cjmcdaniel

I have had my current car for about 8 years and have almost always had dealer service everything...when I purchased the car, I had a 100,000 mile warranty, so time ran out before the miles. Been pretty lucky in that I have had few problems; however on Friday a rock broke the lens cover for the fog lamp on the driver side. I checked with my dealership and they estimated about $200-240 for the replacement.

So, I decided to look on here and a couple of other places to see how hard it might be to change the lens myself. Found several people who have done it before, but none that gave me the exact way to change out on a 2006 E-500. One that I found was close and advised all I would need was a screwdriver and 8 mm socket.

I purchased the lens (Hella original) from the dealership for $42. I was amazed at how easy this was to do...so thought I might share in case there might be others who need some help in this process.

1. Try to get the front end of the car up, if possible...wheel stand, or jack, or just park up on a large block of some kind. it will give you a little more work room under the vehicle.
2. Put down some kind of cloth or towel to provide access under the bumper so you can lay flat to access under the bumper.
3. If working in a garage, you may need a work light...I did this in the driveway and did not need one. In the garage, you can slip the work lamp down in front of the radiator and almost right in front of the lens location.
4. There is an access panel just below the fog lamp. There are two plastic retainers that you can turn with a flat head screwdriver...they turn about 180 degrees to release the panel.
5. Pull the access panel door all the way down and to the front of the car.
6. Reach up inside and disconnect the bulb by turning. The bulb should come out easily.
7. This is where my car was different from some of the other recommendations I found. There was no need for an 8 mm socket wrench as the fog lamp assembly itself is held in with two torix screws. Luckily, I have a set of torix heads that slipped right into a handle. Accessing the one on the right side of the fog lamp (as you look at it from the bottom) was very easy.
8. The other torix screw is on the far left of the lamp and not so easy to get to. If you have a 90 degree torix handle, no problem...otherwise, you will have to push the plastic panel under the bumper slightly up enough to get the handle up to the screw...then remove.
9. Once these two screws are out, all you have to do is take the entire unit out from the bumper and through the access panel.
10. Remove the broken glass by removing the three metal tabs on the sides of the lens holder...just put a screwdriver in the hole and lift...it will pop right off. Careful!!! It is glass and will cut easily.
11. Use care as there is likely broken glass all around the edges. After getting all the glass out, I used a foaming glass cleaner to clean the inside reflective part of the lamp.
12. Then take some kind of rubber or silicone lubricant and clean the rubber flange around the lamp.
13. Insert the replacement lens....re-clamp with the metal tabs and reinsert the bulb into the lamp assembly.
14. Carefully push the entire assembly back through the access panel and into place...reinsert the torix screws just as you did when you removed them.
15. Close and replace turning 180 degrees on the retaining screws and you are done.

Hope this helps...I do have some photos if anyone really needs, but, this should help. It took me a total of 25 minutes to do the entire process including the cleaning and cleanup.

Good Luck.

Jim's500E

If your car is a 2006, then you want to put this in the W211 section. These cars here are at least a decade older.

Looks to be a quite helpful DIY ...them guys will thank you.