Hello,

I noticed recently that the brightness of my xenon headlights is very low. It is even lower than the brightness of halogen headlights (compared with another W164 with halogens).
To tackle this issue, I replaced the HID bulbs (Philips D2SC1 Xenon HID Headlight Bulb)[size=5px], [/size]but I didn't see a significant difference in brightness. Also, I cleaned the lenses, and again no difference in the brightness.
Other than that, there are no issues/errors reported on my OBD scanner. The only issue I can report is that the wire harness of the headlights is not in great condition (the plastic isolation is kind of pealing and I had to re-insulate it).
Any ideas on what else I should check or what else could be the issue?

Thanks!

 

Your projector bowls have probably gotten dull with age. It is pretty common on 164 GL/MLs. The ones on my ML were ok, and the ones on my GL were terrible. You can see my stock ML projector compared to a new aftermarket projector in the second picture: https://mbworld.org/forums/m-class-w...-retrofit.html The only fix is the replace the projectors unfortunately but it is a pretty easy job as projector retrofits go.

 

Yeah that makes sense! Did you use the morimoto Evox-r 2.0 that I see on your links? Also your original headlights were D2S?

 

Yes on the EVO projectors, but the stock bulbs are D1S. D1S work in the EVO projectors, and allow you to use the stock ballasts.

 

Thanks again for the quick response. Interestingly, mine have D2S stock bulbs.

 

Here is my guide on replacing with the Morimoto D2S 5.0 projectors: https://mbworld.org/forums/r-class-w...-retrofit.html

Yes, it is W251 but the internals are the same.

 

perfect! Thanks!

 

Interesting. I guess they changed them at some point. My 08 GL and 11 ML both had D1S. D2S will give you more choices, so that's a plus.