Rear (tail) light issues....
11-19-2019, 11:13 AM
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W211 E320cdi (05)
Rear (tail) light issues....
Hello,
It was recently brought to my attention that my rear / tail light on drivers side is out (UK - so right hand side).
Surprised me as I didn't get any error messages etc.
So I had a look and it wasn't actually 'out' just incredibly dim.
The bulb is technically turning on but its so dim you actually have your eyeball up against the light so can you see it !
Exactly the same with the indicator bulb in that light.
Brake light (LED) is totally unaffected.... as nearly losing sight can attest!!
So I removed light to see what was what.
The light was being held on by ONE of the 5 screws and the light itself was full of water. I then noticed that the carpet was wet.... and below the spare tire was a literal pool of water.
Eeeek!
So I dried it all out. Bought and fitted a new light bulb plate and..... no change.
So Google is your friend....apparently it could be the rear SAM.
So took a deep breath and removed it.
After struggling for some time, pulling on this and that, I managed to get it open. But only as far as seeing the rear of the PCB.
Could not for the life of me get the PCB out completely!?
There was a very light area of almost a watermark on it. On the rear of the board so I cleaned it off with 99% Isopropyl.
As I couldnt work out how to get the PCB out of the housing - dried it all off and fitted it again.
No change.
Does anyone know what else I could try?
Or how you get the PCB out? Only vids seem to be for the ML and they dont cover that bit either?
Thanks all
It was recently brought to my attention that my rear / tail light on drivers side is out (UK - so right hand side).
Surprised me as I didn't get any error messages etc.
So I had a look and it wasn't actually 'out' just incredibly dim.
The bulb is technically turning on but its so dim you actually have your eyeball up against the light so can you see it !
Exactly the same with the indicator bulb in that light.
Brake light (LED) is totally unaffected.... as nearly losing sight can attest!!
So I removed light to see what was what.
The light was being held on by ONE of the 5 screws and the light itself was full of water. I then noticed that the carpet was wet.... and below the spare tire was a literal pool of water.
Eeeek!
So I dried it all out. Bought and fitted a new light bulb plate and..... no change.
So Google is your friend....apparently it could be the rear SAM.
So took a deep breath and removed it.
After struggling for some time, pulling on this and that, I managed to get it open. But only as far as seeing the rear of the PCB.
Could not for the life of me get the PCB out completely!?
There was a very light area of almost a watermark on it. On the rear of the board so I cleaned it off with 99% Isopropyl.
As I couldnt work out how to get the PCB out of the housing - dried it all off and fitted it again.
No change.
Does anyone know what else I could try?
Or how you get the PCB out? Only vids seem to be for the ML and they dont cover that bit either?
Thanks all
Last edited by jaarus; 11-19-2019 at 11:27 AM.
11-19-2019, 11:35 AM
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11-20-2019, 10:57 AM
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W211 E320cdi (05)
Many thanks - although getting the SAM out (and back!) I managed ok.
The difficulty I had was getting the black box (the SAM) open enough so that so I could thoroughly clean the PCB board of any surface water damage. I got the back cover off fine (a series of clips around the edge) and also removed an unnecessary section that exposed the fuse holder bits.
I just couldnt work out how to get the PCB to come away from the front of the housing - so all of the bit I actually wanted to clean up and potentially spot repair was obscured.
Incredibly irritating after taking so long to psych myself up to remove it in the first place!
The difficulty I had was getting the black box (the SAM) open enough so that so I could thoroughly clean the PCB board of any surface water damage. I got the back cover off fine (a series of clips around the edge) and also removed an unnecessary section that exposed the fuse holder bits.
I just couldnt work out how to get the PCB to come away from the front of the housing - so all of the bit I actually wanted to clean up and potentially spot repair was obscured.
Incredibly irritating after taking so long to psych myself up to remove it in the first place!
