Hello, I'm new to this forum and to Mercedes cars. I recently bought an '88 300E. It has holes in the headlights and bezels (doors?). I'm looking into getting euro lights. My car has headlight wipers. These euros I want don't have wiper stoppers on them. Do I need them, or should I say, can I make some for these? What about the motors for the wipers? Are they part of the headlight or do they sit underneath?

TIA for your help!

Hi Michelle, welcome to a great forum for Mercedes including your model, the W124, lots of good information to be had on this site, for your car in the tech help section, and the diesel discussion for this model.

First of all, the conversion to Euro lights is probably the best modification you could make to this car, in my opinion. They look beautiful compared to the US headlights, and better than this, they throw a MUCH better light pattern and have a better cutoff than the U.S. Dept. of Transportation mandated headlights. Buying and installing the euro lights, while not cheap, is an investment in safety and looks you'll never regret having made.

Being in Michigan, only you can decide whether you'd like to (1) retain the US style headlight wipers (2) remove them for a sleeker and smoother look, and lose the wiping capability (how much road slush gets on them in winter up there?) or (3) install euro style, sleeker wiper blades for the headlights which work just like the US ones but look much nicer when "parked", and would require probably new valances (the thin metal strip under the headlights where the headlight wipers came out from) that would have to be painted.

The euro light set up I think would cost, with shipping and tax, for a first class Bosch original equipment set of Euro lights and corner blinkers, about $500-$600 a set new, and the Euro wiper set up perhaps $250-$300 extra I would think. If you don't need the Euro wiper capability, you could probably go without the euro light wiper set up to save money, and remove the US wipers, or as was said, keep them. If you removed the US style headlight wipers, you could either reapaint the valances or plug up the holes where the US wipers for the lights were, and paint over the plugs or not.

To answer your question, the motors for the headlight wipers are separate from the headlights themselves.

Once the euro lights are installed, they should be properly aimed, and properly aimed that is all you would need normally. The complete euro setup as delivered in Germany (but not provided specifically if you purchase a euro light setup here in the USA) also includes a dashboard thumbwheel adjuster so you could adjust the headlight beams from the dashboard, but unless you carry lots of passengers or big loads in the trunk frequently, you could just aim the lights with the car unladen and be set for most driving situations.

I am not an expert on your model, so others here could correct me if I am wrong on some points.

A word about your car: This particular model is considered basically bombproof, it is believed by many people to be the LAST of the modern E class Mercedes cars built with a "cost no object" price point, so the durability, build quality, legendary longevity, comfort and safety are uncompromised, a true gem of a car and well worth keeping to Star Trek mileages.

Your profile shows you as a person who builds Fords in Michigan, and this Mercedes has little in common in terms of assembly than Fords then and now, and so, we would wonder, what made you turn to a Mercedes? Was it their reputation, prestige, safety, quality, longevity, your possible dislike of American cars or what

Also, we don't get many women here, so you are warmly welcomed here for your interest asw a member of the fair sex!

You might also visit www.benzworld.org and check out the threads running over there in the W124 and W126 sections, they have extended discussions this week on Euro lights for Mercedes cars some like yours, for further discussion and illumination (no pun intended) of this topic


Also, your car presumably was furnished with American-mandated headlight wipers that were heated, they were rather ugly and may have had heated reservoirs for wiping the headlights when activated by the windshield wiper stalk on the steering column.

When you get your Euro lights, (Bosch are the best ones to get, with H4 bulbs, as in the euro cars originally) the box they came in might say "for off road use only" because technically they were illegal to have on U.S. cars, even though they were so much better than the U.S. units. I wouldn't worry about that though


Again, welcome, I hope this helped, and feel free to amplify on your questions if you don't get the answer answered to your satisfaction.

You may well actually have a car much more worthy of being cherished than yoiu realize.

Remember, you are urged to post pictures of your car in the gallery to share with the membership here, also.

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Gawsh, I think that's the longest "Jim B." post ever . . . I wonder if he combed his hair and checked his look in the mirror before typing it.

Michelle:

I also own a 1992 300-E . The factory USA headlight are effective as a lighted match in the dark. Go with the factory Hella German headlights orginal have Glass lenses not after market plastic.
I haven't installed mine yet I choose to add the 1995 wiper motors and the newer wiper blades to give it the full European look, not that in California I need wipers on headlights . I also am adding the vacumn headlight switch that you can manually adjust the headlight if you have a load or passengers in the car.
Most of the group just take the old USA wiper motors out replace the lower valence panel below the headlights with 260-E panels with no wiper holes paint to match plug remove and plug the wiper washer motor and your ready to go.

I have collected and printed out the information on installing these lights so if you need copies let me know.

Bob Geco
1992 300-E Sportline 40,000 orginal miles
1968 280SL restoring family car was my fahters car.
1987 Ford Mustang notchback 5.0. under 6000 miles orginal show car.
9 trophys.

Thank you for the extensive answers to my questions. I like the look of the wipers on the headlights. I didn't know there was a euro-style wiper. The decision I'm trying to make now is, do I go with the newer, round-style lights, or stick with original. I kind of want the round clear healights with clear corners. I'm thinking about Altezza tail lights too.

To answer the question of why I build Fords and drive a Mercedes. Most of you won't like this answer. The truth is, it's part of a trading game. I started with a single-seat 5HP go kart (grand total cost with new parts I put on was $475) and put it up for trade. I got a Honda Big Red three wheeler for straight up trade. Three days later I did an even trade for an '84 Dodge Ramcharger. I put about three months of time an effort in removing rust and painting it, making it look MUCH better than when I got it. Very little money in oil change, blah, blah, blah. I put that up for trade. I ended up selling it for almost four times as much as the original go kart was. I was stuck looking for a winter car very quickly as it was November already. I found a good deal on the Mercedes and loved the idea that I could finally have one so I jumped on the opportunity. After about a week of driving the car I fell in love with Mercedes quality, thechnology, style, comfort, and the whole nine yards. I now want to trade my Ford van for an M500 with the third row seat for my family of six. A lot of my friends and family are not happy with my decision on foreign cars, but deep down they like Mercedes too, and told me they wish they had one.

I think the trading game ended here with the 300E. It needs a few details like headlights and trim. It has a few dings, chipped paint, and very little rust on the rockers. Also has cracked dash and wear on the seats. All will be fixed in time for the cruises next summer.

I'm thinking about getting a '74 Mercedes 280 with 70K miles on it. This one will be kept all original. Think about it, I work for Ford an will own three Mercedes an one Ford Mustang.

Michelle:

I have to laugh at the fact that you work for Ford Motor company and preferr Mercedes-Benz. I would of purchased a SVT Cobra or if "I had the means and the money a Shellby 500. I own a 1987 Mustang LX 5.0. with all orginal paint and interior anddrive train. I purchased the car from a friend who worked as an engineer for Toyota Motor company in Torrance California. He really never drove the car except to work to put on the dino and to willo springs test on the race track.
My intrest in Mustangs began when I meet brain at a literature swap meet. I helped him move from Santa Monica to his newly purchased house with a 7 car
garage. Brain is an avit collector of Fords and Pontics He owns two GT-40 one Safire and one new 2007 Ford GT a 95 cobra R and other intresting cars now up to thirty total. I tolld him when he was ready to sell the Mustang to give me a call. The only thing I can not get from him is the orginal window sticker he made color copies for me and I have a lot of spare extra parts I have purchased for my car now that Ford has discontined many of the parts for thiss car. I am looking for new front inner fender splash shields the black plastic liners inside the front fenders. If you now of some please let me now?

Getting back to the Mercedes-Benz headlights the wiper motors are the saame as the W126 S class sedan or the 1994 and 1995 W124 models with revised Euro look headlights. The wipers sit on the oppositeside as the American version headlights . Every thing is plug and play all you need is to purchase or fine a set of wiper motors from a wrecked 1995 W124 E300 and remove yours and plug in the other ones when you do the light conversion.
You will need the wiper arms and blades and some plastic tubing to feed to the new washers . Three bolts hold in the headlight and you will need the conversion plug contact Fastlane on this site and talk to Phil he can set you up with plugs and wiper motors and arms & blades.

If you need part numbers phil can fill you in or anyone on this forum can help. Do a search on European headlights there should be some post to support installation and help you .

Glad to hear you joined this forum if you need help let me know and I will see what I can do for you.

Best Regards & happy 2007.
Bob Geco

Thank you for the directions on where to go to find the plug and play wipers and stuff.

Well, here's the deal on the Ford-Mercedes thing. Just because I work for Ford doesn't mean I'm rich. That's a common misconception. I aquired my 300E from a trading game. I'm looking into getting a '74 280 that is very affordable. I'm the kind of person that would rather find the diamond in the rough and make it beatiful again. Most people today would rather lease or buy a new car and not bother with maintainance or keeping it nice. I would rather make an old tired car shine again. To me, that's fun and a whole lot cheaper. I know that sounds weird to most guys that a mother of four likes to work on cars. Why not?

I've been working for Ford for over 8 years now and in that time I've had two conversion vans, an Explorer, and two Mustangs. One Mustang, an '89 LX was sold to my brother-in-law. The first van and the Explorer were leases. I'm buying an '03 Mustang GT convertible now and we own a Ford conversion van.

I've done a little customizing to the Mustang, like xenon headlights and fog lights, clear tail lights, Saleen-style MUSTANG GT stripes on the doors, ponies on the door handles, chrome Mustang inserts in rear, and yada, yada, yada.

I'm trying to decide if I should customize the 300E or keep it original.

Michelle:
Most of the folks on this forum work on their own cars or have an intrest in knowing what is involved with a repair. I think the first step you need to do is check your car for mechnical soundness and purchase the Mercedes-Benz W124 CD work shop manual to understand what is envolved with maintance and repair of your 1988 300-E.
this is a fairly simple design and can be maintained by its owner by purchasing a couple of tools and taking a weekend to look at the CD manual and become aquainted with the car.
The folks on this forum are really nice people and their are many approved Mercedes-Benz technical people who regularly respond to questions to help new owners of these 15 year old cars.
As far as the question to modifiy the 300-E my opinion a good perportion of the owners of these cars have been restoring what was stock to keep them running with the exception of shocks and wheels and tires. The biggest modification is the Hella or Bosch European headlights that in its self is a vast major improvement over the USA headlights and since you live back east you will appreciate the difference these lights gives you over the normal H-4 lights that were installed in these cars for the USA.

Best Regards
Bob Geco
Member of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America
Member of the Mustang club of America