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#1
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Water in '96 E300D (W210) headlights
When we returned home from our recent trip into snow country, I discovered water droplets on the inside of both high and low beam lenses on the right side of our 1996 E300D (W210, OM606NA). When I pulled the unit, a fair amount of water ran out. I discovered that one side of the back cover was not clamped down because the plastic had broken.
I made a replacement from a strip of metal and attached it with a screw and epoxy. The cover now fits tightly. The lens and body seem to be tightly connected so I don't think there's a seal problem -- but I'll have to wait for the next good rainstorm to prove it. Jeremy
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"Buster" in the '95 Our all-Diesel family 1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car 2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022) Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762 "Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz." -- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970 |
#2
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Wow, your headlights look amazing, and not at all foggy. Are they original?
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Current cars: 2000 ML55 AMG, 174k miles 2003 C240 T-Modell, 202k miles 1995 S320, 207k Miles |
#3
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yeah, second that, your headlights look really clean, mine are fogged over and am looking into some aftermarkets as it really detracts from the rest of the car which still looks pretty good IMHO.
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#4
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These are the original headlights (267,000 miles). I used a 3M "Headlight Lens Restoration System" kit on the lenses. Turns out only the outermost few molecules of plastic yellow from the sun, get pitted, etc. Once you remove that surface layer there is "new" plastic underneath. As you work through the various grits from sandpaper to the final polish, the lens gets shinier and shinier until it looks new again. The kit sells for around $15 and is used with an electric drill.
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"Buster" in the '95 Our all-Diesel family 1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car 2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022) Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762 "Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz." -- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970 |
#5
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Nice retrofit on that retainer bracket. Did you remove all of the light assemblies to sand the lenses? Seems like that would be the way to do it without worrying about sanding the paintjob on the car by accident. Are the assemblies hard to remove? Jim
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1997 E300D Wife's daily driver 1985 300SD my daily driver 1999 Expedition family road trip and material hauler |
#6
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Headlight removal and polishing
I masked around the headlights, did not remove them for the polishing operation. I advise others who work in-situ to cover the car (or the engine compartment, if you have the hood up) to prevent polish-splatter from getting all over everything (ask me how I know).
Once removed, the assemblies are hard to clamp to a work bench due to their odd shape. It's probably easier to work with them on the car so long as you mask and cover. Headlight removal is not difficult but access to the factory CD-ROM service manual is nice as a couple of the steps are not intuitively obvious. Realignment of the beams is not necessary so long as you don't turn any of the adjustment screws. Unlike the W123 and W124 CD-ROM manuals, you cannot save the contents of each section of the W210 CD-ROM manual as a pdf for ultimate transmittal to others. The only way seems to be to print a hard copy and then scan it, a PITA. I have done so for this section but hope to not have to do so as a regular part of my forum membership. The scanned file, "Headlights.pdf" is 3 pages, 470KB, too large to attach to this post. PM me an email address and I'll send it to you. Attached pictures show the right headlamps in process. The 3M kit is one of many brands available. I didn't need all of the sandpaper and polish in the kit so I kept it for later touch-up and other applications, including removing water spots from mirrors, which I DO NOT recommend as it takes the first-surface reflective coating off of the mirrors. Heated Mercedes mirrors are about $100 each so learn from my mistake, please! Jeremy
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"Buster" in the '95 Our all-Diesel family 1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car 2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022) Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762 "Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz." -- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970 |
#7
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Thanks Jeremy. I think masking is the way to go as opposed to removal of the units. I tried a kit a while back with some paste and a buffing wheel, no sand paper and it did a mediocre job. I will try that kit soon. Jim
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1997 E300D Wife's daily driver 1985 300SD my daily driver 1999 Expedition family road trip and material hauler |
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