Mystery burned out ext light
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Mystery burned out ext light
On the C43 I have an advisory light on my console that there is a burned out exterior light. Unfortunately I can't seem to find anything that doesn't work. Any lights I might not normally think to check? Seems kind of weird and the light is starting to annoy me.
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12' W204 C63 AMG coupe "T-Rex", 12' W451 Smart Fortwo Pulse (99' W202 C43 AMG + Ultima Can-Am sold)
Rear license plate light perhaps? Check all yours light and bulbs when it is dark. Perhaps then you will see which one is the culprit.
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I had that not too long ago and I was seeing that the tail lights were on, but didn't realize there were two bulbs. One of the rear bulbs was out.
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1999 C43, 2008 P30 E63, 2014 SQ5, 2024 Model Y Performance
It's common to have the housing for the bulbs in the rear to melt and make a loose connection. I had an intermittent tail light that I fixed by pulling out the housing and soldering the connection. I would start by checking the tail lights, once again this is a common problem with the 98-00' C-class
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Well I got to the bottom of the issue this afternoon and found it to be in my driver side taillight cluster.....the little bulb at the top was burned out. Couldn't tell from the outside at night, but once I pulled and compared the clusters it was pretty obvious which bulb was not like the others 
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1999 C43, 2008 P30 E63, 2014 SQ5, 2024 Model Y Performance
The light on my dash that tells you that a light is burnt out comes on and off intermittently. I thought I had fixed it but I guess not. Does anyone have a list of bulbs that are connected to the dummy light?
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MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2010
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From: Land of mountains, cheese, chocolate and watches
12' W204 C63 AMG coupe "T-Rex", 12' W451 Smart Fortwo Pulse (99' W202 C43 AMG + Ultima Can-Am sold)
I would guess all the bulbs on the outside: headlamps, indicators, brakes, plate lights, etc.
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In all likelihood, rear lights. One by one, remove the lights, clean connections with rubbing alcohol or something similar (perhaps a round-end file?) and put the lights back in.
In my experience the car sometimes develops a slightly higher resistance at one of the bulbs and it will still glow, but it will be enough to trip the dummy light.
In my experience the car sometimes develops a slightly higher resistance at one of the bulbs and it will still glow, but it will be enough to trip the dummy light.
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From: PDX
1999 C43, 2008 P30 E63, 2014 SQ5, 2024 Model Y Performance
In all likelihood, rear lights. One by one, remove the lights, clean connections with rubbing alcohol or something similar (perhaps a round-end file?) and put the lights back in.
In my experience the car sometimes develops a slightly higher resistance at one of the bulbs and it will still glow, but it will be enough to trip the dummy light.
In my experience the car sometimes develops a slightly higher resistance at one of the bulbs and it will still glow, but it will be enough to trip the dummy light.
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From: beautiful los angeles, california
c43
It's common to have the housing for the bulbs in the rear to melt and make a loose connection. I had an intermittent tail light that I fixed by pulling out the housing and soldering the connection. I would start by checking the tail lights, once again this is a common problem with the 98-00' C-class
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From: Land of mountains, cheese, chocolate and watches
12' W204 C63 AMG coupe "T-Rex", 12' W451 Smart Fortwo Pulse (99' W202 C43 AMG + Ultima Can-Am sold)
Bad wire connection? Check and clean all the contacts 
Personally, when a bulb blows I change both sides at the same time as you can be sure the other side will blow shortly after you change the first one
Personally, when a bulb blows I change both sides at the same time as you can be sure the other side will blow shortly after you change the first one
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From: beautiful los angeles, california
c43
just took the assembly out, all connectors pretty clean, but cleaned them again with rubbing alcohol anyways and noticed the grey plastic housing part for the top brake light expanded from melting. I filed it down as much as I could so I could get the bulb in there but it still keeps going out randomly. So sick of seeing that orange light on my dash.
Last edited by cthirtysizzle; Jun 22, 2010 at 04:33 PM.
