Hello,
I recently installed a set of vacuum adjustable euro lights (well, one is vacuum adjustable, one isn't....... yet) in my 300D. I haven't routed the vacuum to the lights yet because I'm waiting for another vacuum adjustable light to replace the non-adjustable one. Also, I don't have enough plastic vacuum hose yet (I guess I have to go to the dealer to get that). I can't get the vacuum adjustable one (remember, no vacuum yet) to aim high enough. I turned the top adjusting knob out until the point where I would keep turning and the light pattern wouldn't move. I assumed this was the highest they would go and they are still not high enough. Is this because these lights need vacuum to work properly? Thanks a lot.

Alex

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1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside

I'm contemplating a Euro headlight upgrade in the future and have been interested in this issue. It seems to me that the vacuum setting should be set in the middle of its' range and then the headlights adjusted properly, so that then you would make use of the vacuum hight adjustment to angle the lights up or down as needed. It would seem to me that the most likley scenerior wil be needing to adjust the headlight angle down to compensate for added weight in the rear of the car. It appears that the vacuum adjustments are basically preset step movements over a finite range. If you want to change either end of the range (either up or down) you will need to reset the starting point either lower or higher to allow the extreme ranges to change. Good Luck ,I'll be waching to see how you make out.

DieselHead,

I have installed a few of these on cars when I was importing grey market W123's. I installed them on my daughter's 240D, and my two sister's 230E's, and then my 190E (now my son's car).

I found the light assemblies I got were usually slightly damaged. They were harvested from the cars I imported, and after the DOT papers were done, I would take the new US assemblies out and replace them with the illegal German ones. When the car was equipped with the vacuum system as a German model, it came with the aiming switches and vacuum lines installed so I would ask that they not be removed.

There is a mechanical setup inside the headlamp volume that integrates the vacuum and the mechanical aiming systems. For some reason the ball and socket joints in this system were usually not engaged. They are white nylon like material, and if you have long agile fingers you can snap them back together. I have fingers that were not so good at this task, but I managed to fix all of them. Until I did that, the aiming system was not completely effective.

I have not done this for nearly fifteen years, the 240D was done last but it does not have the vacuum system hooked up. I believe you have some mounting flexibility to help with this aiming issue, but I do not recall exactly. The 240D is in Upstate New York, or I would go out and check.

Hope this helps, Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

Jim,
Thanks, I'll look in to those ball and socket joints you mentioned.

I had another question regarding the vacuum adjustment switch. The back of my switch has two vacuum inlets (or rather one in, one out) and a wire. ONE wire. Where does this go? Is it for illumination? How does the one wire cover power and ground? I currently have the switch mounted where the speaker dimmer was and would like to illuminate the switch if that's what the wire's for so where would I splice in to? Thanks so much.

Alex

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1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside

After you are done upgrading to Euro headlights, lt me know if you want to get rid of the American headlight assemblies for a good price. I could use a spare set. I hate Euro headlights and you hate American ones...a symbiotic relationship!

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1982 300D Turbo "Helga"
380,000 miles

I had another question regarding the vacuum adjustment switch. The back of my switch has two vacuum inlets (or rather one in, one out) and a wire. ONE wire. Where does this go? Is it for illumination? How does the one wire cover power and ground? I currently have the switch mounted where the speaker dimmer was and would like to illuminate the switch if that's what the wire's for so where would I splice in to? Thanks so much.

The wire is fibre opitc.

Nick

This switch is supposed to go next to the antenna switch, on the upper console. The Euro models had an extra hole in the middle of the panel, for this purpose. If you look at the source of lighting for the sunroof, defrost, etc. switches, you'll notice that there are other fiber optic "outlets" where you can plug in that extra wire for your headlight adjustment switch.

Dang it! So are there any more of these fiber optic ports under the shifter panel where the window switches are? It'd be neat if I could rig this up to light but if I can't, I guess it's not a big deal. Thanks though for the clarification of what that was.

Alex

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1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside

Sorry Alex, but there are no fiber obtic illumination ports in the shifter area. The window switches are lit by LED's inside the switches, and the shifter is lit by a bulb. I didn't want to cut a hole in the wooden trim piece under the AC vents, so I mounted the adjustment switch where my fader used to be. I can live without it lighting up.

Yeah, my switch is where the fader used to be. I suppose I can live without the illumination. Would have been cool though. Thanks for the answers to my questions.

Alex

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1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside

I have another question related to Euro lights. I feel bad constantly starting new threads related to these lights so I figured I'd just add it onto here.

Have any of you installed check valves in your eurolight vacuum routing? I have these two check valves that came with the lights and I don't really know what to do with them. Thanks a lot.

Alex

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1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside