Glyn M Ruck

Welcome - get hold of that TSB.

I know corrosion in lampholders was a problem on some early cars. I presume you have checked this and that the lamps are actually making contact. Do the eraser thing on the contacts. You should be getting a malfunction warning.

eliterobc

I actually do know the guy, and confirmed that it was his parents car. Also none of the verbage used BY me above, was used ON me to sell this car. I was only trying to illustrate that the car has not been flogged on, in its life previous to me owning it. I should have mentioned that I have worked for more than a few dealerships, ranging from super ghetto/shady used car lot, to multi brand conglomerates. I most definitely know how the game goes. However from your standpoint, I do see the humor in the words I chose. I prob would have said the same thing.

Unfortunately, I no longer have access to a shop/ garage, and my personal tool situation SUCKS. Maybe a family member sympathetic to my cause will realize tools are better than ties for Xmas.

Back on topic, I should be getting an error message on my cluster correct? Like right where I can scroll through and see trip/ odometer readings?
I was a Honda/ Nissan/ DSM guy in my previous life, so please forgive me un-familiarity with some things.

Also my rear window visor does not work when I attempt to change its position with its respective button. Any Ideas? Again no error message.

I appreciate all the help, and will be taking the pencil eraser to the contacts of the bulbs and bulb tray. I will post anything the dealership give me on the TSB I inquired about.

Can anyone tell me where the plug that goes into the "tray" for the Tail Light Bulbs goes to? Is there a distribution block or something I can follow them to and check for power/continuity there, and at the plug, and bulb connections in the tray?

bdgdl08

I'm glad you weren't taken advantage of... I was with Matt when I read your post. As for low mileage cars, I really do agree with him on that. My car belonged to my grandfather before me, who put 8k miles on the car in 2 years. It just had a lot of funky things wrong with it, many electrical. Good luck with your problem.

samaritrey

But ties can be so much fun ok when a bulb goes out it should pop up on you screen saying left break light out or left headlight out or whatever. do me a favor go unplug some exterior bulb and see if you see an error message when you start the car. one of the rear bulbs would be easy to get to just unplug the whole side that is really easy and should get you lot of errors. the rear visor wtf is that do you mean the rear sun shade. if you do either it is jammed or bad motor usually. also i would recommend getting a volt meter out but i don't think it would work. as far as i know if the car detects the bulb is out it cuts power which then would make you think the wire or something is damaged hopefully someone else can correct me on that if i am wrong. i think the rear wires go to the rear sam but not 100 percent sure on that.

Glyn M Ruck

eliterobc

To the above 2 posters, I greatly appreciate the info. Especially the fuse diagram, etc. That is an invaluable resource! Ill check out the situation in the coming hours.

I also spent 30min on the phone with Phil Smart Seattle. Apparently there is an adapter cable that grounds, and I am guessing re-powers the circuit?? It only calls for .3 Hours for the tech doing it, so Im sure I can knock it fairly easily. I will keep everyone posted.

Their parts guy has not called me back yet, and our room-mate is graduating from Seattle Art Institute so I have been quite busy helping out with portfolio/ presentation stuff.

eliterobc

"the rear visor wtf is that do you mean the rear sun shade. if you do either it is jammed or bad motor usually"



I do mean the rear sun shade. Anyway to for sure diagnose the problem? I am pretty sure its prob a bad motor, it just fits with the scenario. How much and how difficult is that fix? I would like to source the part myself, and then pay someone close to me to R&R it.

I bought this car knowing I had the tail light and sun shade issues to deal with. Hopefully I can avoid paying the dealer for any work, and as little in parts as possible.

samaritrey

ok sign up for this http://epc.startekinfo.com/epc/ and you can get pn and stuff. honestly i don't know much about the rear sun shade i think you have to remove the rear seats, rear pillars, rear shelf but i might be wrong i think there is a thread with some more info on that. if you need some parts this is my favorite website http://www.rmeuropean.com/. also you need some clear mirror turn signal lights one of the best things i have done to my car. 203-820-15-21 and 203-820-16-21 you also need bix lol.

eliterobc

Yeah I am all about the bi-xenon. They look so eff'n tight going down the freeway at dusk, or super early in the morning.

I spoke with Ed Weigert from Phil Smart Mercedes Down Town Seattle. He is the Service Adviser/ Writer. I described my two issues to him, and he said it sounds like a Rear SAM (Signal Acquisition Module). According to ED, when there are multiple malfunctions in one area/circuit, it is likely the SAM. Especially with respect to the Rear SAM. Of course I am going to find one on-line, or otherwise as cheaply as possible for a tested good unit, and install it myself. I cant imagine it being that difficult to do.

As for the adapter harness I spoke of in my previous post, that is only to applicable when you are burning out bulbs bc of too much voltage. The jumper harness reduces the voltage. I do not need this. My bulbs are NOT BURNT.

That also is what the Technical Service Bulletin is about. So if you are burning out bulbs for no reason, check into

TSB: P.82 10-217 Jan 2003 Lighting; Parking/ Tail Lamps Inoperative

The fix for this is the Adapter Cable, P/N 203-440-26-13 (is the the correct format for posting MB part numbers?)

The DTP (determines how much time a technician gets for a respective job) MB Techs get paid on the modification is 0.3 Hours. Cant be too tough. Hope someone is helped by this little morsel.

UPDATE
I found the Rear SAM @ http://www.rmeuropean.com/mercedes-parts.aspx#Category for $244.08, and its the OEM HELLA Unit. Nice website 'Trey!!!! My local MBD wanted $332.28 for the exact same p/n. Does anyone know of a way that I can make sure it is indeed the rear signal acquisition module before I drop two insurance payments on it?

This car is great. After driving everything Japanese from Civic's to Skyline's, even this old c320 made me fall in love all over again. So far this car ranks behind an 11sec RHD CR-X and ahead of an 03 EvoVIII in my favorite cars I've owned.

Thanks,
Rob

eliterobc

Ok, so I didnt want to spend $250 on a rear SAM. However I did not feel at all comfortable driving my car around w/o a pass. side tail light, or brake light. First off, I was 100% sure that the Seattle Police Dept. would eventually pull me over for it, and it was not exactly safe. The last thing I need is for someone to rear-end me, and then be like "Well they had a TL/ BL out so I couldnt tell they were trying to stop"

Long story long, I talked with Doug from Fairlady Motors in Tacoma (My resource for non-Honda's) and we figured out I could simply jumper the wires over from the driver's side to their respective position on the passanger side. So 15 minutes, $8 in Fred Meyer Wire, Shrink Wrap, a bit of Solder and a cheapy test-light later I now have fully operational tail lights.

In case anyone else needs to fix the same stupid little issue, I will post wire colors when the sun comes up tomorrow.

Thanks for all the help guys,
Rob

PS...........

.............. Anyone got a quick fix for the sunshade? When the weather is all Shi*ty like this, having that visor over the rear window aint helping me a bit!!!

Glyn M Ruck

Remove it!

BTW - love your quick fix for TLs etc. Where there is a will there is a way. I'm surprised it does not throw up a warning.