You gotta love MB's quality, purchased a CPO 2002 with 12K miles last week, the right turn signal light bulb blew out once two days after delivery. We had it replaced at MBZ, but 3 days later, the light is out again You gotta love the new MBZ quality control, it's so stupid. Thank god for warranty. It's going back in Friday for a new bulb and hopefully trhey can find the problem. They said they will give us a loaner if it is more than two hours to trace the problem

 

Its a used car. And we are talking about a light bulb. I had a frequent burnout problem in our new Pacifica...turned out the lights weren't burning out, the contacts at the bottom of the socket were misformed...after a little driving, and the socket heating up, the light dropped in far enought were the contacts no longer aligned. No effen way they'd find that at the factory.

Deal with it, and don't act like because its a benz nothing can go wrong. My inlaw's Lexus is on its second engine...now that's a QC problem.

 

I had the turn signal on my late 01 240 burn out almost 16 times in one year. After informing MB service, they replaced the entire head light/turn signal fixture. From what I read, its something with the wiring. There was a service bulletin about it.

In many cases, when you buy a used car... you are buying someone else's problems. Fun Fun Fun.

 

Its allright...get it fixed. Its just a light bulb.

 

How would you like having to drive back to the dealer and wait 2 hours on a stupid part? It's an easy fix, but i would rather not have to deal with it every weekend when I see the car. I want them to fix the whole thing correctly. Thank you for telling me about the TSB, I will let the idiots at the service center know. The guy there told me the cig. lighter doesnt work with 12v DC charger last time i was tehre...

 

If you just pop out the bulb carrier, look closely at the bulb. It's probably not burned out. Then look at the small copper contact on the bulb carrier-- most likely pitted from a bit of arcing. Something about not being grounded. This happened to me, but I cleaned the contact and the problem went away (until it gets more eaten away). I do believe there's a bulletin (like someone else said). Look in your owners' manual -- you just grasp the bulb carrier and twist one way or the other about 1/4 turn -- watch out, it will fall right out because is comes away from the light unit without any wire.

 

You want a loaner for a burned-out bulb?? Get real! MB does not manufacture bulbs. Granted, they pick suppliers, but that's a different issue. May happen and does happen to many an automaker.

 

You think that is bad??? Wait till you own a ML!

 

at least the bill can't be that high to replace the light bulbs.

 

What was the crisis in your ML? Integrated cell phone buttons wouldn't light up? Front wheels kept getting dirty? Oh, I know, the memory on the seat controls wasn't working, right? Vanity light burned out? Total POS, you shouldn't have to drive such an unsafe car.

 

If a light bulb keeps burning out, I think there is more to it than bad light bulbs. I dont know about you, but I dont like to sit at the dealership waiting hours to replace a light bulb. If they cant fix it within an hour, give me keys to the loaner. Last time they had my car for exactly 1.25 hrs to replace a light bulb that i could replace in 5 minutes for $2.49. I just didnt want to do it because i paid the extra money for the warranty. It's one thing if it happened once, but it's twice in 5 days now. Explain that!

 

They probably fix if the first 10 min and joyride the next 1 hour and 50 min

I know man, I cringe going to the dealer. My senior adviser is cool but the whole vibe there is so depressing and people working there being rude. I can understand your upset.

 

Try another dealer, 2 hours for a bulb is ridiculous, indeed. My dealer replaced a bulb within 10 minutes without an apointment.

 

i had the same problem in my car with the right side. the funny thing is that it only happened when the temp was over 80 degrees. my pops replaced the socket that the bulb goes into and havent had a prob since. He also told me that it was a common problem in the early c classes

 

See my SIG. Over $14k in Warranty repairs!

 

Outstanding! Sock it to the Krauts! Or is it sock it to the hillbillies in Alabama?

 

GASP! WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP. HOW CAN THEY LET THIS HAPPEN!!! HAVE YOU CONTACTED A LEMON LAW ATTORNEY???

:v

 

If it takes a dealer that long to replace a light bulb then I would find another one. MB dealers have nothing to do with Quality Control at the factory and a light bulb is not exactly a QC issue. It is a wear and tear item and you should be happy that they even fix it under warranty. Since most other brand dealers do not unless it is in a certain time frame. Myself I will pay a few bucks for a light bulb because I would feel like and idiot making an appointment for a light bulb to be replaced. Especially considering the fact that they are so easy to replace and the part numbers are listed in the manual. Be lucky as most other countries do not get the warranty and perks we get in the US as well! I find it laughable that you start a thread about a light bulb blowing and actually called the dealer to get it fixed. I would replace a few myself and then after I have had enough I would call the dealer to replace the light housing in question. Of course I also would have looked at the socket after it happened twice, yet before taking it to the dealer. This thread alone explains why people with MB's crab and complain to Consumer Reports on there surveys about MB build Quality problems. Since a guy with a Ford Focus would fix his own light and never complain. I guess it is the menatality of the average MB buyer that the MB should be better than any other mass produced product on the market. ***** happens when you mass produce something and some things like a light bulb do blow out on occassion. What I hate is when a light bulb is out and the display tells me it is then the next day it works fine!!!!! Now that is an issue, but not a reliability or QC one, more of an annoying one. Hope you get it resolved though!

 

how would you like going to the dealer to pick up the car for getting the lighter fuse fixed and then found out your rear sunshade doesn't work? Or found out you went to fix two thing and only one thing was fixed?

this happen to us all the time. no big deal.

I had the turn signal out happened too. turns out the contact for the bulb was burned. I just fixed it myself by scraping off the burned particle.

 

There's some kind of TSB or other bulletin about this. There is a new harness with a better ground or something. Have them do both front turn signals at the same time. It happened to me on both sides eventually, but after warranty in each case.

 

Have you ever tried to change the bulb in the trunk? I tried for days to find the bulb number in the manual along with how to pry the lens off to no avail. Finally had it replaced when the car was in for other service. Some of the bulbs don't seem to be easy to replace.

GGM

 

Do you know how to read and/or find the index in the FM?


Click me

 

Damn it Andy I was laughing so hard I choked on the water i was drinking. Not at the actual site but the way you owned him

 

if it's happened twice, have them replace the housing/wiring. that happened in my 1997 C280 after only using it for less than a year, so my dealer changed the rear brake bulb, and it was out again a week later. They changed the bulb again and then it went out a month later. So, they changed the housing/harness/wiring, and it was fine after that...