strakaido

Hi, I just bought a certified Canadian c300 a month ago, and started to notice that when the engine is running, all of the outside lights (parking, side marker, tail, and license plate lights) are on, regardless of what position the light switch is on. I tried to ask the dealer, and the response is "i guess that's how they are made" I don't mind that they are always on, but I just want to make sure that that is normal. I am not too familiar with mb, as this my first German car, and online searches have not yielded any results. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

Paddlefoot64

I believe mine does same with switch set to A.

Doa

because you have it turned on on your kombiinstrument.
set it to off and then use the light switch

strakaido

Thanks for the replies. Paddlefoot: mine does that in all 4 switch positions. Doa: I'm not sure what a kombiinstrument is...is that the options in the center instrument cluster? I've played with all the options, and I can't find an option for turning it off. Please advise?
Thanks again.

shotgun_banjo

That should not happening. When the knob is at the "A" position it will only activate the lights when the light sensor detects the surrounding environment not bright enough so there must be something wrong with the light sensor. Refer to page 100-110 of the c-class manual and it will tell you what will that function do. Best to bring the car manual with you back at the service centre and slap the book at the service rep's face and tell them to fix then ask for the shop manager and lecture them about poor knowledge on their cars and call MB Canada to complain (MB Canada takes customers complains seriously and from my experience here in Canada whenever I complain about something to them the service manager of that shop gets reprimanded for not doing there jobs. You paid for a premium vehicle (new or CPO doesn't matter) then you should expect to get premium service.

shotgun_banjo

one other thing, since your car is a 2010 the Headlamps will always be ON no matter what setting you put the knob in and the rest should be off. Also when it is on the A position it should turn on the fogs and headlight for 10 seconds during night time whenever you lock and unlock the car. This will not happen when you have the setting on the O position.

Doa

yes it is! i should go check in the car but i think its just named "daylight on/off"

dolvio

Mine does the exact same. Auto turns the interiors on when I need them though.

Doa

same thing for you, your daylight setting is set to "on", you can change it when the engine is turned off with your steering wheel

dolvio

We are in Canada. We cannot turn off DRL's. Ever.

strakaido

Thanks everyone. Yeah, I've learned that the low beams are always on, and that I can't turn them off here in Canada.

Dolvio: so yours are always on too? I find that so odd. I think that it should work the way Shotgun put it. If you put to "A", the lights should come on when the ambient light is low. If you put to "O" then NO light should be on except for lowbeam/DRL. Otherwise, what is the point of having the switch if all lights will be on all the time regardless of where you point the switch to? Also, the manual states that being in "O" should turn off all the outside lights. Anyways, I will take shotgun's advice and go to the dealer again tomorrow. They have another 2010 C300 on sale there, and I will ask them to see that car. That should answer the question if it is designed that way or not, and I'll let you guys know.

Thanks for all your replies!

Cheers

dolvio

Ya I remember a sunny day and seeing all of them on. I will double check tomorrow though.

dolvio

Hey.. yea all my lights are on with A or O. Doesnt make a difference. The A will detect night time and turn on dash lights and you will see the green light beside the fuel gauge come on when his happends. There is no way to turn anything off in Canada on these cars. Its stupid that they have low beams running all the time..... why not use a two stage high beam light for that....!! My old civic did that.

strakaido

So yeah, that is how it is supposed to be. I checked another C300, and it does the same. I talked to a sales rep who seemed to know what he was talking about. Apparently, the outside lights are hardwired to the lowbeams, and since the lowbeams are the DRLs and are always on, the outside lights are always on as well. With the 2011 models and newer, they have the LEDs, so the outside lights can be turned off. However, they don't have front fog lights, and I like my turning lights...

Seems like a huge drain on the battery, so it's a good thing i got them to replace the battery 2 weeks ago under warranty.

At least now I can drive my awesome car worry-free. Thanks for all the inputs.

dolvio

I don't think my cornering fogs even work. When do yours work?

shotgun_banjo

Something is wrong with your cars then. I see a gazilion c-class everyday 08-10 here in vancouver and I don't see their lights (except the headlights) on everytime not to mention my car does not do it either.

dolvio

It's true there are a gazillion C-Classes here in Vancouver. They are like Civics here. You can't tell the parking lights are on unless you actually look for it. You can barely tell my eyebrows are on in the daytime but they are.

Adam

shotgun_banjo

I will check the car again tom. I will look at the glk as well.

strakaido

Perhaps imported US cars? They have a totally different lighting system, I was told.

strakaido

My cornering lights come on when signal a turn and when I turn the steering wheel at lower speeds. Works with switch in O or A position. I'm not sure if they work during the day. I guess they are a substitute for adaptive headlights, which I assume the C-class doesn't have?

dolvio

Ya you can spot these all the time when someone is rolling a c300 without HID's....

tuffcalc

That option isn't available in Canada. DRLs here are mandatory so Mercedes coded it out of the setup menu.

dolvio

Weird mine do not do this....?

Edit: I bet not on the C250...?

MDMercedesGuy

I believe this requires the P1 package on the pre-facelift cars.

The facelift C with the Intelligent Lighting System has both active adaptive headlamps as well as active cornering lamps in the headlamp clusters (not fog lamps).

shotgun_banjo

I confirm that my car does not have the rest of the lights on during daytime except the headlights. I also stood on a street corner during lunch time to watch 08-12 c-classes pass by and also just saw the headlights on and nothing else except facelift models which leds are on and not the headlights. I also stalked a facelift c300 on my way home and didn't see his parklight on. My glk also does the same thing....only the leds are on during daytime and nothing else except when the car detects it is dark and will turn on all of the lights.

With regards to the cornering lights, my fogs dont light up when it is very bright outside (the glk that has adaptive lights doesnt turn on the cornering lights as well during dayrine) and will only light up when you see the headlamp icon lit on the dashboard.