parking lights
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 92
Likes: 11
From: San Francisco Bay Area
2000 E430, 2011 Ford Ranger
parking lights
Well I am doing a little maintenance on my daughter's 2011 C 300. The left outer parking lamp and the right inner parking not bulb working, ( eyebrow ). I replaced the right light bulb using needle nose pliers to pull the lamp socket out. The left side no luck, one suggestion was to pull the lamp socket out by the wires, I do no feel comfortable doing that. I had lighting, inspection mirror, needle nose pliers, I just can not get in there and grab the socket with all the stuff in the way, The right side has more open space behind the lamp area. I am 76 with big hands and bad eyes. Any other ideas would be appreciated. Does the WIS have trick tool they use? Thank You everyone.
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2021 GLB250 FWD, 2023 GLA250 FWD, 2013 C250, 2015 GLK350, 2005 ML350SE, 2003 E320
If I remember, the washer fluid bottle neck is the most notable obstacle on the left side. Try disconnecting the mounting brackets for everything between the ABS unit and the head light. But don’t completely remove anything. Just get it loose so that it can be moved to the side.
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Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 608
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From: Western NC
2009 MB C300 Sport 4matic
Welcome to the club ! Definitely a PITA and those wires are thin and fragile enough. I used a pair of long curved hemostats (eBay, Amazon) to grab the better part of the bulb with a bright LED light source for illumination. My straight needle noses failed like yours.. Got it out and saw the removal difficulty partly due to bulb holder being overheated, baked, as is their wont, and therefore "stuck". RTV.d the area where those (could they use thinner gauge wire ? ) wires exit the holder since the insulation was deteriorated too. Use the MB bulbs or "white" 194's..the AutoZone et. al. OTC 194's will be yellow looking compared to the OEM bulbs.
Last edited by gamma300C; Dec 22, 2023 at 08:05 AM.
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Joined: Aug 2023
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From: MA Coast
W204 2010 C300 4matic Sport M272
I replaced all 4 eyebrow bulbs and I didnt buy anything special to remove them. It was so long ago I dont really remember exactly what I did. I have a basic pair of needle nose I may have used. I know I didnt remove the headlight or anything else to do it either. I know those bulbs were a pain and even replacing the low beam bulbs with hid bulbs was a time consuming project. One of those things you have to contort your hands in weird ways to reach in a certain way. Probabaly why Mercedes doesnt recommend the average person do it themselves, chances of pulling the wires causing more damage.
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 92
Likes: 11
From: San Francisco Bay Area
2000 E430, 2011 Ford Ranger
Thank You all for your thoughts on the subject. Next time she brings the car over I will try again. If only that round filter thing and tubing was out of the way it might help. I spent hours the other day, I guess patience will be my main tool. Any and all ideas are greatly appreciated.
