The low beams on my wife's '96 C280 have stopped working, having to drive with the fog lamps on if she is not able to switch to the high beams. I think that it is the combination switch, because I can spray contact cleaner in the switch and they will work for a little while.

My question is this: How hard is it to replace the combination switch in this vehicle? I am sure that you would have to pull the steering wheel, which involves removing the airbag (something I really don't want to do). How involved is it after that? Any information would be helpful. Thanks.

Takes a dealer tech about 1 hour! Start by disconnecting the battery. AIR bag must be removed.

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Do a search for posts be me (forp) and you'l find one that decribes in some detail how to replace the combination switch.
Dan

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2012 E350 Bluetech

My fogs stopped working this fall. The left was totally dead, the right would come on intermittently before it was toast. I swapped the bulbs and the fuse, no dice. When I had the car in recently for an ongoing insurance issue with the replaced IF door sensor, I had them check the fogs. Tech says the bulbs' contact has melted and the only way to fix is to replace the assembly.


The kicker is, he says this is common on older 202s. Am I missing something? I have never heard of this happening before

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former: 83 300D, 97 C230, 93 400E

current: 08 C300 Luxury , 92 500SL

Thanks for the help guys, I changed out the combination switch this weekend, everything works just fine now. The hardest part of the operation was removing the lower dash to disconnect the wire harness. The airbag and steering wheel came out easier than I expected. It took about an hour and a half to complete because I also replaced some of the bulbs in the instrument cluster.