211 ballast failure?

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KevinF

Active Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2012
Messages
83
Location
Hungerford
Car
E saloon
Nearside Xenon flickering after being lit for a minute or so. Bulb change didn't resolve the issue so new ballast ordered from MB at, frankly, utterly absurd cost.

Fitting it will be a game. Airmatic pump smack in the way so the front bumper has to come off.

Grinding my teeth at the hideous expense? I should say so!
 
Cheaper to buy a used headlight from eBay with the ballast still attached... I got 3 headlights (used 1 already, had a failure last year) sitting around for such occasions :D
 
Hi,
In November I had an O/S ballast fail on me, so bought a replacement off of Ebay as new ones are at joke prices from MB. There are always used ones on Ebay. A point to note is that the same ballast used on the S211 A0028202426 is used by other vehicles so also do a search on the Bosch part number 5DF008290-00 to get the widest choice. After much searching on t'internet I also bought a new Chinese one from Ali Baba website for £25 just to keep in stock, as the Ebay one took a few days. Fitting the replacement ballast looked somewhat daunting. So I went and saw a local mechanic who kindly loaned me his spare ramp for an hour and so much easier than laying on your back. The front undertray has to come off ( torx screws) and then ballast is held on by 3 torx screws, you just need a longish extension bar. I replaced the ballast, bolted everything back up and he let down the car off the ramp all within 45 minutes. Switched on the lights and the 2 lights did their little dance for me.
Prior to getting the ballast, I had thought / hoped it was just the bulb, so I bought 2 cheapie D2S Xenon bulbs just for test purposes ( and they came next day) as it seemed a nightmare removing the N/S bulb unless you have hands like a pixie, for doing a o/s ..>.. n/s swap. As it was, on the o/s, there was, ( now no more ), a sharp cut cable tie that sliced into the flesh on the back of my hand, leaving a trail of blood. I left the cheapie bulb in the headlamp and to this day it works fine, no longevity test yet. Regards Steve
 
Alas, not the right model, but it's a used one anyway. There seem to be quite a few companies offering them at about half price - all of them either from scrappers, or cloned Chinese ones.

The saga gets more expensive still. The new ballast, now fitted, requires SCN coding before it will work properly with the car. The light comes on, but does not rise or lower with loading of the vehicle. My independent, lovely people, does not have the latest Star system that is required to do this. Main dealer here we come...

It's just as well the car is a complete riot otherwise. Enables me to grin and bear the cost (so far...)
 

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