T3RVO
Member
HELP!
Could someone with a UK-spec C32 AMG (W203 or S203) fitted with standard factory Xenon headlamps please compare their car with mine?
Billy, my friend, where are you?
My 2002 C32 Estate has recently been to the local garage for MoT test. They phoned to report a perished rubber boot on the left front lower suspension arm balljoint so I agreed to give them the go-ahead to replace the whole arm. I know the fault was only a rubber weather-proof boot but if the salty water has already found its way into the ball joint I don't want it on my car.
The new suspension arm fitted, the car passed the MoT retest with no problem. It would.
Great. Until...
A couple of weeks later I needed to use the car at night, unusual for me in the Summer. The headlights are in default safety mode, they point down so low they are useless to anyone. Even on full beam it's a struggle to see the moth before it splats on the grille.
At initial start-up (i.e. switch-on dipped headlights before turning key to ignition-on, the traditional curtsey test) the lights make a little suggestion of the curtsey routine they should perform but it's a feeble effort when compared with how they used to dip down and then raise to the correct level. That's because they are already adjusted to the lowest setting, they have nowhere to go.
The car was returned to the MoT test garage who connected the OBD II link to their system and performed perfect raise-lower-raise exercises. So the logical suggestion is that either the front or the rear level sensor is sending duff data to the headlight ECU. Or no data at all.
One possibility that occurred to me is that when the garage had the car on the lift to replace the suspension arm (on the side opposite to the headlamp level sensor) they must have used the wheel-free facility to suspend the body/chassis while leaving the wheels and suspension to dangle.
In doing so, it may be that the sensor's lever-arms were extended to the straight position, i.e. with the elbow joint at 180 degrees. When the car was returned to weight-on-wheels mode the sensor's lever arms just might have hinged the wrong way?
So. My photo herewith shows my front level sensor as it is now. If someone who has fully working xenon level sensors could spin their steering into full right lock and take a peep (or even a photo?) at their sensor I would be very grateful. You see how my 'elbow' points to the back of the car, I suspect that it should point to the front?
Many thanks for your attention.
Jerry.
Could someone with a UK-spec C32 AMG (W203 or S203) fitted with standard factory Xenon headlamps please compare their car with mine?
Billy, my friend, where are you?
My 2002 C32 Estate has recently been to the local garage for MoT test. They phoned to report a perished rubber boot on the left front lower suspension arm balljoint so I agreed to give them the go-ahead to replace the whole arm. I know the fault was only a rubber weather-proof boot but if the salty water has already found its way into the ball joint I don't want it on my car.
The new suspension arm fitted, the car passed the MoT retest with no problem. It would.
Great. Until...
A couple of weeks later I needed to use the car at night, unusual for me in the Summer. The headlights are in default safety mode, they point down so low they are useless to anyone. Even on full beam it's a struggle to see the moth before it splats on the grille.
At initial start-up (i.e. switch-on dipped headlights before turning key to ignition-on, the traditional curtsey test) the lights make a little suggestion of the curtsey routine they should perform but it's a feeble effort when compared with how they used to dip down and then raise to the correct level. That's because they are already adjusted to the lowest setting, they have nowhere to go.
The car was returned to the MoT test garage who connected the OBD II link to their system and performed perfect raise-lower-raise exercises. So the logical suggestion is that either the front or the rear level sensor is sending duff data to the headlight ECU. Or no data at all.
One possibility that occurred to me is that when the garage had the car on the lift to replace the suspension arm (on the side opposite to the headlamp level sensor) they must have used the wheel-free facility to suspend the body/chassis while leaving the wheels and suspension to dangle.
In doing so, it may be that the sensor's lever-arms were extended to the straight position, i.e. with the elbow joint at 180 degrees. When the car was returned to weight-on-wheels mode the sensor's lever arms just might have hinged the wrong way?
So. My photo herewith shows my front level sensor as it is now. If someone who has fully working xenon level sensors could spin their steering into full right lock and take a peep (or even a photo?) at their sensor I would be very grateful. You see how my 'elbow' points to the back of the car, I suspect that it should point to the front?
Many thanks for your attention.
Jerry.