something like this.

Lastly, I did buy those cheap chinese made HID for $10 a pair.


I don't recommend them yet because I haven't time tested them. Initial reaction is that they worked as promise and has 100% turn on rate with no problem flickering, mirroring the new $100 a single piece of Philips or Silvania. If one fails prematurely, I will report back immediately. Also they look the same as well. It fits perfectly as well.

Alright, if you are reading this because you gotta repair it soon, get yourself a very small side way twisting wrench that fits the torx bit, go in and you are able to screw very easily.

Best,

J

cal1

By the way, I used to live in Pearl City like a millennium ago. What part of Oahu do you live in? I really miss the north shore, Waimea bay, and snorkeling at Hanauma bay. Used to go to Hanauma bay when I was a kid in the early 70s and there was nearly nobody there during the week. We would even have the toilet bowl to ourselves. I miss the Island sometimes.

jtse

Ha, those days are gone brah...

I'm in Aiea Heights :-)

J

cal1

Yeah I bet. I was back to the island on business of all things in 2000 and was shocked at the growth. Still love the Island thou. Aiea Heights. Know it well. Or at least I did.

Viper98912

Excellent writeup. My C55 uses the same 3-bolt Made-in-France ballasts, and I've replaced three or four them during my ownership. Originally I had to pull out the entire headlight to get to it, but during the last teardown I realized that I can access it from underneath with the removal of some of the plastic panels.

Thanks for the writeup for the SL!

jtse

Hi Guys,

Forget the cheap $10 pair of HID XENON bulbs that I had bought to try for fun. It failed after about 10 hours of usage.

Get a proper pair and have no worries.

J