Anyone know the cause for the leak on the composite lamps? Only seem to appear when under very hard rain or car wash. At least it clears up when the bulbs is turned on, but raises concern when I want to upgrade to H.I.D. lamps. I'm not interested in the replacing the entire headlamp assemblies.

 

The bad news is that when water or moisture gets into the W210 headlamp it has to be replaced.

 

Why smust they be replaced? I know on my Dodge Spirit lamps I just resiliconed the seal between the lamps and the lense and problem solved. I was hoping for the same method to be implied here... hmmmm

 

It can be re-sealed. The seal of the lens and the housing is secured by some silicone. Just make sure you don't have any cracks in the housing and make sure the o-rings of the blinker bulb socket is not worn out. Basically, you have to check all the areas for possible leaks. My advice is to take out the assembly before you do any trouble shooting.

But like E55 KEV, it's probably better to replace the assembly entirely and upgrade to a HID diffusion pattern lens. I believe Bekkers sells them.

 

One of mine had some water in it when I bought the car; the cause was a wire caught in the access cover seal allowing it to admit water. I took the cover off before a 45 minute drive at night (so the hot lights would help the h2o evaporate) then replaced it, haven't had problems since.

-tom

 

That may work. Sure you can 'tinker' with it and re-seal it yourself and hopefully correct the problem. If you take to dealer they will not re-seal it they will only replace it. Good Luck.

 

I'm considering just breaking down and buying the Xenon complete lamps from Bekkers. After all, they are E-Codes :-) Can't get better than that!