Alright guys so I went ahead and took the plunge to buy and install the LED tail lights. Of course, did my homework before and I

-bought the 06-09 socket lamps
-bent metal piece back
-paint metal piece bent just in case
-and even replaced the bulbs for safe measure
-lastly I did an ECU reset.

Well, the lights LED lights are flicking on and off and I have 4 different malfunctions with are right tail, right stop, left tail and left stop all malfunctioning. Had a substitute light on too but I was able to fix that malfunction.

Not sure why I still have these malfunctions and that the stop and tail lights won't work. Reverse bulbs and blinkers work though.


Am I missing something? Any help would be appreciated. Please note these are the new ones from fishcakes so I shouldn't have to install resistors.




Thanks as always,



Angelo

 

where did u buy it?
I didn't have to buy all that extra stuff...I just bought them off the seller on ebay and they worked fine out of the box

 

On eBay from fishcakes the seller. I had to do that because I have an 04 and had the horseshoe style tail light. It literally just swapped straight out for you with no malfunction?



Angelo

 

The symptoms point to not installing the 2 included resistor packs inline between the blub brackets and the chassis wiring harness. "so I shouldn't have to install resistors", this statement is incorrect you must always install the included resistors regardless of what year W209 you drive. One of the driver side LED strips failed on my LED Taillamps recently, so 2 weeks ago I bought a new set from Fishcake and I saw that they still include 2 resistors.

 

Werd

 

I think the confusion here is that some of the tails come with the resistors pre-wired and some don't. Mine had 2 resistors per side already installed. Plug and play.

 

All settled!...thanks for the help Carlos!...

The resistors weren't installed...



Angelo

 

What's the fix for this "substitute tail lamp" business? I replaced a bulb on my 07 CLK550 and my lower tail lamps only work briefly when I unlock the car and then the car switches to the upper lamps.

 

The rear SAM uses resistance to determine when a bulb is out. When you replace one bulb, the difference in its resistance and the other side's old bulb can fool the circuit. Just replace all the bulbs in both tail lights. No need to use expensive MBZ brand - just buy what fits.

 

That fixed it. Thanks Rudeney

 

You're welcome! I know this is a strange thing, but I've been through it many times. Any time I get a bulb error, I just head to my favorite parts store and grab a full set of bulbs.

 

^ that is what I finally ended up doing too. It was like playing Whack-a-Mole trying to find just one bulb to replace.

 

I have a question. I have 2004 CLK500 and i want to upgrade my tail lights to OEM 2009 style from parts dot com. Do i also need resistors or its going to be plug and play with only bent piece of metal?

 

Yes, plug and play, except for the metal part of the rear fender that needs to be cut or bent to accommodate the new style.

 

Thank you Rudeney

 

@Rudeney, would this be possible for example with LED taillight bulbs? To replace all of them on both sides? I know this might be a stupid question but I think the stupidest question is the one that is not asked :P

 

You mean just swapping the bulbs instead of the entire lens assembly? You can try that, but I have not found any LED bulbs that are bright enough to really work. The arrays built-into the entire replacement assembly are much better.

 

Yeah, I was thinking about only the bulbs. Currently waiting on a second order of LED's so I can change all the interior lights and other small lights around the car. When times comes most probably I will go with the DEPO front and tail lights cause it seems to me that owners are satisfied with the products.

 

Just received a set of LED tails from Fishcake321 on ebay. Hooked them up and brake lights, top portion of tail light, reverse lights, and turn signals work. But I keep getting "tail light right" error message on display as well as "tail light right, substitute lamp on". Also the lower part of the tail lights come on and then go out. Not sure what's happening. This set came with 2 resistors wired on to each light, along with turn signal and reverse lights already installed.

 

It sounds like the resistors are not working so the SAM doesn't detect enough of a load and therefor acts as if the bulb is not working.

 

Thanks Rudeney, I suspected that as well.. funny enough the left tail light works perfectly when the right one isn't plugged in. I do believe it's the load as you said. My right side marker up front is currently out (bad socket). That may be the issue there affecting load as well. I read on here that someone had issues with the LED tails due to a fog light being out. Gonna fix the side marker tomorrow and see what happens then.

Thanks again

 

Front lights and rear lights are on two separate SAMs so that should not be an issue.

 

Noted. Was planning on fixing the side marker anyway so I'll just go ahead and do it. Considering what you just said it may not change anything. I've already been in contact with the seller so worst case scenario I'll have to send em back. We'll see.

 

Well Rudeney, just as you said it changed nothing when I fixed the sidemarker light up front. The pic attached is how it currently looks while getting the error msgs "tail lamp, right" and "tail lamp right, substitute lamp on" May very well be an issue with the tail light resistor after all.

Thanks

 

What kind of resistors do you have for the tails? I remember they came in a few different versions. Some were missing the resistors. I have 2 per side with a fairly intricate wiring harness.