5double0

Hi guys,

I have a problem with my car.
I have the left bottom tailight and right bottom tailight out.

I changed both bulbs and they don't turn on !
I have the mssg computer displaying "tailight left, tailight right" " back-up on"

What other problem could this be ? I checked the brake light fuse and it is not blown. By the way , removing and installing the fuse again made my car crazy, the abs light turned on, ESP light turned on, and the car wouldn't start.

This is my first mercedes. Never had a problem like this with my BMW's.

Has anyone experienced this problem ? I don't want to spend an arm and a leg at the dealer for bulb issues !

Your help is appreciated ! Thank you

Yidney

So does it still not start? What does it do when you try to start it? How is your battery? A dying battery can do weird things in these cars.

5double0

The car started fine after a while. Apparently it acted up when I started the car with the fuse out. The number of fuse was #60. Now I am just having a problem with the tailights. They still won't turn on even with the new bulbs installed. How frustrating !

Rudeney

Fuse #60 is for the ESP/ABS control unit. Don't pull that or you'll get errors! My advice is to replace all the bulb in the rear tail light assembly. Why you're doing that, clean the contacts. I have found that the circuits that sense bad bulbs can be fooled when you have a combination of odd bulbs (old vs. new) installed. Also, check the wiring harness connectors to the tail lights to make sure they are properly mated. And check the voltage on the battery - if it's below 12.5 at rest or drops into the low 11v range when starting, you need to replace it.

5double0

Just realized that fuse #60 is also for ABS. That explains why it was acting up . As far as the bulbs, I have replaced all and cleaned the connectors. No luck

Klinh

Make sure you replace the right bulbs because your "back up bulbs is on".

5double0

I have replaced all bulbs... That is why I'm asking if this issue could be bulb unrelated.

Yidney

I've never paid much attention to which bulb is which back there, but I assume these bulbs are the ones that come on when the headlights come on so people behind can see you, and are not the brake lights or turn signals? Try a volt meter at the sockets with the headlight swith on and off and see if power is even getting there. That would be step one.

Rudeney

If you are going to check voltage, you have to do it with the bulb in place. When the SAM recognizes the bulb is not working, it shuts it off.

While it's possible that you have a bad rear SAM, I still think this is a simple problem with bad bulbs or connectors. I'd remove the bulb plate completely, take it to your workbench, and check each socket and each bulb.

There are no fuses that could be a problem - the bulbs are controlled directly from the rear SAM. If all else fails, you should get someone with SDS to pull codes from the rear SAM.

Nero Tenebre

Guys I know it's been awhile but did anyone ever find a solution to this problem?

5double0

I ended up getting rid of the car and never got to fix the tailight issue. The transmission went out along with the differential ( almost same time ) biggest pos in the world.

Jhuey

I had an issue and had to change all of the rear bulbs together. It worked fine with that

Gene du Plessis

I know this is an old thread, but wanted to add. Ive been stealthing for awhile. I recently bought a 2005 CLK500 Cabriolet, and it had a couple of small issues. One of which led me to this page. Both tail lights (bottom) were out, backups were on (top), warning light for "rear left tail light" and warning light for "rear left backup" were on. (funny enough, the right warning wasnt on) and i tried replacing just the tail lamp bulbs, and nothing changed. So i replaced all the bulbs, and voila, problem fixed.