'98 E320 bulb burnt out light indicator on dash
 

The bulb burnt out light is on on my dash HOWEVER all exterior light bulbs are lit--none are burnt out. Is there a control unit that might be malfunctioning and where is it or is there another solution to this problem or other ideas?

Check the high-mounted brake light at the junction of the rear window and the shelf. If this is burned out then you found the problem.

Otherwise, did you recently replace any bulbs on just one side of the vehicle? If so, then the resistance of this bulb differs from the resistance of the corresponding bulb on the opposite side. Repalcing the corresponding bulb with the same will likely solve the problem.

Mark

What are often overlooked on the 210's are the license plate lights, the amber lights on the side of the front bumper, and the smaller clear "running lights" on the front (just inboard of the headlights)

Gilly

My mother's 1999 E430 was experiencing the burned out bulb indicator when there were no bulbs burned out.

It turns out there is a pattern failure with the tail lamp assemblies. The metal socket that the bulb screws into warps due to heat. Apparently the warping of the metal causes a bad connection that causes the problem.

The indpendent shop that found the problem, MB STARS, actually posts on this site under that name.

On my 94 E320 the indicator light illuminated upon the 1st application ofthe brakes. I verified all brake lights worked. However an ohm meter showed the lamp on the left side had twice the resistance of the lamp on the right side. I replaced both lamps with new and the indicator light is out. The 'light-out' indicator circuit measures the resistance in the various lighting circuits.

Mark

Had the same problem for 2 weeks
 

As a newbie to MBZ ownership, I can just tell you guys, Im very spoiled already... Bought 1993 300te 4 matic in excellent condition all around. 181,000 miles, and this buggy is still tight as a drum. OWNED BY A LITTLE OLD LADY WHO DROVE BACK AND FORTH TO FLORIDA ABOUT 5000 TIMES... :D Although all my exterior lamps were lit, I still had the light out indicator coming on in the parking light position and head light position. After checking everything 20X, I concentrated then on the license plate illumination holders and bulbs. Well, finally after taking those puppies out, I found a mix of two different wattages! One side had 10 watt OSRAM (shorty)the other side had the correct 5 watt standard replacement. Some dum dum :mad: found a shorter version of this bulb, (with a 10 watt rating) and actually bent the bulb holder contacts in to make the bulb fit. I reformed the holder contacts, and inserted the correct # Osram 5 Watt bulb, and eureka! lamp out lite is finally extinguished. BTW, also repaired the PWR antenna on the car, a small plastic projection between the two gears that make up the mast feed drive spring buffer broke off. I gently scraped the adjoining part ends to remove the yellow silicone grease which had migrated onto the broken ends, degreased with acetone, and used CA type adhesive (crazy glue) with an accellerator to cement the broken parts back together. I then drilled and tapped and counter-sunk a half inch 6/32 flat head screw inserted from the outside part of the gear to add extra rigidity, and filled in the gaps in the repaired plastic nub, with more CA ...Works smooth and good as new..... During re-assembly, make sure you sandwich the two gears back together with the two plastic dogs, back in between the two bent ends of the buffer-cushion spring. Dont forget to clean out everything and relube with yellow silicon grease. (special grease for plastics). I think that the glue by itself, wouldnt really hold too long, so Add the screw! Saved what 300 bucks? Yeh Buddy.....