kompressorfed

So my left plate light is out. I tried swapping bulbs but no luck, so today I took the whole housing out to replace with JBspeed LED housing. It seems like the wire itself has no power becasuse the stock housing works when I plug into the other side. If there is no power going to it why do I still get the error message in my display for light out left rear license plate. Also all fuses are good and working.

Has this happened to anyone before? Anyone know how I can trace the wire back and check for damage maybe? Im gonna guess it leads down to the left by the nav drive and all the wiring there, will check there tomm morning.Is there any wiring diagrams around for this wire that can help?

Easy fix would be to splice into the right side wiring and extend it from there but Im sure the car computer wouldnt like that too much, anyone?

snail45

Sounds to me like the new bulb you tried was bad or you took the right one out to try in the left side. In that case, If I remember right, neither will turn on with no bulb or a bad bulb in the right side.

If I were you, I would try to make sure you have a good bulb in both sides at the same time before you dig any deeper into the situation. Unless you already did and I am wrong about what you did.

kompressorfed

Both bulbs were still good, even tried new bulbs in both. Then I swapped the black housings from side to side and still only the passenger side would light up.

snail45

Ah, must be something more in depth then. Hope you can get it figured out. Sorry I don't have more for you.

raymond g-

i would just pop the trunk liner and work upstream of the socket....until you find
where there is a break in the wring. the license plate lamps are on a single fuse
as far as I know so that is unlikely to be the cause. I'm thinking wire separation
ie cut or connection break.

if you have D/VOM, you can improvise and ground BLACK lead and terminate the
RED lead to a stick pin. this way, you can simply power up light to the license
plate, then....progressively, poke into the wiring harness to see where and when
you go from ZERO volts to 12 vdc. start from point closest to sockets and work
towards the front of the car.

kompressorfed

how about something like this post
https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...ure-fixed.html

or this one
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ml#post3694210

Hellzno

probably broken wire. I fixed my trunk. I followed the harness from left side arm.... down behind the left interior trunk panel. I really had to inspect. Make sure you unwrap all the wires. I found brown/yellow stripe wire for my trunk that was broken. It will be a different color wire for you license plate light. good luck

mikey33

+1

You know your electrical pretty well.

kompressorfed

thanks for the help guys. Gonna go follow the wires back to the left panel. Seems like the wires like to get pinched from what I've read thorugh search. Hopefully I can find it quickly and move on to install my rear diffuser as well!

BagMan

[URL="https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w211/314638-no-power-trunk-3rd-brake-light-license-plate-lamps.html#post3694210"]

My best guess is this one. Happened on mine and it's an easy fix. The severed wire is likely to be next to the drivers side trunk strut. That plastic shroud on the trunk lid arm pinches the wire and eventually severed it. To prevent it from happening again, add a 3-4" segment to the wire to give it some slack.

kompressorfed

Yup found it, had 4 wires cut. My inside trunk lights never worked before, I assumed it was the bulb before. Fixed all 4 wires and all my lights work now. Its surprising how clean cut the wires were, no fraying or bending just staright cuts. I have a pic I will post later when I get home.

Hellzno

sweet. I am glad you found the problem. It took me two times to find the broken wire for my trunk problem.

kompressorfed

well heres the damage.

Hellzno

thanks for posting picture. glad you found problem. you saved yourself alot of money.