W210 headlight purchase source - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

dieseldiehard · #1 10-18-2018, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raymond~

w210s are known for their biodegrading wiring harness for the headlight, both
main, as well as the lead feeding the city light bulb with crumbling bulb socket.

the film 'protection' you had experience with is helpful to know but there are
different films, some of which are not applied using adhesive. as such, can be
separated without much trauma. the film I'm referring to in this category are
those also used on the car/paint itself but a little thicker.

I did some searching and found a film I might try, its thin and has been used on jet aircraft so does that make it any better than other stuff?
https://clearmask.com/lightgard/

dieseldiehard · #2 10-18-2018, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dieseldiehard

I did some searching and found a film I might try, its thin and has been used on jet aircraft so does that make it any better than other stuff?
https://clearmask.com/lightgard/

well, besides being the slowest website I've run into in a Loooong time (cloudservice.tw) they didn't offer a headlight film for my car, after clicking buttons it came back with bumper guard but no headlight film specific to a Mercedes.
DO NOT use that website. a WASTE of time!

dieseldiehard · #3 10-18-2018, 11:20 PM

was reading a thread re:W124 vs. W210 cars and found a comment by porkface that states the headlight issues in the 210, so it must be that Hella uses crappy wire to make the headlights, I wonder if its still an issue with the 211 etc?
I always thought Hella made a great product but now I know otherwise
quote: someone else mentioned 210s, they're ok but more complicated than the 124s. had to replace wiring in the headlights on a few (cut)..

dieseldiehard · #4 10-18-2018, 11:29 PM

as long as I am on a roll, and I hope no one complains I might be overdoing it, but there is a lot of info about disintegrating insulation in E class headlights I am surprised I haven't encountered it before.
One website has a list of owner complaints and by far the most common was the headlights
One owner stated:

Quote:

Headlights problem of the 2001 Mercedes Benz 320 2
Failure Date: 08/01/2011
One of the front headlight assembles of my 2001 mb e320 just stopped working. Upon inspection, I found that the wire insulation had vanished - simply disappeared - and there were bare wires coming in contact with each other. I tried wrapping the wire with electrical tape, and this worked for a while, but the light stopped working after a few weeks. This car was in a repair shop for a rear end collision recently, and the service manager noticed the problem. He said that he used to work for mercedes-benz, and that this was a common problem with the headlights. Apparently, it gets so hot that the wire insulation actually disintegrates and leaves the wires bare. And, even more surprisingly, sometimes the lights catch on fire. Of course, mb knows about the problem, but hasn't done anything to rectify their engineering mistakes - they're more than content to let their customers pay to have the light assembly replaced. And, for obvious reasons, they won't admit that there's a problem to begin with - a product recall would be terribly expensive. I find it difficult to believe that I'm the first one reporting this type of problem, and from what I've read on the internet, this type of wiring problem exists in other models across different model years. Time for mb to pay for their mistakes - not me. . . .

dieseldiehard · #5 10-19-2018, 09:06 PM

I examined the headlights in my '99 with the thick horrible discolored plastic film someone put on them.
It was surprisingly easy to remove the headlight assemblies. three screws and some wrangling and they were out. Pulled over a folding chair to sit in while doing the work

The wiring was fine, I saw what looked like one wire with some tape someone applied.
The lenses popped off after gently prying the tabs all the way around. Learned to use another stubby flat screwdriver to hold tabs out to prevent them from snapping back under the locking tab while going to the next tab.

There is one thin post that has been melted on the end, I guess its for alignment or a security indicator maybe and it has to be whittled off using a blade to allow pulling the lens off.

Thanks to Sixto's advise, I learned that the lenses came in two styles -for Halogens and HID. The HID lens doesn't use a diffuser inside and its front has thin lines running vertically.
My lenses were obviously from a halogen headlight but I don't want to buy the aftermarket lens I saw on ebay - from Taiwan it would take weeks to get here and I'm not sure I would like them. MB doesn't sell them either, despite their ability to be replaced with a little work. Plus, at the shop rate around here it would be $250 to $300 in labor to change the lens.

Anyhow I learned that this is a issue that many 210 owners will someday face if they haven't already. Whether to repair or replace with new is a decision they will need to make. My experience was a used headlight is a real gamble! I had to remove the lenses to salvage the ones I bought but it worked out OK.
DDH

dieseldiehard · #6 10-20-2018, 09:54 PM

after all that work I am rewarded by nicer looking, better performing headlghts.