beanieBenz

w211 2005 E500 Sport. My driver side HID low beam is not functioning. I swapped the bulb, ignitor, and ballast from the inoperable left side to the operable right side. All three parts are working on the other side. From researching the forums, I understand that there is not a single fuse for the headlights. Correct? I'm thinking the problem maybe one of the two wires that connects into the low beam side of the headlight assembly. Any ideas?

samaritrey

I would get your volt meter out and start testing. Remember that the car will cut power to the wire if it detects it is out so plan for that. On my old w203 you could get around that by leaving key out of ignition and turning the lights on as it would not check for bad bulbs don't know if the same is true for the w211 though.

AMGAffalterbach

Do you have aftermarket HIDs or stock? I assume by your profile they are factory HIDs.

beanieBenz

Thanks for you reply guys. My next move was the volt meter, but fortunately I found information that revealed the identity of the ballast.

I figured it out a couple of days ago. Researching on the internet I found that the adaptive headlight control unit (active cornering part number A003 820 58 26) is often confused with the ballast. I thought the adaptive headlight control unit was the ballast. I had an operable adaptive headlight control unit and an inoperable ballast. I switched the ballast (the real ballast this time) from the operable side to the inoperable side and voila! It was the ballast part number 5DV 008 290-00. I picked one up at a local salvage yard for $100.00. They are available on eBay for $80.00, but I didn't want to wait.

Left side yellow label is the ballast. Right side is the adaptive headlight control unit.

AMGAffalterbach

Ah glad you figured it out, interesting.