1999 E300 Two Light Questions
 

I have two bulbs to address on my 1999 E300 and I am not 100% certain on the replacement of the bulbs.

1. The driver’s front side marker light that is located on the side of the bumper is out. I opened the door on the front belly pan that is below the light. I thought that I could access it from there, however, I could not reach past the engine oil cooler. How do I access this bulb?

2. The light is out on the climate control unit. I have the keys and I pulled the unit. I removed the bulb from the bottom, but I am not sure of its construction. Is what I removed the bulb or is that a socket and bulb?

Can anyone shed any light on this? :rolleyes:

(Yes, I know that I deserved to be flamed for the pun.)

Cant help with #2.

#1 - Turn steering wheel hard over and look into wheel well behind lens. You will see a triangular access hole. Stick thumb in and push against plastic tab and the entire lens assembly will pop out of bumper. Takes 2 secs.

If you bring bulb #2 to the dealer they will have the replacement. It sounds like one of the instrument lights which incorporates the plastic base into the bulb body...I find the dealers stock all of them and price them cheaply enough.

My driver's side marker lamp was out on mine as well and it turned out that the wires had pulled out of the crimp connectors into the bulb mount assembly. If this is your situation as well, the connectors can be extracted and reused after restripping the wires. A pair of good needle-nose pliers is all you need.

The climate control bulb is a 1.2W "286" bulb. I bought a few packs at Autozone and had to change my climate control unit bulb as well.

My experience may be rare, but it is funny. I had an intermittent problem with the same marker lamp. The first time it went out, I slapped it and it came back on. The second time, I slapped it and my hand got wet. There was water inside the pocket that holds the bulb assembly! I took out the old bulb, cleaned everything, and used a small round file to make a notch in the bottom edge of the lens to serve as a weep hole. I applied some bulb grease to a new bulb and installed it. I have had no problems with that lamp for over a year.

I want to say thank you to all of you for your help. I purchased both bulbs at AutoZone and was able to replace them both. I was concerned that the climate control until was bad because the filament in the bulb appeared to be intact.