Driving in France

[Mr E]

Taking the car to France this weekend for a bit of touring - does anyone know how to flip the lights for driving on the "wrong" side?

Manual says that there is a lever under the light covers, but I can't seem to get them off! Am I missing a trick, or just being a wuss and not tugging hard enough. There is the sneaky bit in the book that recommends you take it to the dealer to be done.........like I'm going to do that!

Thanks...

 

[RichardM]

I've never done it on mine but there should be two levers on the back of each light that move up and down. You have to remove the rear headlamp covers and move the levers up or down (remember the positions, so you can reverse them to switch them back). Rarther than just pulling harder check if they twist or you have to push in etc. If you get stuck let me know and I'll try mine.

 

[Mr E]

Cheers RichardM - I'll give it a go later and let you know how it goes......

 

[Brian WH]

Cheers RichardM - I'll give it a go later and let you know how it goes......

They twist off and the levers are on the inside of the bulbs, on each side, move up or down depending which you want.

 

[Andy Stanton]

Does that apply to all W211 headlights or only the halogen jobbies?

I've got the swivelling bi xexons on mine and read the same paragraph in the manual about taking it back to the dealer for Xenons. Given the amount of travel I intend to do in France/Belgium I don't want to pay for a visit (or just having to live with the hassle) each time. So far I've been lucky as it's always been sunny and light evenings.

 

[mapleleaf]

its years since I've taken a car to france - do they still require yellow headlights?? What would I need to do to alter the beam on the ML/ SL (R129) ?

 

[plgibson]

Steve
Yellow lights are now out Have found that Zeons do cause a problem on side roads.
If you can,t or won,t adjust a bit of black tape is sufficent.

 

[Mr E]

Hi,

Having just got back from France, you can adjust the bi-xenon lights yourself. Twist off the cover from the back and move the lever; then when you arrive back in the UK, move the lever in the opposite direction.

The driver's side was a little trickier with the lack of room, and the little lever is quite a way in the house. The first go on the drive at home took me about 10 mins, but once I knew where everything was I adjusted it back on the queue for the ferry home in about 30 secs each side. You'll see the change in pattern spread straight away......

BTW - previous car had xenons also (not MB) - sticky tape didn't work because (a) the obstruction is too close to the focus lens and (b) the glass gets hot and the tape falls off! I assume it's the same here.

Anyway, who wants black tape stuck on the front of a Benz?

Mr E

 

[mapleleaf]

I dont have Xenons so I guess it's black tape job then.

 

[Goldfish11]

Taking the car to France this weekend for a bit of touring - does anyone know how to flip the lights for driving on the "wrong" side?

Manual says that there is a lever under the light covers, but I can't seem to get them off! Am I missing a trick, or just being a wuss and not tugging hard enough. There is the sneaky bit in the book that recommends you take it to the dealer to be done.........like I'm going to do that!

Thanks...

I am now an expert on this, got MB Coventry to show me. Basically remove the headlight bulb cover (twist counter clockwise, I think) just to the right of the bit that connects onto the bulb there is a small black lever. You can just see it if you look carefully or have a feel around. Push this down. The lever is a bit tinny so be careful you don't bend it. The drivers side light is the easiest to do (if you are right handed!) as you end up doing some key hole surgery to get your hand in. The lever on the near side headlight is in the same position but harder to get at. Once you know what you are looking for you can do it in a couple of seconds, but the first time I did it it took a couple of minutes.

All the lever does is move a small peice of metal down to cut off the beam. With the xenons you will notice little difference.