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So the low beam headlight bulb burns out on the wife's wagon. H7 factory bulb.
What should be a simple fix is now complicated by the discovery of the wire insulation falliong off in chunks from the connector to about 3 inches down. This leaves bare wire exposed which is asking for trouble.
Seems like the heat from the stock bulb has damaged the insualtion. Poor quality wire and/or design.
Car is a 2004 with 55,000 miles. Am I the only one with this problem or is this common?
I am having the fuel filter changed next week and plan on discussing with the dealer to see if they will "goodwill" a repair.
Nope, I bought the car new and this is the first bulb change. I can't be the only one with this problem. The insulation is bad on both the left and right.
2002 CLK, left side headlight wiring is destroyed by Insulation disintegrating, badly. Right side intact so far. 100% standard bulbs, both sides. Reading other forums and Google searches show this is widespread and a disaster.
common problem. insulation in my W210 and W220 are both worn out. I'm going to get them re-taped to avoid the bare wires creating any hazards. The SAM control unit would eventually die out if this is not treated promptly.
I just replaced my '05 CDI low beams and found the same flaking wire insulation.
Probably an "environmentally friendly" wiring insulator. Shouldn't there be a TSB on this or maybe a recall? It seems the proper fix might require removing the bumper and then headlight assemblies or maybe even replacing the headlights.
Anybody got any good ideas? I've wrapped them with electrical tape but when I rechecked the passenger side I flaked all of the insulation off and need to do it now. Maybe a coil of that plastic electrical wrap might work.
If you cannot find a replacement harness see if you can rewire the harness. I did that with my W210 E55 for which a replacement harness is not available due to the auto-level feature. https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ml#post7583135
I have the same problem with my w219. Upgraded all the bulbs and in the process and the insulation CRUMBLED and FELL off. My car is a 2006 with 72K miles. What a shame that these wiring harnesses are so poorly constructed. For the short term, I put black electric tape on the wires to insulate. Since my headlight lenses are not looking so great anyways, my plan is to just change the entire pair of headlight assemblies. Aftermarket headlights are around $250 each, and for the w211 I believe that are half that price.
Bumping an old thread but while replacing a burnt out bulb I ran into this as well. All wires leading to low beams, high beams and parking lights. Not much room in there to maneuver but I brushed on liquid electric tape but there are areas that can’t be seen up in there that I can’t get the brush to. I’ll be replacing both entire headlamp units. This should have been a recall.
Hi! I cut my wires near the connector, installed heat shrink wire wrap. I then soldered cut ends together and heated heat shrink tubing. worked great.
If you replaced wire, what wire did you use for the replacement. I'm assuming that 10-12 awg would suffice, but I don't know if there's a preferred insulation specification? I'm leaning towards silicone as it should provide better heat resistance compared to PVC.
If you replaced wire, what wire did you use for the replacement. I'm assuming that 10-12 awg would suffice, but I don't know if there's a preferred insulation specification? I'm leaning towards silicone as it should provide better heat resistance compared to PVC.
This is the reason I carry a fire extinguisher in the car. I've seen fires there in a W211, W220. Frankenstein doesn't belong under these hoods. The dealer has the wiring and connector fix, cheap. Do it before you burn.
If you replaced wire, what wire did you use for the replacement. I'm assuming that 10-12 awg would suffice, but I don't know if there's a preferred insulation specification? I'm leaning towards silicone as it should provide better heat resistance compared to PVC.
This is the reason I carry a fire extinguisher in the car. I've seen fires there in a W211, W220. Frankenstein doesn't belong under these hoods. The dealer has the wiring and connector fix, cheap. Do it before you burn.
The harness that I need to replace is the one inside the headlight. There is one made by MotorKing, however this is for the Halogen type headlight only, and I couldn't find one for the Xenon headlight. This is the predicament that I'm in and I have bi-xenon headlights. The cheaper option will be to replace the wires in the headlight, with the alternative being to replace the headlights (at $1000 per light this is my last resort).
The harness that I need to replace is the one inside the headlight. There is one made by MotorKing, however this is for the Halogen type headlight only, and I couldn't find one for the Xenon headlight. This is the predicament that I'm in and I have bi-xenon headlights. The cheaper option will be to replace the wires in the headlight, with the alternative being to replace the headlights (at $1000 per light this is my last resort).
If you can find the wire plug connector pin ends, just get the highest heat rated wire you can find and wire it up. Just replace one wire at a time.
Jeuss, I was replacing my bumper on my cls550 2008 and decided to TRY and change out my low light horrible xenon lights with LED.. wow did I get myself in a mess. These are the most over engineered complicated pieces of **** headlight I've ever come across in my 30 years of working on cars. Why must Mercedes make everything so damn complicated when simple things can work. The wiring inside both my headlights were both completely exposed with no shielding .. I couldnt believe it. Now I'm having to take both headlights out and rewire this garbage. I will never ever in my life buy a Mercedes again .. am so dumbfounded how all this expensive engineering can result in such poor quality... OH and don't even get me started on all the air shocks I had to replace! My car only has 120k miles and it's falling apart. Garbage!!!!
Last edited by tgblakeman1074; Apr 6, 2022 at 08:09 PM.
Jeuss, I was replacing my bumper on my cls550 2008 and decided to TRY and change out my low light horrible xenon lights with LED.. wow did I get myself in a mess. These are the most over engineered complicated pieces of **** headlight I've ever come across in my 30 years of working on cars. Why must Mercedes make everything so damn complicated when simple things can work. The wiring inside both my headlights were both completely exposed with no shielding .. I couldnt believe it. Now I'm having to take both headlights out and rewire this garbage. I will never ever in my life buy a Mercedes again .. am so dumbfounded how all this expensive engineering can result in such poor quality... OH and don't even get me started on all the air shocks I had to replace! My car only has 120k miles and it's falling apart. Garbage!!!!
Resurrection of the dead!
what started with a simple lense replacement, turned into full rebuild of both headlights. Took lenses off and found that some of wire insulation was chipping off. At this point the only option is to rebuild the wires with heat shrink and soldering.... It is so much work!
Replaced the projectors with aftermarket and boy oh boy, what a difference is part quality. OEM 2005 parts are much more durable that the China build Morimoto EvoXR. Bought them from TRS and when I've reached out to them that the projectors are not plug and play, as they claim, I got no response from the them. Because I've already started to take everything apart, the only option I am left with is to modify and keep working on it to make things fit and work.
Has anyone found a place where they could order the harness for inside of the headlight? Delaer? Aftermarket?
See pictures below:
appreciate you mentioning this, I'm dealing with this situation seemingly for the first time on this car and was able to find the replacement for my w208 on their shoddy website lol. I should probably learn how to solder it correctly, but this may be a more simple solution.
edit: scratch that. I'm shocked you said you can't find the Xenon, because I cannot find halogen for the life of me. Seems my only option is to get an aftermarket HID kit. I know I'm late to the party but please feel free to make a suggestion if you have wisdom on the subject. Again I'm W208 Halogen
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