03e55

My stock halogen headlamps are badly yellowed. I spotted these headlamps on ebay and am think of trying them. They look pretty good and are a couple hundred cheaper than the new OEM halogens off of ebay. See Link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2003-...Q5fAccessories

What is it going to take to make these work? Does my 03 have auto leveling
feature? Do I just need an aftermarket HID kit that works with D2S bulbs?

Thanks

SwedeE55

You will need OEM ballasts, and activate Xenon in Star to make it work. Then it is just plug & play.

03e55

I found the oem ballast on ebay fairly inexpensive. I think I also need ignitors. There would seem to be some wiring missing as well?

Found the Ignitors

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2003-...item19c4e16462

OEM Ballast

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-O...Q5fAccessories

hx_guy

These are not for your car. If you read the description, it says...

2003-2006 MERCEDES-BENZ W211 E-CLASS
CRYSTAL ///AMG E63 FACELIFT STYLE XENON HID HEADLIGHTS
FOR WITH FACTORY XENON MODEL (WITH D2S PROJECTOR HOUSING)
COMES WITH AUTO-LEVELING MOTOR (x2 NEW 8000K D2S BULBS ARE INCLUDED, BUT NO XENON BALLAST WILL BE INCLUDED,
YOU WILL BE USING YOUR STOCK ONES), WITH AUTO-LEVELING MOTOR!
CHROME HOUSING WITH PROJECTOR WITH GERMAN MADE PROJECTOR LENS.

These are for cars that already have Xenon and want to change them to the 2007+ look. It even says further down in the auction...

IF you have Factory Halogen (Non-Xenon) Headlights:
* For the Non-Xenon equipped car owners, please look our other auction for that setup.

SwedeE55

Well, it will work if he wants a OEM style setup with D2S xenons instead of a cheaper aftermarket H7-xenon kit. It needs a little more work, and is a bit more expensive though.

03e55

Lots of views and no replys. Apparently, I have to be the guinea pig here. I just ordered the lights, ballasts and ignitors. I'll post up when I have this all figured out.

SwedeE55

The Xenon setup on pre facelift is quite simple. Just plug it in and it should work. All you need to do except that is to enable Xenon in Star, else it will probably flicker or not ignite at all.

The auto leveling is controlled by the same sensors as the airmatic.

03e55

Swede thanks for your replys here. Keyword is should work. I think that is all I will need to do as well. I saw a couple threads on other mercedes boards, a w204 and a Gl, where they had swapped them easily and just reprogrammed xenon=present. So I should be fine. I'll post up before and after and any issues that arise. So everyone knows for sure.

Stuff will be in this week, but I need to have the bumper fixed and repainted as well, so it may be a couple weeks.
So far I'm in for:

$405 for lights
$275 New OEM ballasts
$80 New OEM Ignitors
$100 Phillips D2S 6000k ultinon bullbs

SwedeE55

Yes, should work is the word. I haven't done the conversion myself since I've already got bi-xenons with active cornering. But when looking in to the possibility to upgrade them to facelift units (doing my E63-conversion) I understood that it should work like that on pre facelift.

Good luck and keep us posted.

chisler

i had an hid kit installed over the weekend. the 55w ballasts had flickering but then they tried the 35w ballasts and there was no flickering. i guess for 55W ballasts you need to set xenon present?

Dexion

I think its the other way around, halogen setting should be 55W so if you have the setting on Xenon only 35W should be fully compatible.