mosaix

I picked my C230 from body shop after bumper replacement. After I turned lights to "auto" (it was off when I picked it) it gives me a message "Tail light right auxiliary bulb on". I believe it indicates that something is screwed with wiring. So I will return to the shop as soon as they open on Monday.

But I am curious - what is that tail auxiliary? Is it a rear fog lamps that I don't have? Does this message indicates that there is some shortcut? Is it safe to drive with lights on?

Saprissa

do 2007's have the Alternate Light Setting automatically programmed from factory ?

if so that might be the case.

ALS works like this:
if a bulb burns out, an alternate bulb is used to perform its function.
On earlier W203's this setting had to be set by programming on Star Diag.
I had it done on both my 2003 and 2004.5 C-Classes.

just throwing that out there, so you can diagnose your problem.

Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com
_______________
1959 220S Ponton
1979 230G Geländewagen
2002 A210 EVO AMG
2003 C320 Sports Coupe
2004.5 C320 Sports Sedan
2005 ML350 Special Edition
2008 smart Passion ForTwo

DACHIGGA

Really, you had to program it? Mine came stock with the car.

mbpc320

Same thing with my car, although the message said, "Substitute lamp on". I just replaced the bulb and the error message went away. Hopefully the fix is as easy for your car mosaix and not a wiring issue.

Saprissa

yeah, maybe it's a USA MB thing.
Both my C-Classes were programmed by Steve (MBenzNL) for the Alternate Light Setting.

There's actually quite a bit of things that have been programmed on my C-Classes that seem to be standard on European, Canadian, and Rest of World MBs.

Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com
_______________
1959 220S Ponton
1979 230G Geländewagen
2002 A210 EVO AMG
2003 C320 Sports Coupe
2004.5 C320 Sports Sedan
2005 ML350 Special Edition
2008 smart Passion ForTwo

mosaix

Wow, I didn't even know about ALS existence. So it has a spare bulb and uses it when the main one is gone?
Smart.
I think I was just misguided by the fact that it happened after bumper replacement. I will check the bulb then.

Saprissa

example:
if my left turn signal bulb has burned out,
ALS will direct the left fog lamp bulb to act as the alternate turn signal,
until I replace the burnt out turn signal bulb in the headlight assembly.

I'm not sure which bulb serves as the alternate for another one, but it's just best to replace your burnt out bulbs immediately, and do not always rely on ALS.

After all, a blinking fog light does seem kind of tacky, but it gets the job done.

Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com
_______________
1959 220S Ponton
1979 230G Geländewagen
2002 A210 EVO AMG
2003 C320 Sports Coupe
2004.5 C320 Sports Sedan
2005 ML350 Special Edition
2008 smart Passion ForTwo