One of the headlights on our 1998 C230 stopped working when the lights are turned on. The other one works fine. The strange thing is when I turn the lights switch off and then turn the car off and get out of the car and close the door then both lights come on as they should. What would cause the one headlight to not work when turned on. By the way, both high beams work fine.

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John


1998 C230 for the wife
1986 Porsche 944 Turbo for me in the summer
1993 Audi 90 for me in the winter

I think the fog lights come on as the courtesy feature after you get out of the car. That is why they both come on. Check if the main bulb (H7) is burned out.

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Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

I didn't say the fog lights come on when I close the door. i said the headlights come on when I close the door. This car does not have fog lights. I know its part of the courtesy feature. If the headlights come on as part of the courtesy feature then the main bulb is not burnt out because it works during the courtesy feature.

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John


1998 C230 for the wife
1986 Porsche 944 Turbo for me in the summer
1993 Audi 90 for me in the winter

Probably a fault with the CAN bus. As I understand, the 98s incorporated a CAN, and someone posted on here recently about (I believe) the power windows only working under a certain condition, like yours. Do a search for CANBUS 98 230, or something like that. I know that MB DOC chimed in about the issue; maybe send him a PM.

Well mine does. When you pull out the headlight knob that turns on the fog lights. And I believe it is the fog lights that come on after you close the door. I think Ali might be right.

Mike

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

I have confirmed that on my car it is the fog lights that come on after you close the door. Also, the fog light bulb is in the same reflector housing as the main lights so it is hard to tell the difference (took me a couple of tries before I was sure). I checked the diagrams on AllData (always a pleasure...) and it does not appear that the headlights are on the CAN bus. Only other thing I can say is that when my headlamp bulb burned out, the "bulb out" lamp on the dash went on right away. It is an orange lamp near the bottom of the cluster with a picture on it that looks sort of like a light bulb!! Do you have that on? Another question is does the high beam work on that side?

Mike

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

I can confirm that I don't have fog lights. The high beams on the same side work fine and yes the orange warning lamp in the dash cluster is on indicating a problem. I notived when my wife came home last night the headlight was now on. I did remove the bulb from the back of the headlight cluster and then put it back in but it still did not work when turned on. Strange.

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John


1998 C230 for the wife
1986 Porsche 944 Turbo for me in the summer
1993 Audi 90 for me in the winter