C230 Sport Coup

Sheee-it!
I installed some HID's off ebay last night, everything seemed fine.
I only drove around the block though.

Today, I installed the rings in the gauges, so removed the instrument panel,
put those in.

Then I removed the tail lights, and swapped them with another set from
a fellow board member so I can tint mine.
I went to test the lights, and got
all those errors!
ESP, BAS, ABS, lining wear fault, Check Engine light!
I started the car with the lights on, including the HID's when this happened.

I know my brake linings are fine.
Geez, what have I done?
What did I screw up?
Is it the HID's?

Maybe it was just a spike in the voltage or something?
Am I totally screwed?
Any suggestions?

C230 Sport Coup

Holy Crap!
So I drove down the local auto parts store where I know one of the guys who has an ODBII scanner.
Sheeee-it!
The car is in limp home mode, won't shift out of 1st gear.
OMFG! I'm dyin' here.
This is gonna cost me a forture, and sorry to say, I just got layed off the other day.

He wasn't working.
I started checking all the fuses,
pulled them all one by one.

I pulled the instrument panel to check the connection, but dammit!
I did with key turn on, and it threw an SRS error.

BUT now all I had was an ESP error.
Started the car, turned lock to lock,
restarted it was cleared.

I turned on the headlights. BOOM, all the errors came back.
But this time they cleared right away.
Wow, I got lucky.

OK, HID's are gettin' disconnected for now.
Looks like I'll need a relay.
Anyone know of a kit or something premade so I don't have to build from scratch? Will it solve my problem?

Apparently those things generate one hell of a voltage spike, despite their overall lower wattage usage.
I still have a check engine light, and the SRS error.

Can an ODB reader clear and SRS error?
Time to buy one, I'm lookin' on ebay....

Yacht Master

What hids did you get?

C230 Sport Coup

Off ebay. I never imagined they could cause these kinds of problems.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HID-X...QQcmdZViewItem
I did a write up on the install, you can see what they really look like
here http://shorterlink.com/?I20RP4

C230 Sport Coup

The company is sending me a relay kit.
But I wonder if now, if I will get errors on the lights, if
I am drawing current directly from the battery?

KIRA

hmm i have all those warning light before... they are normal if they all pop out at once....

as for HID kits, i just kill my...
now my car driving one light HID and the other as Halogen... ugly as hell

Cloudz

How did you kill your lights...? Just pull both out until you get one of them fixed

As for C230 Sport Coup, umm, I hope the relay kit helps, if it doesn't help... then uhh, you probably just have to unplug it...

outaurleague

lol damn that sucks. -

outaurleague

you should have got a mtec kit - kinda up there, but with no xenon message - everything is plug and play -I hope thoes hids didnt screw you up too much - hopefully the relays will help.

for 130$, you cant expect the world, Its just a risk with our type of car - It isnt a honda ya know. Good luck man, hopefully you get it working.

C230 Sport Coup

I don't think the MTEC kit is much different.
It looks identical.

I REMOVED mine.
Only the brackets that hold the ballasts remain.

I have some new Halogen lights due to show up anyday...
god they are slow shipping.
I ordered 'em a day before I bought the HID's, and the HID's were sitting around for a week before I got to the install.

They're Philip 4000K bulbs, that match my fogs.
Maybe I'll just stick with those.

outaurleague

Very different, works great, with no surge or xenon present issues. Sorry about your luck. Hope it works out for you

Cloudz

Should have done more research before you bought that kit... (but if you did do research then ignore my post)

I agnoized and thought over it a couple of times before I got the mtec kit, and it just so happened that I saw outaurleague give good feedback to the seller that I actually went and got it.

Quite an impressive kit - and half the instructions weren't even necessary since everything was done... (in my opinion anyway)

C230 Sport Coup

The guy has a like 99.7% or something over 99% pos. feedback rating.
I mounted the ballast on the side of the
ESP....do you suppose that could be an issue?

It's plastic, and there's double sided tape between, so couldn't be
conducting, but maybe inductive?

Cloudz

As for the feedbacks - I look specifically for the ones sold to C-Class w203 - that's how I found out that outaurleague has that kit (he was like 2-3 pages deep) and it indicates what car the kit was bought for... which was good. I looked through most feedbacks to see what car it was used on... If a Honda Civic owner say it works, don't trust it, if BMW say it works - dont trust it, not MB, if MB says it works, look at the model, is it W203? if it is, bingo, if not, keep looking

plastic doesn't have any affects on any sort of electric equipment, besides inhibiting it...

I doubt that mounting your ballast on the side of the ESP is the issue.

outaurleague

dude its the HID kit man !, either get a mtec or a carlab kit. If you did not have these issues before that ?

advans

well, I got the k1 kit, and it works great. never had a error message.

I think mouting it next to the ESP might be an issue, b/c the ballast/ignitors heat up. and if they are not heatsinked or mounted someone else in the engine bay to diffuse the heat, im pretty sure thats whats going on.


I have a set of 9006 HIDs sitting here next to me...they are going on the car tomorrow. lets hope nothing happens.

baodovvn

i was thinking about buying the hid conversion kit on ebay too. where can i purchase hids without having error messages? i just want plug and play/

yeuchau

as mention above
metc kit or carlab v3 kit if i rmember correcr

W Cole

This def could be an issue. I know the ballasts are very high voltage and I'm sure put off a lot of electrical noise..

This seems like the only explaination for the warning lights you were getting.

C230 Sport Coup

I think a large voltage spike could do it, and according to people I've talked to, it's not a good idea to install without relays, directly to the battery to avoid sending spikes into existing systems.

The ballast have a hi initial current draw due to the transformers that convert to much higher voltage and the igniter circuit also draws a lot.

It's also possible that some induction could occur, even through plastic.

Thats when I had problems, just at the initial turning on of the lights, with the engine running only. With the engine off, and then turn on the lights, and then start the car seemed to be OK.

It's funny, when I first mentioned these, everyone told me I was crazy to buy crap on ebay. Now there's another thread of people eager to buy these.
What-ever

W Cole

I dont know whats wrong with ebay, they seem to be good lights. I just installed them on my corvette and they are working fine. Im contemplating whether or not to install them on the MB though.

C230 Sport Coup

If they caused problems in all cars, the guy wouldn't have a like 99.5 %
pos rating.