W202 domelight problem, completely non-functional
 

So here is the situation.

The domelight unit does not work at all. None of the buttons or switches work and either does the front dome light when I open and close the car. I can not open my sunroof or anything, its as if the whole domelight unit is busted. I even pulled it down and took a look using a electricity checker thing I noticed that once I give the unit, or wires, some ground all of a sudden the front dome light lights up. Also, my rear dome light does turn on when I open the doors but since the rear domelight button is on the front domelight unit itself I cant turn it off and on manually. The vanity lights on both driver and passenger dont work and the rear view mirror doesnt change color at night, and it looks like these are all connected to the front dome light unit. I checked every single fuse in my car three times over. I dont know what to do. The dome light unit itself will run close to 300-400 dollars from junkyard I found. Anyone know what the problem is?:(

Regards,
Daniel

EDIT: The model is a 1998 c230 non-k

I had the same problem about nine months ago. Nothing from that panel worked for well over a week.

I changed out all the bulbs and cleaned the metal contacts that make a connection when the sunvisors are attached in their normal position. Did you notice the sunvisor contacts for the sunvisor mirror vanity lights to work?

All of a sudden it started working again and I have had no reoccurrence.

Point being don't rush out to buy a new panel, but do what I did and give it some time.

check the fuse, it's probably blown.

I already checked all the fuses. I guess I will wait it out a bit more. By the way battlecat, do you still want my w124 Temp Gauge?

I always read posts where people say visual checks of fuses is inaccurate at best. I have a 1998 C-class, and this may have been overkill, but I changed out all the fuses as preventive maintenance

That may be a good idea, keeping in mind that hairline cracks can cause fuse issues..Thanks for reminding me.

I have the same problem with my 98 E320. The power stopped working to the sunroof, front lights and vanity lights. It came back on once or twice but would then stop working and now has not worked at all for a couple months. All the fuses look fine. Any help would be appreciated.

I am sorry I cannot be of too much help but I can tell you that module uses the CAN bus. I had a window motor module go out mysteriously. Perhaps you can get someone (dealer) to test it? They have a device they can plug into the car and see if it will communicate. As far as a used one, you can try www.car-part.com. The hard part is finding the part in their long list of parts. But once you do you will likely find one somewhere for under 100.00 (I am guessing). I got my window module from a place called Jacks in Billerica Mass as I recall and they guaranteed it would work and it did. Cost me 65.00.

Mike

When you said applying a ground will make it work. Seems like the power is ok, and it's a lack of ground that is keeping it from working. There are several domw lamo assemblies listed on eBay in case your's it toast. Might be worth it to buy a used one to verify all of the wiring is correct. Good Luck, Chuck