sparky300

Been searching all night but can't find my issue on here. I have a 1998 E300 that I purchased last Saturday. I couldn't see crap at night even on high beams so I picked up a polish kit for the lenses and silver star bulbs and.........WOW what a difference!
Anyway, when I was replacing the H7's I noticed the running lights kinda just fell out while I was working around in there. This happened on both sides and I lightly pushed the bulb housings back into place and tried to turn them but I didn't seem to see or feel any kind of "catch" or tabs. What am I missing here?
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Lancelot

You mean the H6W city-lights? The dealer has a repairkit for them containing new sockets and wires. Only costing a few bucks. I may have a bag around here, I'll post the MB# if and when I find it...

sparky300

Yes those are the ones I'm talking about. Thanks for the quick response.
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Lancelot

Cellphonepic but you can make out the OEM number and new socket. These are prone to cracking and/or the notches braking off after all the years...

sparky300

OK well since I will be changing these out should I stick with the stock bulbs or is there any others worth upgrading too?
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Lancelot

I'm thinking about getting this canbus-proof SMD-LED kit, so the city lights match my stock HID's in color:

Lancelot

In fact I picked up and installed the above LEDs the other day. The fitting fits in the OEM sockets, and together with a cabletie it all fits neatly inside the housing. No broken-lamp warning whatsoever...

before:


after:

raymond g-

Lancelot - can you supply vendor and part # that you worked with? tnx

sparky300

I can't thank u guys enough for all the quick responses, help and info. It's nice to be around a more mature crowd on theses boards.

BTW Lancelot what exactly is the part in the LED pic that is the bottom half of a bulb socket with the wires coming out? Is that where they house the resistor or something to stop the error code in the dash?

Also, I remember seeing an introduce yourself thread on here but now I cant find it. Anyone have the link available?
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Lancelot

The bottom half of the bulb is just used as the connection to the existing bulbsocket in the car. The black molded square is what stops the error code in the dash.

@raymond g-
I got them at a local shop, they have a site but it's in Dutch and I don't know if they ship overseas. Don't they have anything similar available overthere?

blacked210

I've replaced my DRL with led that i purchased off of ebay and they work great on the car and they just plug right in and they don't throw a warning light and i remember the seller included a extra pair of resistors that you could attach just in case it didnt work but it didnt need them.

Here is the Link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/2pcs-BAX9S-H6W-6...item2eb10390aa

sparky300

Those are nice but seems they might look out of place with my full H7 setup vs xenons. I did install silver-star bulbs so it might be worth a shot. Of course, that will be after I fix the broken sockets.


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sparky300

I second what Raymond said.
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Hikingmapa

Pardon my ignorance, but what is silver-star bulbs and are they available in the local auto stores, or are they Mercedes items? And Sparky300, I have the same problem with the plastic light covers turning yellow and cloudy. What do you think? Is the brightness difference due to change of bulb types, polishing, or both?

sparky300

SilverStar bulbs here: http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...ce/Silverstar/

They produce a much brighter light and much whiter imo, no yellowish tinge to it. ( I use the Ultra bulb ). I have also installed them in another vehicle I own as well. Until I go HID Xenon, these are the only conventional bulbs I will use anymore. I picked mine up at AutoZone. You can find them in most big chain auto stores from my experience. I purchased (4) H7 bulbs and the price was roughly $25 each but well worth it for the increased visibility.

Ok as far as the brightness difference it is due to both changes. If you go back to my first post I was not exaggerating about how bad the light output was. There is a plethora of lens restoration kits out there. I have used polish in the past when lenses were just a little cloudy but on my E300 they were downright yellow/brownish. Figuring they were gonna need a little more than polishing I went with this kit http://www.permatex.com/products/aut...ration_Kit.htm. Which is also available from AutoZone. I paid $15

It comes with 4 pieces of sandpaper: 1000/1500/2000/2500 grit. The higher the grit rating, the finer the paper. I ran my hand and fingernails over all 4 lenses and did not feel any bad scratches or gouges so I opted to only use the 2000 and 2500 paper. Probably spent 25-30 min per lens with wet sanding and polishing. It was WELL worth the time and effort. The lenses are now damn close to new looking ones and until I do a projector retrofit HID I am very pleased with the results.

BTW I have read often where people complain about the life/longevity of the silverstar bulbs burning out frequently (IE every 6-8 months or so) and that the Phillips or Osram versions of sylvania's silverstar bulbs last longer. Heck, even sylvania rates the longevity of the silverstar on the back of the package as, for lack of a better term, crappy. I installed silverstars in my Jeep somewhere about 1 - 1 1/2 yrs ago and they still work so maybe I got lucky. If I experience short life in the Benz then I'll switch over, but hopefully will have HID by then. Just figured I would throw this out there in case you ran out and picked up a pair only to have them burn out quickly. I live in an area with alot of woods and side roads where it can be pitch black at night with tons of deer that love to play chicken so unless these things start burning out every week it's worth the price to me.

I do keep the original bulbs I removed wrapped up and well packaged in the trunk just in case.

Shoot me a message or post if I can help any further.
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Altin

hi everyone , i have an e300 98 and today i just had a problem with my climate control unit the ec light came on and i'm not able to shut it off so right now the ac works only on the economy mode so it does not cool of , not thatg i need right now becouse here it cold enough outside but the unit it is stillunder warranty , i just got it 2 weeks ago from a used part store , can anyone tell me what i can do or what could be wrong?
any info is appriciated thanks