thundercassius

I have a 2001 C240 sedan, w203 that is still using the halogen lamps/headlight kit.

I found a nice HID (xenon) kit from at Ebay from MTEC and they advertised that it is a straight install and compatible to the onboard computer with no requirement to reset.

My questions are:

1) Had anybody tried installing an HID retrofit at all and did it give any problems? A detailed procedure is appreciated.

2) I would like to know if there is a requirement to also change my headlight assy like the lens (reflector or projector - not sure) since I currently have halogen. As I read in forums, installing a xenon lamp might require changing the headlight assy as well because a halogen assy with xenon lamp might give glare to oncoming passenger, etc.

3) Is MTEC a reliable brand and they are as good as they advertised with no computer error?

Thanks

drexappeal

Your thread title is so confusing. Retrofit normally means that you're reverting to put older parts on a newer model (i.e. 2005-2007 converted to 2001-2004.5).

1) Search the forum, it's been discussed. There's a WHOLE THREAD about aftermarket HID kits in the stickies at the top of the w203 forum. Please look through the AFTERMARKET/DIY sticky thread.

2) Where the heck have you been hearing or reading this. Again, please read through the threads in the AFTERMARKET/DIY sticky.

3) MTEC is pretty reliable. I have the halogen bulbs though, so don't know how good the HID kits are.

That being said, I'm merging this with the aftermarket hid kit thread.

KA8

I've been having some problems with my cheap hid kits from ebay. To remind you I had capacitors installed and worked like charm for awhile. But recently one side started going on and off by itself and it was dimmer than the other side? What can I do to remedy this? For the moment I had regular H7 bulbs put in after many attempts at fixing it but no luck...Will reprogramming 'xenon present' do any good? If I reprogram do I even need to add capacitors? I can't stand regular halogens. Will spening the money on 'quality' aftermarket ones like MTEC will do?

I have cheap kit for my other old car with basic wiring and never had any problems... mb just like to give me hard times with their cars.... difficult to mod them correctly

KA8

Oh yea one more ???

just our of curiosity... what happens if computer was set to XENON PRESENT and run regular H7 bulbs?

thundercassius

Thanks for th reply, DREXAppeal. You will have to assume that I have no idea about headlights. I am only starting to learn them now. I have been searching this forum for a week and I did find the Aftermarket / DIY link which shows dozens of aftermarkets DIY. I only saw 3 topics on headlights and it didn't make much sense to me.

Can you make it easier on me and copy and paste me the link on the procedure so that I don't have to go searching??

Thanos

drexappeal

Replacing headlight bulbs is the same procedure. The only difference here is that (assuming the kit is made for a w203 application) there is a ballast between the connector inside the car and the connector that is attached to the wires for halogen headlight bulb.

So, if you know how to remove a headlight bulb and replace it, you should be able to do this DIY very simply. If you DON'T know how to replace a headlight bulb (very simple DIY), I suggest you have someone help you.

thundercassius

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Great. I have replaced headlight bulbs before.

Let me just make sure I understand what you said clearly. If I buy the MTEC HID kit, all I have to do is the following:
1. Take out my existing halogen bulb and replace it with the Xenon bulb
2. Attach all the cables/connectors that came with the kit which should match whatever connectors that got pulled out on my original headlight assy
3. Find a place to permanently install the ballast
4. That's it!

Now I am not sure if you are aware since you mentioned in one of your threads about "where the hell did i read about changing the headlight assy (like the lens, reflector or projector, etc)." And i must admit that I did see a lot of topics about headlight assy itself not only on this forum but other existing MB forums.

From what I understand if I read it correctly is this: Since my original headlights were meant for halogen - that the lens or whatever is inside my headlight assy were all meant for halogen only. I read that halogens uses reflectors inside the headlight assy and for xenons, it should be using projector type.

Maybe I might have projectors inside my current halogen headlight right now - i don't know. How would I know that. Is there a simple way to determine if I have projector or reflector on my headlight assy?

Or does it really matter whether projector or reflector - HID kit will still work. My intention here is to install HID legally - without causing glare to oncoming traffic.

If it's only the first 3 steps I defined earlier that I have to do, it makes it look very easy for sure and I can certainly do that. But I wanted to make sure that there are no other complicated things to do like removing the entire headlight assy, etc.

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.

mig888

well you'll be causing glare no doubt... illegal? maybe if you get caught or follow the PoPo with the upgrade. It's painfully obvious on your eyes on who's got projectors and who's got retrofitted halogen HIDs.

These are projectors - if you don't have some variant of this, you'll be glaring and won't be able to properly level the beam (if you don't care about this, then I can't stop you).

Otherwise your steps are about right on the install... it's pretty easy and there are multiple DIYs as Drex suggested.

flip

drexappeal

It's not illegal, per se, but if it is obstructing the view of on-coming traffic, then the beams should be re-aimed down more. Since these are going into non-projector headlamps, there won't be a distinctive cut-off, which may cause issues with on-coming traffic visability.

drexappeal

I made some slight adjustments to what you stated, but in essence that is correct.

Just didn't want people who haven't done this before to think that they could just swap a halogen bulb with a xenon bulb, using the same socket, and have a HID upgrade. In essence, you'll be replacing the socket/bulb and wiring with the Xenon bulb, connector and wiring (which would be connected to the ballast).

thundercassius

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OK, I would presume that since you did not comment anything on the headlight assy which consists of lens/reflector/projector, etc, it means that I don't have to touch anything on it and it should work even though it was meant for halogen, right?

Thanks again.

drexappeal

Well, if you read this thread from start to finish, you'll realize it's ALL about people with non-projector headlights that have installed an aftermarket HID kit. And, the only projectors (other than bi-x) available for the w203 are the knockoff ebay ones. There are people who have put aftermarket HID kits in those too. Just gotta search and read. You don't want to do that or are too lazy, can't help you any further. The chassis has been around far too long to have to spoon feed the answers that are already there.

Those that haven't done this, either did Halogen bulb upgrades or they have BI-X.

LuxuryC240

Hi,

I'm going to be installing HID in a couple weeks, and wanted a confirmation on these pics Cloudz posted wayyyy back in this thread. Is this the best location for the ballasts? I've read in this thread that the ballast being near the ESP (2nd pic) can cause problems, however there really isn't much more room on the driver's side. Please advise. TIA.

BrabusCClass

i just used 3M double sided tape and put it wherever there was room. I forget since its been so long ago. That metal wire in the second picture looks weird.

inFiniTE LooP

fix your picture links, i can't see a thing

LuxuryC240

Hi, I can see the pictures fine, try to see if the thumbnails on post 673 work, they're the same pictures. I would ask Cloudz if he had any problems, but I don't think he's active anymore.

Mu9enx

i ziptied it, i'll have pics up if you want to see how i did it. it's in the same general area, hoever it isn't close to the ESP, or as close to it as cloudz.

LuxuryC240

If you could post them up that would be cool....I'd rather be safe then sorry...

inFiniTE LooP

yep, i can see the pics in post 673, thanks

Endless230

just wondering how many dealerships did you guys have to go to before you could get one that would switch your xenon setting over and how much if anything did you have to pay?

my local orlando stealership said it was about an hour of work and that they couldn't do it in the drive lane that they would have to bring it in so i was looking at around $147 for labor.. i'm calling

coin

I went to one dealership and got the programming for free.

If the dealer refuses to assist you, you can mention something about safety hazard to drive the car with flickering headlights at night.

Endless230

well the thing is that the dealership is already 30mins away and then the next closes is probably alteast an hour away.. but when i head back home i have like 3 within 30min so i'll try the just drive up method there

Mu9enx

yeah, just print out the pictures of the steps! that is the crucial point, my dealer said they would charge me, and viola, i drive up, bring out the printout and showed him. he said damn, that's easy, took my car in, came out in 3minutes and said here you go! lol.

JohnCL

It is at most 10 minutes of work. It is too bad that many techs don't know where to go in the menu's to find the settings.

LuxuryC240

Hey guys, I've read this thread several times, but I was wondering if anyone could give me some current opinions on the Stealth Auto Slim HID kits. Thinking about getting a couple sets because I'm not very happy with the ones that came with the DEPOs. TIA