Mikecrash

My primary bi-xenon headlight on the passenger side of my 2003 C32 AMG occasionally stops working, throwing a "malfunction code". The high beam, the turn signal, the fog light, and the smaller halogen light next to the primary headlight ALL work fine.
Restarting the car a couple times can fix the issue, and the headlight will turn on again and the code will be gone (the bulb is good)

Someone said I can bypass that system and put in regular afternmarket headlight assemblies with normal HID/Projector bulbs so I don’t need to spend almost $2,000 on a new headlight assembly (the dealer quoted my lights as 900$ for the headlight assembly and 900$ for the headlight control system, passenger side) - anyone have any suggestions or tips? I can grab a set of HIDs headlight assemblies off ebay for 350$, which sounds like it would be way easier to deal with, however I tried having my local Eurocharged hook them up and they said they were incompatible.

From the dealer my car has:
“Bi-xenon headlight
Low beams that are both halogen and bi-xenon
High beam is halogen
Three bulbs in the headlight
Not counting quarter light or turn signal”

insame1

if you have bi-xenon lights there is no halogen bulb

LILBENZ230

What year is your C32? If it has projector HID, then this light does have a halogen high beam in addition to the bi-xenons. So basically double high beam - that's how it was in my W203 which was not a C32 but had the same lights. Can you post pictures of your lights?

Does the light flicker? Flicker and go off? Does it just not come on at all?

You will need to swap bulbs. Move the passenger side bulb to the driver side and vice versa. If the problem follows the bulb, you need a new bulb. If the problem stays on the original light, you need a new ballast. Neither should be $800 and you should not need to replace the entire assembly.

samaritrey

Can you give us more details about what is not working? Maybe a video or picture?

Mikecrash

not bulb, entire new headlights

Mikecrash

Sure, the primary xenon headlight on the passenger side occasionally stops working, throwing a "malfunction code". The high beam, the turn signal, the fog light, and the smaller halogen light next to the primary headlight ALL work fine.

restarting the car a couple times can soemtimes fix the issue, and the headlight will turn on again and the malfunction code will be gone.

Mikecrash

I adjusted my main post to add more detail, let me know if that's helpful. I will try to snap a picture next time I see the headlight stop working

Mikecrash

So I know this is an old thread, but I'm still dealing with this issue. From the dealer he is what I have:

"Bi-xenon headlight
Low beams are both halogen and bi-xenon
high beam is halogen
Three total bulbs in the headlight"

I wish i could just retrofit some normal projector headlights into the car, it's SUCH a pain in the ***

Mikecrash

You have any suggestions or know of anyone else with a similiar issue?

Mikecrash

Any ideas? I updated with more detail

Spooky55

It could be as simple as your ballast going out. See post #3 for troubleshooting advice. Easy (ish) to fix, but you'll have to remove the front bumper cover to get the headlight assembly out. I believe the ballast is on the bottom.

Another possibility is the wire insulation inside the headlight assembly is disintegrating and shorting intermittently. Happened on my '05 C55 with halogens. you should be able to see from the back access panels you would use to change the bulbs.

My bet is on the ballast.

clazman55

Is this an issue when it is cold outside, say <40F/4C ?

I had and still have on occasion an issue with my passenger low beam around that temp and below, and this was with the OEM hardware and two new 35w kits from RetroFitSource, over the last 2 years.
The issue never follows the ballast, ignitor, bulb or the entire housing when swapped between sides, so it's definitely something in the wiring harness in my case, despite visual inspection and Ohm/Continuity checks on every single wire coming back with no issues.

After spending around 10hrs trying to isolate the issue, I've given up trying to figure it out.