W109/108 Euro Headlight Install

[DieselPaul]

I picked up some euro lights for my '70 300SEL W109, and was curious if they are plug and play, or if some rewiring is required like it is on W123s, W201s, and W124s I have done euro lights on before.

Any insight is appreciated!

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Originally Posted by DieselPaul

I picked up some euro lights for my '70 300SEL W109, and was curious if they are plug and play, or if some rewiring is required like it is on W123s, W201s, and W124s I have done euro lights on before.

Any insight is appreciated!

On early Fintails, with the turn-parking lamps in the headlight surround, they're plug-n-play. The Euros have the turn-parking lamps under the glass above the headlight refectors, plus added fog-lamps below.
On the later Fintails and W108-109,with the bullet or faux-foglamp turn-parking lights next to the grill, you would need to decide whether to leave your original signals functioning, or transfer the wiring to the Euro lights, in which case you might need to remove your original, no-longer-functioning, turn-parking lights to pass safety inspection.
Don't know if both could run off the same flasher, or if that would be legal.

Also, there are two styles of fully-glassed Euros used on these cars. The early round glass - what I call the bubble-style - and a flatter glass used on the later cars. (Personally, I prefer the bubble-style)

Happy Motoring, Mark

[Palolo]

The US headlamp setup comes with just the upper and lower bulb connectors inside the headlamp bucket... (three-slot things that look like they connect to the back of sealed beams or H4s for those who have done the conversion/upgrade to the better globes for the stacked headlights). The European wants a 5 pin plug.

As Mark mentions, one would have to bring in wiring for the turns, running lights (to activate the "city light" feature of the European bulbs) and fog lights.

One would also need to find a compatible multi-pin (5? One is unused) plug that connects with the one on the European headlight frame. There's a guy on eBay who sells them. I can give you the pin out if needed.

On my set of European headlights, the first click of the headlight switch activates the city lights, which is a 5W peanut bulb just below the main high/low bulb. It also serves as the parking light. The turn signal has its own wire, and the fog lights have their own wire, which was in the harness, but unused. There is a little bulb next to the fog light bulb, but I haven't activated it or figured out what it does.

113 or 114 reflectors, I think, fit the 108 European assemblies and are available, they increase light output over faded or corroded reflectors. The foglight reflectors are close enough, not exact drop in fits.

What I ended up doing is adding the European multi-pin plugs, tapped in to my existing headlight plugs, using relays to carry full voltage and power from the battery. This lets me switch back and forth between headlight types, and also adds a means of feeding power to brighter bulbs without having it pass through the headlight switch.

One more thing, the chrome bezels of the European lamps fit in to the aluminum frame, there is a small clip for the stacked headlight chrome frame that needs to be removed and saved for their future use.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

My '60 Fintail had the twin harnesses for the stacked sealed-beams wired to a 5-pin plug, and since the turn-parking lights on that car were built into the sealed-beam surround, those were also wired to that plug.
Everything worked when I swapped in the Euros. plus the conversion also added fog-lights. No idea if the W108/109 wiring was setup different, except that in the US, the park-turn signals were mounted on the fenders, just like the later Fintails.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[Palolo]

The plugs look like this: https://m.ecklersmbzparts.com/mercedes-electrical-connector-six-pin-for-european-headlight-conversion.html

The metal pins are sold separately, one would need ten pins total, and be able to solder the wiring in to them. (Hi, Low, Turn, Parking/City, Fog)

Also heard that these plugs are used in the tail lights of 116s but can't confirm.