'95 C124 - new (better) bulbs required...

[charan_singh]

Guys,

My lights are rubbish. I dont want to go down the sort of illegal 'HID' route...but i want some advice on the most effective bulbs I can use to replace the current standard rubbish ones...

Both fogs and standard beams.

?? any ideas?

MERCEDES BENZ E-CLASS (1993 - 1995) Car Headlight Bulbs | PowerBulbs

 

[mattc]

My mate in Switzerland had his car failed at the MoT stage due to the headlights - basically over time the lights had dulled.

His solution was to buy knew headlights and that clearly resolved the issue but it got me thinking whether the original dulling was due to dust ingress into the unit that was dulling the silvering and/or the inside of the glass lens or perhaps the silvering itself was flaking. Truth is I dont know.

So first off you might want to take the glass lens off and give it and the inside of the unit a good clean to see (pardoon the pun!) whether that improves things??

 

[GP801]

We use Phillips extreme vision in our 124. Noticeable improvement over standard but as above check your reflectors are ok.

 

[Charles Morgan]

My experience, based on others, is that the voltage drop from the battery to the lights gets worse over time, and that will have a large effect on the power of the lamps. If you have a voltmeter test the voltage at the battery and then at the lights and the difference might be quite substantial. If you clean all the contacts, including the fuses and fuseholders, you should get some voltage gain.

Cleaning the headlamp unit may also help.

Stronger bulbs very much a necessity.

Ultimately w124 lights are hopeless. Short of creating your own loom with relay to cut out the existing system, and putting in very powerful bulbs, I suggest night vision goggles.

I had a thread on this and will search for it later - thread here

 

[GP801]

Have to say ours are not that bad. Even with the continental beam benders on they are perfectly adequate but by no means up to modern car standards

 

[hotrodder]

Only thing i'd add to what's been said is that the link posted is a 'kin expensive source, for Osram bulbs at least. I've not fitted 'em yet as they only arrived today but i've just bought a set of Osram nightbreaker + as one of my headlight bulbs went the other day. £12.95/pair for the H4, £12.80 for H3, £2.20 postage. I got mine via Amazon fwiw

 

[trapperjohn]

Night Breakers work for me.

 

[bolide]

The silvering on the reflectors is very fragile. Taking the lenses off and cleaning the whole unit does make a difference but you have to be careful cleaning the silvering. I wouldn't use any solvent

I used to run 110/90 Watt bulbs. They made a decent difference. I always found main beam to be pretty good whereas dip beam is appalling

If someone can source the connectors I can make up plug-in looms with relays & a power feed from the battery

Nick Froome
the independent Mercedes Estate specialists

 

[charan_singh]

Only thing i'd add to what's been said is that the link posted is a 'kin expensive source, for Osram bulbs at least. I've not fitted 'em yet as they only arrived today but i've just bought a set of Osram nightbreaker + as one of my headlight bulbs went the other day. £12.95/pair for the H4, £12.80 for H3, £2.20 postage. I got mine via Amazon fwiw

hOW DID YOU GET ON MATE?

 

[hotrodder]

Same as other cars i've fitted this sort of bulb to, not a night and day difference but lights are noticably better. As said need to make sure there's no excessive voltage drop from manky old fuses/corrosion on connectors etc to get the most benefit

 

[millo777]

The worst offender for halogen lights is a bad or weak earth.

On my W140, removing the lens and cleaning the inside made a massive difference. It's suprising how much better they look as well when properly cleaned. Just be careful to make sure they are 100% dry before re-fitting.

As per Nick's advice. Don't be tempted to use any cleaning products on the reflector as it will get damaged. Just use a clean microfibre to remove any dust.

Another W124 problem that compounds the less than adequate dipped beam is the not too great mono wiper. Driving at night in heavy rain is not very pleasant. I'm planning to fit a flat wiper and treat the screen with rainx as well as probably some better bulbs.

 

[GP801]

Just to put this in perspective I have been using a Peugeot 106 loan car for 2 days. The lights on the 124 are vastly better than the peugeot. Perhaps I am just lucky but on ours they really are not as bad as everyone seems to think.

 

[Tinkerer]

If these bulbs have the single connector that incorporates two brass sprung clips for the earth then I would suggest that you apply a separate earth to the bulb holder body which, as said previously, does make a lot of difference. Great shame that it does not seem to be possible to buy the connectors separately and how can you get one good one and one bad one on the same car?