W126 Headlight question
 

On my 89 300SE, the Headlight Lens is cracked and the plastic Headlight Frame (which surrounds the Lens and covers the fog light) is yellowed and chipped.

What is the procedure to replace these items, and are any special tools required?

Nothing much special to this job. You do have to remove the trim panel under the headlight, don't forget the hidden screw at the inside corner under the side marker. The whole assembly is in turn held to the body by four bolts - 2 top and 2 from underneath. The are an additional three bolts if you have headlight wipers.

The "door" on these US lights is the fog light lens and it is held to the assembly by four plastic clips. The head lead lens will have to be completely replaced, I don't believe the lens proper can be separated from the body although some say it is possible.

Now would be an excellent opportunity to convert to Euro lights. For what it will cost to replace the door and lens you can buy a quality after market set of Euros. Update the look of the car and best of all get the lighting you deserve.

Here is how the Euros look;
http://www.pe.net/~mktangas/elight3.jpg

Mike yours looks good. Are these euro wipers? can I keep the US wipers?

Trim panel under the light: I guess they are removed by unscrewing from the back?

Euro light- How easy is it to replace bulbs on these?

Do I lose the fog light by going euro? I see euros have City lights, which I assume does not function as fogs.

Thanks

I am obviously not Mike.. but can help answer some of your questions.

The wipers in the picture are the stock US versions. The European ones are longer and not really an L-shaped wiper as the US version. The Euro ones also wipe from the opposite direction.
The Euro headlights use H3 bulbs for foglights.. and H4 for hi/low beams. They are easy to replace... open the lid from the back and take out and replace.
The "city" lights is an option. There is a slot where a tiny bulb fits in. Don't know the size bulb. You would have to splice the wires to your corner ones to activate them.

These are the questions that I can answer.. hopefully someone will help you with the trim panel question.

Here I am!

Snibble already answered your questions about the light replacement. Very Easy. Yes you still have fogs, nice bright white fogs (not yellow like the DOT lights) but can be yellow if you can find the cadmium coated H-3's or adapt the yellow cup from the DOT lights.

What you see in my picture are the city lights as they look in the day light, they seem much brighter at night though.

The US wipers can be used, but an adapter need to be made to mount the wiper motor in the correct position. Not truely correct for the purist, but I don't mind the look. I used pieces of perforated strapping, mounted the wiper motors to the strapping, then bolted the strapping to the bottom of the light buckets. The Euro wiper postions is a little off from the US position and without an adapter they wont work.

The trim panel has one phillips head screw accessable when the hood is open. The other end takes an odd sized 6mm. You access it by removing the side marker assembly. Not much room to use a box end, but can be done with one if you're not in a hurry.

Hope this helps. I'll be out of town for a few days, so I won't know the outcome till Monday.

This is what the fogs look like:

http://www.pe.net/~mktangas/elight2.jpg

Thanks for the answers Snibble and Mike, this board is great.

I used to think like my wife that MBs should be kept the way it was made, and that the euros would make it look like a grey market car. But the modern looks and safety argument has swayed me. Now I need to work on her!