dmwil

I'm scratching my head on this one. I just replaced a burned-out bulb in the rear interior dome light. It is now nice and bright. The only problem is that when I shut the door and leave the car, the front dome light dims a couple seconds after the door is closed. The rear stays on...and on...and on. It goes out after about 5 minutes or so. I've checked the buttons by the front dome light. I can turn all of them off, and I can turn the rear only on (with doors closed). It doesn't stay on when the key is in and the car is running.

What gives? Is there a way to adjust this? Is it a security feature, or worse, is it a gremlin?

Any help would be appreciated.

RichardM98

May I suggest purchasing an Owner's Manual. They are not expensive either from the dealer or by calling 1-800-FOR MERCedes.

The interior lights should stay on for about 10 sec after closing the door. They gradually dim before going off. If you park the car in a dark location at night the exterior lights stay on to allow you to walk safely to a lighted location such as indoors. The countdown timer for the lighting is programmable via the SDS at the dealer. Should you leave a door ajar or leave the interior lights on manually they will go off after 5 min to prevent draining the battery. (Not 30 min as I originally posted)

If all interior lights stay on after driving off, you probably left a door ajar.

Hope that helps some.

dmwil

I checked the doors, but I'll do it again, just to be sure. If that were the problem, wouldn't the front dome light have stayed on, too? Also, the rear dome light was on for about 5 minutes.

I'll check the manual to see if it says anything about the front and rear being programmed separately. It just seems weird to me that they wouldn't work together.

Thanks for the advice.

raymond g-

curious: when you activate the lock function using the Smartkey, are you
seeing the turn signals flash several times? if not, this may indicate that
one of the doors is not closing fully.....or, that the door pin switch requires
adjustment.

RichardM98

Also, has anyone modified the car with non-standard bulbs such as LED's? Those often cause the lighting to act erratically.

dmwil

I'll check on that. I'd swear I've done that where the lights didn't flash.

dmwil

Nope. Nearly all of the bulbs, with the exception of the glove box light, rear fog light, and rear dome light, are original. The replacement bulbs I used are identical to the originals, in spec, and in appearance.

donwillcox

My 1999 e320 4matic sedan is having this problem. Interior lights take about 1 min to dim. When locking the car at night the interior lights stay on for about 5 min. Sometimes the interior door lights stay on a bit longer. Help appreciated.

PSB

anybody find the issue?

dmwil

I never did figure it out. I just took the bulb out of the rear light and have lived with it.

mks4fun

I have the same issue. I put and LED light in several places but that rear light issue has been a problem for many years. I will probably just remove the light bulb. I've never timed it though.

ebondefender

I had this happen with both the rear and front dome lights, but tracked the problem to my passenger front door pin. It was ~1mm off. I adjusted the screws on the striker plate to accommodate and now it works. Sometimes the lights would go off, then turn back on. Annoying as heck too- the car alarm would randomly sound. I thought it was a cat or a raccoon setting the car off, but it happened at work in the city as well.