Hello everyone. Car is a 2006 E55

I've been working on a trunk leak, and the 3rd brake light is my last problem area. It took a herculean effort to get the light out - seems it had adhesive on BOTH sides of the seal/gasket. Of course, this caused me to break the ends off of each side of the light when prying up with a trim tool. Getting a used lens is not a problem.

Getting a NEW GASKET is the issue. Is there a source for the correct gasket/seal for the 3rd brake light? I can measure for the gasket, but where does one find a gasket that measures 1/8" x 7/32-1/4" with the adhesive on the 1/8" side?????

I've looked at dozens of aftermarket lenses, but none seem to come with a gasket. Can someone please point me in the right direction for getting the 3rd light back in so that I can stop the water intrusion?

Thank you!

 

Anyone?

 

Pulled up this old thread..Hope this help...
R,
2Merks

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...placement.html

 

Thank you again. I think after having acquired two used LED 3rd light assemblies from the local parts yard for cheap this past weekend, I'm going to go from the 20-light in my '06 and put in the 10-light from the '08 and '09 cars in the yard. Why? I don't have to deal with the tabs on the lens side, and the gaskets came off with the lenses nearly completely intact.

I can measure those to get pretty close to factory seal dimensions and order a non-adhesive, closed-cell, soft neoprene rubber gasket to see if I can't manufacture a good fit with some trial and error, then add some silicone to secure the gasket to the lens and let the locking mechanism pull the lens up to the body of the car sealing out water. If that doesn't work, I can add a small bead of silicone to the sealing side as well.

This really shouldn't be this difficult, but I've found Mercedes to be not very DIY friendly in my short ownership with this car. For example: tail light bulb replacement should NEVER require replacement of an entire board full of lights. Holy SCREW THE CUSTOMER Batman!

 

Totally agree..My tailbone was up against the wall with that problem. Both of my tail lights bulbs were out, and they are in short supply. I had to bit the bullet and buy the whole assembly. Turns out my right side had a hairline crack, and water intrusion did the bulb in. Cost me roughly $85.00 each( fleabay), $175.00 for Electrical shop and $16.00 to get my state inspection...And to boot I have a wagon, and they are different from sedans Oh me, Oh my lol! GL
R,
2Merks

 

That's horrible! I bought a few used boards out of those same cars at the parts yard and de-soldered the lights from the board so I have some spares if and when needed.

 

...Att I did not have a soldering kit, but going to get it this wkend for sure...GL
R,
2Merks

 

I found a solution that worked for me:

For the 3rd brake light, Home Depot's 1/4" x 1/8" gray foam weatherstripping did the trick. It is water resistant and has adhesive on the 1/4" side. I put the 1/8" side up against the back of the red lens while gently pressing (and WITHOUT STRETCHING) the 1/4" side into place. If I made a mistake where the foam was being applied, I could pull it back just a bit and adjust my application before giving it more pressure to hold it in place. I recommend starting at the bottom of the lens (as it sits in the trunk panel) and work around back to that point without stretching the foam in any way. This prevents a butt joint at the top where water might collect. Don't stretch the foam as it will likely pull out of place over time. As I got to the end of installation, I cut about an extra 1/16" and tucked it tight up against the starting foam end, then gently pressed the last inch of foam into place. At this point, I went back around the lens and put firm pressure on the foam to ensure a good adhesive seal with the light.

A test fit of the lens into the trunk panel confirmed this was going to be a great fit and seal the lens against water intrusion. I installed the LED strip and turned the water on. After a few minutes of flowing water all over the lens, I checked the inside of the lid - NO WATER running down the panel, so I was done!!!

For those interested, I found a solution to my license plate panel leak after about a half dozen trials. I was NOT interested in using silicone sealant as I want a factory look andwant to be able to get the light out again in the future if necessary.

On Ebay I found 3/16" x 3/16" closed cell foam weatherstripping. After thoroughly cleaning off all the old sealing foam and adhesive (plastic scrapers, dull slotted screwdrivers, flat and dull dental tools, and Goo-Gone are your friends here!), I used the 3/16" foam along the upper edge of the panel taking it all the way to top left and top right "corners." and putting about a 30deg angle cut on the ends to match the panel angle.

The foam that runs from those top corners down to the mesh filter at the center bottom of the panel was replaced using the same 1/4" x 1/8" gray foam weatherstripping as I used for the 3rd brake light. I doubled this up for about the first 6" from the corner down the side edge of the panel putting the adhesive right against the first run of weatherstrip and making sure it met the top edge piece tightly to mimic the way the old foam came off the panel.

Keep in mind that I replaced all of my panel clips with the best of the best that I could find on several parts cars in local used parts yards since finding them new seems to be about as easy as finding a winning lottery ticket. These plastic fasteners do get overused, they get hard, and they can break. It's worth noting that there are six (6) clips along the top edge: 2 black clips (1 on each end) and 4 white clips that fill the middle four mounting points. They look the same at first glance, but they are different, thus the color difference. Last: don't over-tighten the acorn nuts on either end of the panel to edge.

It's worth noting that I replaced the drainage panels and rubber rivets that run from the lower rear glass down to the lower inner edge of the taillights AND I replaced the tail light gaskets on both sides. Those were not my issue however. My water was coming in around the 3rd brake light lens and around the license plate panel....... What a huge PITA, and what a crappy design from Mercedes-Benz!!!

 

i agree these cars are not DIY friendly but glad you got the solution to work. on my other vehicle (non-MB) i had to use gasket maker which was not ideal to seal some trim to prevent water intrusion so i know your pain.