I looked in the trunk to see if a simple bulb replacement was possible, and began to realize that in order to get to the bulb, you have to remove the trim plate, a portion of the carpet, and the entire lamp assembly.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but is there a simple to way to change the bulb?
Stuff like this should be simple and not require an afternoon of tearing apart your trunk.

 

No. you have to change the entire taillight assemblies.

You can't simply replace the bulbs. It's all enclosed in the tail light assembly.

Yes you are right. You have to remove the trunk trim pieces, the carpeting, and depends on which side you are removing, you might have to remove the silver tank (good luck trying to do this).

 

thats so stupid. I can't believe MB would make it so you have to purchase an entire tail lamp assemby. I guess that explains why it was so unaccessable.
Thanks.

 

The bulbs are lifetime items - MB developed a super-long-lasting bulb a while back. The LED's never burn out. It makes the car easier to build and cleaner without access panels.

 

Does this apply to non-LED tail lights as well?

 

Are you f'ing kidding me? WTF? A tailight/brakelight went out on me last week, had to pay $4.20 (for 2!) at Checker Auto Parts. Opened the access panel and replaced it in <2 min. in the parking lot. The more I learn, the more I love my W210 AMG. So much for progress with the 211. Sheesh.

 

I believe all the MB bulbs are like this now.

 

Nope. A replacement set i think is around $300.

According to MB, the bulbs are high life bulbs and should not burn out.

Some how i really don't believe that.

If anyone wants a set of tail light (I have a spare set taken off from my E500 when I upgraded to LED) for dirt cheap.

 

Are the LED lights a direct bolt on replacement, or do you need special wire harness / resistors, or programming the ECU?

I almost bought a set until those questions crossed my mind. Getting the dealer to make any changes is like pulling teeth. They just want to deal with fixing easy problems.

 

straight bolt on. No need to change anything. No wires, no re-programming, no nothing. Just take out the old light and bolt on the new one.

Sounds easy, but it's not. Your luck will have major effect on how quickly it can be done.

My car was probably assembled by someone that really hated his job or just having a major bad day. I has very difficult time in unbolting the silver tank on the passenger side. You have to move the silver tank before you can take off the pax side tail light.