HumblePie

Yep, my wife just became a HID flicker casuality. It started the other day and and would flicker alternating the passenger HID light to the passneger driving light. Flipping the beam to high would flicker the high beam on and off. It would flicker, trying and ignite about five times then shut off, rinse, repeat, etc. It was a bit odd because I could hear a clicking noise which I thought might be the igniter. When I started the car to see if it would go away, the car idled for a minute then the whole thing shut down. Turning off the lights, I restarted the car w/out issue. I'm a bit leary of driving this around with the lights on in case that happens again.

I've read a lot of posts here (across different models) but wanted to ask a couple questions I couldn't find the anser to.

The truck is a stock '02 320. I haven't seen anyone else post anything about shutting the car down but it sounds like a short. A bad igniter wouldn't do that would it? In any case my crappy local stealer said (over the phone) that they had heard of the flickering and it was most likely the bulb. They said that 1) it wouldn't be covered by the ex warranty and 2) they would charge me $120/hour for labor. First, I don't believe that this is the bulb. I believe this is the igniter or electrical problem. If it turned out to be the igniter, wouldn't that be covered by the warranty? I doubt that it is considered wear and tear such as brakes, wiper blades, tires, etc. I mentioned this to them and they said they have seen that with the xenon bulbs. Now I'm not a rocket scientist but my casual experience has shown that our previous MBs had the lights turn on automatically every day and they lasted without issue until we sold them (4 years and 5 years). I seriously doubt a burned bulb would be the source of the problem and cause the car to lose power. But, hey what do I know? I'm not a rep from my local MB service dept...

Anyone offer any information on the xenon flicker or warranty coverage? Thanks.

55fanatic

try replacing the bulb on your own... pair of Philips ultinons will be a good replacement

HumblePie

Sorry, I guess I am not following the instructions very well. Are you saying that the ultinons will replace my Bi-Xenons or just my driving lights? In either case, I am not convinced that this is related to the bulb, itself. In the first instance the entire car shut down while the light was flickering and then,just yesterday, while the radio was off, the radio turned itself on and was at (what I expect) near full volume for about 2 seconds before shutting off again. I truly belive this to be an electrical short (ghostly possesion). My complaint with my local shop was that they are trying to say that the burnt bulb is causing the problem. Now I have never owned a car where a burned out buld shorted the entire car to shut it off entirely or ranodmly turn on a radio. All my other vehicles simply had a burned out bulb and were corrected when the bulb was replaced. I pulled out my extended waranty and will be scheduling a friendly visit to have it investigated.

When I do, I'll let everyone know wht the outcome is.

sosh

If your Xenons are factory Xenons use the stock MB bulb. If they are retrofirs your on your own. The problem you described sounds to me like a bulb which is not covered by extended warranty. If the problem does turn out to be the electronics then your dealer is the best bet and quite frankly his pricing seems right in line to me.

HumblePie

Thanks all for the information. It is much appreciated. However, the point that I think is being overlooked is that I do not believe this to be caused by the bulb. I agree that the bulb will probably need to be replaced as a result of igniter\short and am OK with paying the $795 to replace it but I am not willing to shell out the cash for it (as it is not covered by the warranty) and then have the same thing happen again. I want the dealer to test the system out before dismissing it as a burned out bulb and charging me the $1,100 for parts labor, etc. I'm fine with paying for the service, etc. but I want it investigated before being dismissed.

In my previous '01 C320 I had a similar issue where the igniter had a small design flaw in which it did not connect firmly with the bulb casing. This caused the igniter to arc every so often eventually blackening the base of the bulb and burning it out. The dealer ended up replacing my xenons 3 times and then tried charging me for it saying it was user error (to the tune of almost $3k). It wasn't until I pulled the service bulleting off the web concerning a replacement wiring harnes to fix the issue that they actually pulled the TSB and brought it in for repair.

If someone can explain how (or why) a burned out bulb would affect the radio and disable the entire car while running, I am willling to listen. However, if that truly is the case, then I am afraid to say that the vehicle is unfit and unsafe for driving. Not one of my other 9 vehicles ever had a burned out headlight disable the entire vehicle. If this had happened while on snow, ice, etc. and the car died while in motion due to a burned out bulb, it would be going back to MB and you would have a long-time MB customer going to another brand.

55fanatic

I would bet your bulb, stereo, and car shutting off are 3 different problems... Bulb flicker is generally caused when a bulb is about to die.

MCS units have be known to do what you complained about, they max out in volume... has to do with the auto volume that goes up with the speed...

Your car shutting off could be a number of things... have you replaced the battery? Why not check its voltage to see if its working properly... I highly doubt that you have an electrical problem that would cause all those issues. If you did Im sure that it would cause some type of electrical fire...