What next! Headlight switch will not turn to full on. Just parking lights and fog. If I push hard, they may come on when I hold it but running it out.

At least I found a better way to remove it. Hence the thread. The two threads I read said to pull the knob and remove the nut. Which is fine. But if you have knee impact things you can not just pull it out form behind as suggested. I found that removing the cluster made it a breeze to pull out.

Note: The wiring looks fixed to it. But it basically pulls apart in halves. No need to pry on a connector, etc.

Now I need to see if I can take it apart and fix what I assume is a spring and small ball bering gone off.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

Success! It was not too hard to take apart at all. A bit of a puzzle.

1 - At the base on the inside is a contact on its "side" (looking down). There is a small free-moving-spinny-thing. This is for fog lights. Also, as one can note, for rear fog it appears one needs a Euro switch. Mine only had one contact. Anyway, a white plastic part "inserts" in to the bottom of this base. On its side there is a small round pin that points out. You have to line it up with a groove in the free-moving bit as you slide it in or you will end up with a very snug fit (and fog lights always on).

2. The yellow-ish part that snaps down onto the spring. It does not matter how it interfaces to the metal core. But you will notice that when putting it back together there is a tab near the core that will mate up into a grove or the orange part of the upper half. This will prevent you from assembling the unit inverted. Makes it pretty easy to put together once you see all this, otherwise it may look hopeless!

I did not put back in the position guides. They are spring loaded rollers that ride on the edge of the orange part to make the switch "lock" into the positions. I found that this part had shattered and was the cause of the problems. I also found that the dial still clicks into place since it still has to make contact points to work, and those hold fine. With some di-electric grease the dial operates MUCH easier than before. Before breakage I thought I was going to snap the dial off it turned so hard.

So its very fixable. Re-assembly is not hard and bending the metal tabs back was easy. But I am sure at some point I will buy a new one. And after seeing the "baked" insides I would recommend new instead of used.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

Hi, i read the removal instruction from Simmos and he said to : "Pull the knob, undo the big nut holding the unit in place and pull the unit out to check. Be careful when you unlip the plastic panel from the dash, it's clipped in and the plastic tongues break easily. The bulb holder clips into the back of the switch unit. If you have vacuum adjustment for headlight level, watch out you don't lose the hoses when you pull the unit out, the job can escalate from something simple to pull the dash nightmare if you are not careful.

You'll probably find the switch comes off in your hand when you try to pull it out to activate the rear fog. If so, you can get some relief by prising the two prongs of the switch unit apart slightly."

Can you elaborate on how you did the removal differently? i also have a gen 2 w126 (1991 560sel) and i don't really want to take out the whole instrument cluster just to get to this defective headlight switch.

Also wondering if a newer switch with the light on the center stalk will work on this car? Saw one on craigslist with the description: "95 - 99 Mercedes C230 C220 C280 W202 W124 W126 W29 Headlight Switch OEM 000 545 6004" I'll try to post a picture later.

Thanks!

Theo

The way I did it involved removing the cluster. Which is easy anyway.

I have no clue what you mean by a light on the center stalk. The switch can take a light for the rear fog inside the switch. Thus when rear fog lights are on, the orange light at the center of the knob will be on. US models do not have rear fog, so it will not work. On a Gen II the icons around the switch do light up. It out, lamp replacement needed.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car