are your E350 inner lens cloudy?
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 46
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From: Boynton Beach Florida
2007 E350, sport & P1
are your E350 inner lens cloudy?
I have a 2007 E350 with halogen lights. The inner lens, not the outer plastic lens, is cloudy, I believe it was and is supposed to be clear.
I went to my dealer and Mercedes will supply new headlight assemblies as a
good will gesture but I have to pay the labor which is three hours, almost $500.00 I have the extended warranty, but these are not warranty items.The assemblies are not repairable by the dealers.
I believe the light output is reduced by the cloudy lens.
Any comments out there? Have you experienced this problem?
I probably will keep the car for another year or so.
Should I go for it or let the next owner worry about it?
I really don't want to do the disassembly and repair myself.
Dave
I went to my dealer and Mercedes will supply new headlight assemblies as a
good will gesture but I have to pay the labor which is three hours, almost $500.00 I have the extended warranty, but these are not warranty items.The assemblies are not repairable by the dealers.
I believe the light output is reduced by the cloudy lens.
Any comments out there? Have you experienced this problem?
I probably will keep the car for another year or so.
Should I go for it or let the next owner worry about it?
I really don't want to do the disassembly and repair myself.
Dave
Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 156
Likes: 3
From: New York
2005 E320 CDI
Is just one lense cloudy? I've removed these and disassembled them (albeit not for this reason). Removal involves removal of bumper cover fasteners on the one side, a few fender-well fasteners to access connections from the back. For scratch management, some taping of the headlight area and fender to bumper cover area is a good idea. There are good DIY's with pictures out there for this procedure.
FWIW, disassembly of the headlight unit itself is not difficult but requires a bit of bravery: put 'er in the oven at 165 for 20 mins to loosen the adhesive gasket the seals the lense. From there very easy to remove the projector and clean the lense. It is glass. Once the projector is back together, put 'er back in the oven and press the outer lens into the unit. With a free replacement from the dealer, you could skip this step (or give it a try and if successful, sell the new one on Ebay).
Me? I would DIY for $0 or leave it. not worth $500 to fix.
FWIW, disassembly of the headlight unit itself is not difficult but requires a bit of bravery: put 'er in the oven at 165 for 20 mins to loosen the adhesive gasket the seals the lense. From there very easy to remove the projector and clean the lense. It is glass. Once the projector is back together, put 'er back in the oven and press the outer lens into the unit. With a free replacement from the dealer, you could skip this step (or give it a try and if successful, sell the new one on Ebay).
Me? I would DIY for $0 or leave it. not worth $500 to fix.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 46
Likes: 0
From: Boynton Beach Florida
2007 E350, sport & P1
The warranty on the assemblies would most likely require giving the old assemblies back for the warranty claim.
Both lenses are cloudy.
I'm a pretty good diy guy, but I don't think I want to go thru all of taking the bumpers off and doing the headlights in the oven. I did consider it though.
Thanks for the comments, but I am curious if anyone else is experiencing the same problem. I looked at a neighbors E350 and his lenses are cloudy too.
Dave
Both lenses are cloudy.
I'm a pretty good diy guy, but I don't think I want to go thru all of taking the bumpers off and doing the headlights in the oven. I did consider it though.
Thanks for the comments, but I am curious if anyone else is experiencing the same problem. I looked at a neighbors E350 and his lenses are cloudy too.
Dave
Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 156
Likes: 3
From: New York
2005 E320 CDI
Not wanting to do the work on this job, understood. I wouldn't take the whole bumper off by the way. I'd work each side at a time. I think you're more likely to wrestle with fittings on both sides and thereby risk scratching etc if the whole bumper is off. One side at a time is easy as a one-man task too.
These lenses are not born clear. There is a frensel effect on the lense similar to light house lenses.
If it were my car and I was going to keep it, I'd do the work myself and upgrade to HID projectors, otherwise save your money.
These lenses are not born clear. There is a frensel effect on the lense similar to light house lenses.
If it were my car and I was going to keep it, I'd do the work myself and upgrade to HID projectors, otherwise save your money.
