CLS 350 Headlamp moisture

[Edmoody182]

Hi all, recently purchased a 2015 CLS 350 AMG line from a garage london way, (3.5 hour drive from home)

Was made aware that the o/s headlamp unit had moisture inside the lens upon purchase, when going to collect I had a closer look and it seems as though the unit has been messed about with and I said I’d like a new unit sent to me. Which they agreed. It hasn’t been sent yet, and the current one was working ok-ish, had the intermittent fault saying that the intelligent lighting had a fault, however all lights worked so all good for now.

Last night the o/s indicator, dipped beam gave up, and it says on screen that the n/s turn signal is failing too, however it does still work.

Would these problems be caused by the control module taking on moisture from the unsealed unit? And whats the best route to take regarding this.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Hello and welcome .Potential MOT failure if on the day it's fogged up and the beam does not focus on the test target.

When are they expecting the new headlamp to arrive ? Depending on the spec these units can be very expensive and hard to come by used.

 

[Edmoody182]

Hello and welcome .Potential MOT failure if on the day it's fogged up and the beam does not focus on the test target.

When are they expecting the new headlamp to arrive ? Depending on the spec these units can be very expensive and hard to come by used.

It’s just had an mot put on it, I bought it about a month ago, with an agreement from the garage to sort the headlight, but I’m now worried that there’s going to be escalating electrical gremlins the longer it goes on.
I can imagine the garage aren’t too keen to fork out but I’ve sent them this.

MERCEDES BENZ CLS W218 DRIVER SIDE MULTIBEAM LED HEADLIGHT A2189067402 | eBay

An item has been previously used.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Petrol Pete]

This one ? If so they may be a bit reluctant to replace it . Best to keep the pressure on them to fix/replace it.

 

[Edmoody182]

This one ? If so they may be a bit reluctant to replace it . Best to keep the pressure on them to fix/replace it.


View attachment 149617

 

[Edmoody182]

Yeh that’s the one.
I am, believe me. I’ll take it back with the video they sent me of the walk around of the car, with him saying they’ll send me a new unit.

 

[Uky]

At least M/Y 2016 models with LED head lights, there are QR-paper labels attached indicating the LED color
batch and settings that should be uploaded to the headlamp controller (DC current settings, etc.)

There are videos on Y-T showing the head lamp initialization procedure that is performed using
the Xentry diagnostic system.

One important advice is never to remove the QR-code on the head lamp. Take photos of the QR-codes
and store the pictures if future need arises.

The lamp in the picture seems to have a lot more water in it than a result of normal condensation
which many mercedes head lamps suffer from. Crack in the housing somewhere?

Mercedes has introduced kits with bags of Silica Gel that are to be placed inside the head lamps suffering from condensation.
The lamps has to be taken out in order to install or replace bags with moisture saturated Silica Gel packs.

One furter mistake has been to place the lamps own controller in some versions at the bottom of the lamp right where
any water ingress ends up. IMHO utterly st--id...

 

[Edmoody182]

Hi all, still arguing with the garage regarding this.

But now the whole unit has gone down.
Is there a chance of saving it if I dry it out inside or is it dead now?

 

[Uky]

Other units, like control boxes where the moisture ingress occurrs results in the forming of galvanic bridges across circuit board (copper) traces.
The result is either open or shorted tracks, some of wchich can be seen as dark pollutions or carbon deposits on the circuit boards.
I have been able to repair circuit boards with broken copper traces but not those that was found to have short circuits...

I have taken apart several head lamp assemblys and when doing so recognized that there is no f-n way to open them without actually destroing
them. The transparent front "glass" is extremely difficult to crack. The black rear side easier. The manufacturer c o u ld have designed them in such a way
that the lamp assemblies could be repaired but why spoil the possibility of earning some £ 1500 just because a circuit board inside is broken?

My old SAABs had lamps with glass fronts that could be disassembled and cleaned inside. After such a treatment, they looked as good as new...

 

[Edmoody182]

Another update, the passenger side headlight has now stopped functioning, all except the side light..

Would the modules for this one also be within the driver side one?

 

[Edmoody182]

Hi all, furthering the chats with the garage, they’re paying for me to have it fixed down my way.

Can anyone tell me what modules I need for the RHS Headlight unit.

I’m picking up a unit tomorrow, just need to source the modules.