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Clk500 TAILIGHT ISSUES !!!

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Old Dec 5, 2012 | 07:45 PM
  #1  
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2005 clk500
Clk500 TAILIGHT ISSUES !!!

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
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Old Dec 5, 2012 | 09:54 PM
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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.
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Old Dec 5, 2012 | 10:38 PM
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2005 clk500
Originally Posted by 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.
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 !
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Old Dec 5, 2012 | 11:16 PM
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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.
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Old Dec 5, 2012 | 11:21 PM
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2005 clk500
Originally Posted by 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.
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
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Old Dec 6, 2012 | 04:41 AM
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Originally Posted by 5double0
Hi guys,
I changed both bulbs and they don't turn on !
I have the mssg computer displaying "tailight left, tailight right" " back-up on"


Your help is appreciated ! Thank you

Make sure you replace the right bulbs because your "back up bulbs is on".
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Old Dec 6, 2012 | 07:48 AM
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2005 clk500
Originally Posted by Klinh
Make sure you replace the right bulbs because your "back up bulbs is on".
I have replaced all bulbs... That is why I'm asking if this issue could be bulb unrelated.
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Old Dec 6, 2012 | 08:59 AM
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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.
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Old Dec 6, 2012 | 11:02 AM
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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.
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Old Oct 7, 2014 | 04:55 PM
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Guys I know it's been awhile but did anyone ever find a solution to this problem?
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Old Oct 7, 2014 | 11:03 PM
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2005 clk500
Originally Posted by Nero Tenebre
Guys I know it's been awhile but did anyone ever find a solution to this problem?
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.
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Old Oct 16, 2014 | 07:29 PM
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CLK
Originally Posted by Nero Tenebre
Guys I know it's been awhile but did anyone ever find a solution to this problem?

I had an issue and had to change all of the rear bulbs together. It worked fine with that
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Old Jul 25, 2017 | 11:01 PM
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CLK500 Cabriolet
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.
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Old May 11, 2024 | 05:25 PM
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2006 Mercedes-Benz CL 500
2006 CL 500 Mercedes won't start

Originally Posted by 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 !


i'm curious to know how you got your car to start back up? I recently did the same thing. Both parking lights in the back we're out as well as the blinkers at first. (This is when I first bought the car) as I'm driving home one brake light comes on as well as both park lights. I went to change driver side brake light only to find out that I need to change the whole assembly of lights. In the process I was checking fuses. went to go start the car and it started but was running rough. Turned the car off and attempted to turn it back on and Car would try to crank but would not turn over. Put cables on the battery now car won't crank at all. had a mechanic look at it and he says there's no power going to fuse box under the hood on driver side. What could this be? if anyone knows or has had this problem please let me know!
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