moedigga

Has anyone had any problems with the xenons flickering on/off periodically, it does not happen all the time but at least 50% of time headlight are in use, and its annoying especially if I'm driving behind you the car only has 35k on it and those xenon bulbs are supossed to last just about forever correct? If it is just a sign they need to be replaced can anyone recommend a place to purchase replacement bulbs for less than the 180.00 a pop the dealership charges?

thanks in advance

Moe

thegreatfnr

I replaced one of mine at around 50k miles or so and the other at 70k. I just bit the bullet and paid dealer prices maybe someone else can chime in with a cheaper option.

35K miles does sound a little soon for them to go out though.

moosejaw

If you want to buy bulbs that are close to stock in terms of life and performance
Buy the Philips D2S bulbs or go to the dealer and cough up the $$$

I hat putting those in, they are such a PITA to install.
You can also get aftermarket bulbs which offer a different temperature range (they are all over ebay) but they will burn out in 10-20 K miles

Dingleberry

you need new bulbs

Tump43

You can buy xenon bulbs that are just as good on ebay for $10 to $12 dollars each. Who cares if they burn out once a year. I bought three sets last year and the first set is working fine. When I had the flickering problem I needed to replace the igniter and ballast on both of my headlights, problem solved. Before that the lights would flicker and flash off for 2 or 3 seconds at a time. Changing bulbs did not solve the problem. The stealer even banged me for $200 bucks for bulbs on one occasion. Do not buy bulbs from the dealer, profound waste of money and not necessary at all.

fookoo303

constant and fast flickering is usually due to low voltage, but intermittent flickering is probably due to bad ballasts or igniter, and for replacement bulbs check out morimoto. They are fairly high quality and fairly cheap. PM me for website if you'd like.

RES

I went through several bulbs before changing both igniter's. Problem solved! The igniter's in our car are built into the light assembly. The dealer will try to sell you a complete assembly but all you need is a igniter kit for $86 and a new bulb. But try the new bulb first.

TemjinX2

i believe there's a diy ignitor replacement on the w203 forum.

Dingleberry

the igniter kit from my local dealer is $140. good luck finding it anywhere for $86 these days

moosejaw

Used igniters are all over Ebay for $50-$80 each. I've bought two from there for My old C

LOOKSFAST2

The only problem I have with the lights is that one goes out every now and than and I get a warning that my right light is out. I changed out the bulb but no joy. Any thoughts?

moosejaw

Igniter and/or Ballast

Check out Ebay

MIKESV8

is it true that you can just replace the bulb for my xenon lights if i wanted to just put 6,000k? i believe they're called d2s bulbs? a friend of mine owns an HID company and they're apparently really good so i wanted to use them.

LOOKSFAST2

thanks moose, ill try that. my wife took it to the dealer and charged her $200 for i dont know what. Still messed up, ill swap the ballast and see if that helps.

moosejaw

Try to swap sides as well since it will eliminate most of the guesswork

fookoo303

yes, but be aware that the further away for 4300k (oem) color, the less useable lumens you get, but 6000k isn't too bad also.

ruben65

FYI there is a recall service bulletin for this issue on the C55 there are electronic pieces they replace in the headlights and housing, (not sure what pieces, but there are 3 steps/phases they try to fix the issue) they did the service bulletin all 3 steps to mine and it got better... before that I felt like I was driving a disco strobe light on the front of the car...lol

Mine where doing the same thing with the flickering, it seems to get worse when its cold, under 75 degrees.

Eventually I got a "low beam" bulb error on the dashboard and the light stayed off, I turned lights off then on again and has been working fine ever since.