Hello,
I shipped out my GLK and it should arrive in a few days out here in europe. Here the headlights are asymmetrical unlike USA. Is there a switch inside to fit it for europe, or do I need a whole new light fixture?

 

and can also anyone tell me what colors are the lights on the front and rear (turning, braking, etc)?

 

I have the Bi-Xenon lights and they are asymetrical when compared to the other light in the head light housing.


It might be that the standard lights are symetrical.

Light colors???

Rears are all red in the US.

Directionals in the front are yellow.

As far as how the lights work, in Europe there are 2 functions that don't work in the US. They are referred to as Standing Lights, left and right. I would think that you could take your vehicle to MB and have it reprogrammed if you are going to have the vehicle there for an extended period of time. Otherwise it was built for the US and it will have to remain in the US config.

 

Thanks
I will see what I can do at the MB dealer. I'm not sure if it needs to be reprogrammed or if the lights need to be swapped out. For my Jeep Compass I shipped out here a few years ago I needed new light housings.

 

Is this left/right parking light you are talking about? US GLK does have that function, unless we are thinking about different things.

 

Thanks
It looks like the only thing I need to do is change the headlights for EU standards. The rear and front turn signals are OK

 

On the knob referred to as the exterior lamp switch there are 2 positions to the left of the off position that do not appear to work on US autos.

And to Jason the manual says "If you drive in countries where vehicles drive on the other side of the road than the country where the vehicle is registered, you must have the headlamps modified for symmetrical low beams".

In the US the beams are asymmetrical. I now understand the difference which comes down to how the headlights are aimed.

 

Interesting.
Ill go to the dealer out here and see what they can do

 

Most Mercedes made for the European market with projector type headlights have a small switching lever inside the light housing that moves the light adjusting shutter within the housing to switch from a left hand drive-asymetrical pattern to a symmetrical pattern when driving in right hand drive countries. Cars sold in right hand drive countries generally have the same mechanical switch in the fixture but it switches from asymmetrical pattern-right hand drive to symmetrical pattern.
This is because the asymmetrical pattern is used to provide more light on the side of the road opposite the oncoming traffic to light up unlighted road signs and make it easier to illuminate pedestrians and other road side hazards. This additional lighting to the side of the road would be blinding to oncoming traffic if the vehicle was to be used where the off side of the road was reversed.
USA/DOT lighting fixtures do not have these adjustable shutters because the USA/DOT light fixtures do not in any way comply with European lighting directives.
This same description applies to both halogen and HID projector beam lighting fixtures found in European Mercedes models.
The pictures depict a halogen fixture set for Asymmetrical and Symmetrical beam patterns.
An HID Bi-Xenon works the same way except the shutter has two moving surfaces. One for beam pattern and another for main and dipped beam settings.

 

It does work. Only if no key is inserted or engine is off. At least on mine anyway - 2010 MY.

 

Guess I never tried it while the engine was off. Here is the better question what is the useful purpose for those lights?

 

Just to update, I took my glk to rhe dealer and they told me the rear lights are fine and the front light they were able to adjust somehow which is fine for polish roads. The only issue is the yellow turning lights on the front - they don't use em here so what they did was swap them out for white bulbs so it looks "normal" minus the blinking at turning. There is a way to disable that with the onboard computer and they will let me know when they get the code. Also the radio doesn't work well as the fm is even while in usa its odd, but that's also a quick reprogram.

 

In Europe the channel spacing of the radio frequencies is different so a radio set up for USA cannot tune to the exact frequency used in Europe. This was never a problem before digital tuners became common. It is a small software change to alter the channel spacing on a MB radio.
The ILS system which is the European version of the USA Lighting Package has LED turn signals in the rear but they are yellow colored instead of the red color in North America. Since both colors are legal in the USA I don't know why all newer vehicles sold with LED rear signaling devices in the USA are restricted to red LED lighting. Conventional rear signaling with yellow light bulbs is still allowed and being used in USA.
Since European video standards are very different from USA you need to change the video system from NTSC to PAL to view European DVD content. this change does not affect your region code settings or count.

There is a "secret menu" to gain access to this USA/EU update feature on every modern radio but the method of getting into the menu changes with each model.
This also changes the nav system to accept European maps.

WARNING!
Use this at your own risk!
Do not try to access or change menu items you don't understand or are not equipped with. If you try to change an item in a module you do not have installed you risk sending the system searching into an endless loop trying to find or change a module that it will never find.
This can turn your head unit into a fishing weight.

Access engeneering menu via this key combination: "Hang up button + # + 1"

Change the Region to ECE (2)
Find the exit to the Engineering mode on page 2 and select it.
Turn the car off for 5 minutes to allow Command time to update all of the connected modules.
Turn the car on, and scan the radio dial, the US setting will only scan odd decimals (i.e. 100.1), EU setting will scan all decimals (i.e. 100.0). If your radio is scanning all decimals, the update has taken effect, if not turn the car off and continue to wait for the settings to finish applying.

- If you get message about wrong software version, go to MB dealer and ask them to update your Comand software first.

* After that check at the Engineering menu if the region was set to ECE
* If it wasn't, then change it first
* Finally insert NTG4 navigation map and start the update

 

I will give it a try when I get back from vacation. I don't have dvd nav in my glk.

 

Does not work on my car. I don't have dvd nav system, just the standard mp3 cd system with a small screen

I can get into engineering mode but all I have is
System
Radio
Swdl
Tel
Emc measure
Sound

And under radio there is FM and the options are clr and amplifier on. Nothing to change regions

 

It doesn't work. I had the head unit changed, got the European version. Goes quick but it was not cheap,
but now I also have the traffic news and European RDS.
I'm happy with it.

Where in Europe ??
Try this company http://www.navisworld.com/index.php if in Germany. Call, they not very responsive answering e-mails

 

Poland.
I'll search around to see what I can find.

 

I guess conversion is a bummer in either direction.