W210 highbeams fixable?

[landev]

I bought my 96 e300d back in June of this year and, until a few days ago never drove it after dark. Now that days are much shorter, I drive in the dark, both to and from work. When I first used the headlights, they were so far out of adjustment (and the adjustment screws didn't work) that I reluctantly took the car into the shop for a machine adjustment. When I got the car back, the low beams are much, MUCH better (i.e. I can now see where I'm going!) However, when I switch on the highbeams, there is an increase of maybe 2-4% illumination (I'm being generous here!) I live where there is an abundance of wildlife on the road at night, so am not too thrilled with lighting performance that brings back memories of my old 6 volt VW.

The manual states that the high and low beams are adjusted as a unit, so I'm guessing that they are correctly adjusted as the low beams seem perfectly adjusted. 'Sure seems that the highbeams are either poorly designed or somehow damaged (though there is no obvious damage and the bulbs seem to work.) Is the W210 notorious for lousy highbeams or am I just a "lucky" individual? Does any one know of a fix for this short of doling out major cash for some Xenon replacements?

Thanks in advance!

-l-

[TMAllison]

They are adjusted as a unit to the best of my knowledge.

Are the lenses pitted or yellowed affecting the high beams?

Have you tried driving with the fog lights on to light up the sides of the road a bit more?

[uberwgn]

Originally Posted by TMAllison

They are adjusted as a unit to the best of my knowledge.

This is correct. The high beam and the low beam are mechanically linked on the W210 cars making any sort of fine tuning of the high beam virtually impossible. It came as quite a disappointment when I figured this out on my own car.

The H7 bulb is a single filament bulb, not dual filament:




I had some issues when I got my W210 car last year. The high beams appeared to be absolutely worthless 'til I discovered the previous owner had installed some blue tinted bulbs. Once I got those removed things improved dramatically.

I've find the high beams to be very good on both our W210 cars.

[manny]

Originally Posted by uberwgn

I've find the high beams to be very good on both our W210 cars.

Amen to that.
Don't stand in front of my car when I turn on the high beams,......you'll get an instant sunburn.

[landev]

I had the lenses polished... they were pretty yellow to begin with. That seemed to help with the low beams, but the highs are really ineffective... while driving home last night, my wife and I got into a debate as to whether the highbeams worked at all. She's convinced that they don't work at all, but you can just barely see a difference when you kick them on (this being in total darkness!) I have been driving with the fogs on... this helps with peripheral lighting, but I've got next to nil for distance. I had much better stock lights on my '93 Nissan Sentra... this can't be as good as MB can make a light... can it? I thought about bulb changes, but seems like a bulb either works or it doesn't... I don't recall a bulb getting dim with age.

-l-

[68882]

Ok, well I think your owner manual should state it uses 2 H7 bulbs, one for high and one for low, and an H1 for the fog lamp in the bumper. Each of the six bulbs in total I would expect to be on different fuses. So you've 6 bulbs and 6 fuses to confirm they work. I'll note the lamp units might have a H6W watt bulbs too, but perhaps not in USA vehicles.

The H7 bulbs being newer technology should be able to make your eye's water when looked at.

Using your handy wife, have her turn the lights on, then you stand in the front of the car and observe what happens when you turn the high beams. Perhaps the bulbs or the fuses are burned out? I'll note the H7 high intensity output bulbs have a life measured in 100's of hours. I wouldn't think the high beams are burned out yet. However past experience on my part has shown if you remove a headlamp assembly with H7 bulbs in it it's quite likely the banging about will break the bulb filament. And don't forget to check the fuses.

[Matt L]

The USA vehicles also have the H6W lamps in the high-beam reflectors. These do nothing to illuminate in front of the car. They just light up the high-beam lenses.

Run the lamps when the car is facing a wall, so you can see what's going on. If the high-beam H7's don't light up but the H6W's stay lit, the high-beams will not be dark, but won't throw light at the wall.

The low beam lamps run in low and high beam (unlike older USA cars). The high-beam lamps come on with the high beam. I don't know if the H6W lamps turn off with the high beam.

[68882]

Right I believe the H6W are there to let you drive about in brightly lite European city cores without using the main lamps, and or to light the side of the vehicle when parked on narrow streets. So you're correct in mention they might light up the high beam lamp housing, but of course not really provide any light which might be confusing.

[landev]

Hmmm... if the H7 bulbs are truly extreamly bright, my suspicion is that they are not working. When I picked the car up from having the aiming done, the tech showed me what was going on against a wall. What was happening when the highbeams were turned on was that there were bulbs being lit, but they threw hardly any light and that light was of a weird pattern (a couple of rings of light rather than beams.) There is always at least one bulb lit in the highbeam enclosure. As he had little experience with MBs, he was not really clued in to what the problem might be, but was guessing that the reflector was somehow damaged and so the output refraction was somehow skewed. So, if I understand you right, the H6 bulbs should come on along with the H7s? Also, I've noticed that the H7 comes in a highbeam and a high/low beam. Is this application strictly a highbeam?

-l-

[68882]

Originally Posted by landev

Hmmm... if the H7 bulbs are truly extreamly bright, my suspicion is that they are not working.

-l-

Ah, well it could be many things here, from a burned out bulb, to defective, to the wrong ones, to the fact they could be sitting in the bottom of the lamp assembly versus being in the sockets.

So an easy test given you've two H7 bulb in the assembly is to follow the instructions in your owners manual and swap the bulbs when they are cold. Don't touch the glass. Then try it and tell us what happens. It will also give you a chance to confirm if the bulb is correctly placed in the housing.

[aviaator]

Had a similar problem (misaligned headlights) when I bought my E320 back in '05. Turned out the problem was the previous owner had not installed the LOW BEAM headlight bulb properly (it was kinda cockeyed in the housing's socket - not seated properly). When I leveled the low beams, the high beam on the "bad" side was looking at the International Space Station. I suffered with it for a while until the misaligned headlight burned out and discovered the problem when I replaced the bulb myself.

[landev]

Well, had a few minutes last night when I got home... I turned on the highbeams when I pulled into the garage. Seems that both highbeams are working (though they sure don't seem bright at all, but are pointing way above where they should be. I pulled the back off one of the access ports and found that the bulb was not seated properly... I then promptly dropped the retaining clip and it fell down into the never regions of the bottom splash guard. As it is now daylight, I will fish the retainer out and re-seat that bulb, then check the other one.

Just a guess, but it seems that I have multiple issues here... I think that the aiming is right on for the low beams, so to have high beams of any use, the low beams will be pointing close to the ground in front (funky design, not being able to independently adjust). Also, the bulbs don't seem all that bright (I will check their part numbers)... in wandering the internet, I found the H7 bulb (Osram) comes in several different flavors (plain Jane, long life, Silver "somethings") and their prices vary widely. Is there a bulb out there that will guarantee some decent lumen output?

-l-

[uberwgn]

I've got the OSRAM Silverstars (Euro version, not blue tinted USA version) in a few cars. They're quite good, lifetime can be a bit disappointing.

I think you've got to get the bulbs properly installed before taking any further steps. Overall illumination should be very good even with plain old bulbs Find out what's wrong prior to laying out $$.

[landev]

Okeedoke... I spent a couple of hours wrestling against the forces of darkness and seem to have made some progress. It turns out that one bulb was "laying about"... not firmly in it's socket and the other bulb had a bad connection. Both are now working, but I haven't had a chance to test in darkness to see how they perform. Neither bulb has any marking on it (strange?) so I don't know if they are the proper bulbs. I did notice, however that all the wiring in both enclosures has cracked insulation from one end to the other. I can see copper along all traces (yeesh!) and I'm guessing that this is from years in the Texas desert sun. I don't suppose there is a factory (or after market) harness for the inside of these light? Nope... didn't think so. I suppose if (and when) I've got nothing to do this winter, I can make up some new wiring for each light.

Also, the passenger side enclosure had some funky wire holding it closed on one side (this I promptly broke when trying to re-install.) My having hands the size of hams precluded me re-(hay)wiring the enclosure shut. Hence, it is clamped shut on the radiator side, but just semi-hanging on the fender side. I am guessing that it was never truly sealed (as was apparent from the aquarium-effect in the housing when I picked the car up) and am wondering if the housing clamps are available (nope... didn't think so either!) Anyway, things are much better than they were (thanks for all your help!) but I am guessing I'm going to have future issues with hanging bare wires and leaky enclosure. If anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks again!

-l-

[68882]

Well good to hear. I'll note the bulbs unless they are really really cheap generic no-name will have very small script etched in the metal rings somewhere identifying the manufacture, type, etc. The post by uberwgn yesterday shows a good example of it.

As for the SilverStars, you need as mentioned the Euro ones, not the blue american substandard ones. You likely have to order them via the internet.
Or perhaps you can find some Philips Vision Plus, again not the Philips BLUE

As for the outside assembly clips, about $2 each from your dealer.
2108260084 outside large lens side clip
and
2108260184 inside clip

As for the wiring, I couldn't determine that, it looks like there is a cable say from a connector in the engine bay to the assembly, that cable is $30 or so. But nothing in the parts diagram for wiring inside the assembly.

PS the dealer sells bulbs too, 400809000007 Might check pricing.
or 66809999 which is the spare bulbs box, and might be a better deal.
(usually that contains a H7,H3, some tail lamp & licence plate bulbs).