side marker light hood up to European lamps
 

I own a USA 1968 280SL with lighted side marker lights and I am installing a set of new European Bosch lamps to replace the LE 1667 AC lamps united with American 7inch round headlights. I Have been told that you need to hook up another wire to theside maker light front in order for it to work.

Has anyone done this and can you help me by sending me instructions and some photos of how the hook up should appear. I do not want to have to cut into any of the factory wire harness and hope there is another way.

Also is there a halogen bulb that is brighter than the 12Volt 45/40 W P45T stock bulbs?
thank you for all your replys and help and Happy New Year.
Bob Geco

H4 Halogens with P45t bases are available for conversion.
They are Narva 48884 , 55/60 .
There are several cross reference makes. About $7 ea from Capitol Lighting.
Any Motorcycle Shop has them.

Bob -- I think you have been told that to make the city lights work, you need to tap into the side markers. That is the case on my W201, anyway. Do your replacement lights have city lights (the small 5W bulbs that softly illuminate the main reflectors -- the usually sit just below the main bulbs)? I think they are usually T-4 bulbs, and look like flashlight bulbs.

Good luck,

Chris

city light bulbsin european lamps
 

Chris;
Yes I now the bulb you are referring to. it sits below the main headlamp bulb.The question is how to make my side marker front lamps light up with the running lights and headlamps on?

thank You
Bob Geco
bobgeco@cs.com

Hi Bob -- I read right over the vintage of your car when I made my reply! Apologies... yes, I'm sure your setup is MUCH different than on my W201! Good luck getting everything to work. Could you use a mutlimeter to find the "hot" wire for the running lights and just use a wire tap to then run a wire to the side markers? A tap would put a small cut in the factory wiring insulation but would not require that the wiring actually be cut & spliced.

You've probably already thought of this and I'm probably missing something obvious... just throwing ideas around! Hope you can find an easy solution!

Chris