HOWTO: w202 facelift door courtesy lights

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Shude

Hardcore MB Enthusiast
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w202 facelift door courtesy lights

Some of you may know that I have been trying to find out how to fit the courtesy lights in the bottom of the front doors, as found on the elegance and other models (not sport).

Koolvin's thread:
(puddle light mods complete (BIG PICS and VIDEO))

Those instructions will only work on pre-facelift models, so were not applicable to my car, and I have been unable so far to get any information from the stealership parts guys or any other website/person. This is no longer the case! Many thanks to MikeC200 who provided me with the correct pins in the door control unit of the facelift w202 so I could wire up the courtesy lights :D

If you want to try this yourself, it's a LOT easier than with the pre-facelift models and it's also very cheap (about £10 for both sides).

You will need to buy:

A 008 545 55 26 : contact bushing : x4 (I recommend doubling this because you will mess them up or lose them, trust me ;) )
A 202 540 69 08 : cable harness : x2
A 126 820 13 01 : interior lamp : x2
N 072601 012130 : bulb : x2

The good news was, I already had all these parts "in stock" on my now-famous shelf. :D

Tools:
assorted screwdrivers, wire cutters, crimping tool.

Here are the items:

"contact bushing"
courtesy01.jpg


cable harness
courtesy02.jpg


interior lamp (with bulb installed)
courtesy03.jpg


The first thing you need to do is alter the cables you bought. Cut the two metal pins off one end, strip the wires and crimp a "contact bushing" onto them instead. Apologies for my appauling crimping techniques ;)

crimping01.jpg


crimping02.jpg
 
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Next you need to remove the door panel. I already wrote this procedure up a few weeks ago, the previous time I attempted to get the stupid door lamps working ;)

HOWTO: W202 facelift front inner door panel removal

Once the door panel is off, locate the door control unit, which is the black box near the door mirror.

courtesy04.jpg


Pull the little grey lever down while pressing the clip in on top of it to release the plug.

courtesy05.jpg


at the side of the plug is a tiny tab, lift this and all the wiring and the inner-plug can be taken out (Russian dolls or what? :) )

courtesy06.jpg


Push the red and grey wire into pin position 1, and the brown and blue wire into position 5.

courtesy07.jpg


Then slide the inner-plug into the outer-plug and then push the whole thing back into the control box, move the lever back up to the original position to make sure it's securely fastened.

Plug the light in to test!

courtesy08.jpg


It works!! :D
 
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Unplug the light and cut a small hole in the plastic sheet near the bottom of the door (near where the lamp will actually be housed). Feed the two plugs and some wire through this.

courtesy09.jpg


On the underside of the door panel is a blank where the lamp should be fitted. Pop this off with a screwdriver or your fingernail.

courtesy10.jpg


Time to remount the door panel! (see my previous instructions for this process) Take note that you should feed the two plastic plugs and some wire through the hole in the bottom of the door panel before finally clipping and screwing it all shut, which is tricky at the best of times.

When it's all fastened back up and secured again, plug the lamp into the two connectors (doesn't matter which way around) and then slide/clip the lamp into the hole.

courtesy11.jpg


Done!

courtesy12.jpg


Now repeat for the other side! I'm gonna go do the other side right now myself :) Will post pics of how they look at night :D
 
Didn't Sym say he had these as standard?

The sort of attention to detail that should be on all our cars :(
 
Originally posted by GrahamC230K
Didn't Sym say he had these as standard?

The sort of attention to detail that should be on all our cars :(
Elegance models have both illuminated visors and door courtesy lamps as standard.
 
I see you have compleet the mod.
with saving a wireharness :)
easy job if you know how to hook up ;) in model after 97

greetingz,

Mike
 
As ever, a great post Nick with loadsa pictures to keep the less technically minded (like me :p ) fully informed about the mod. :D

One silly question, I'm assuming the newly fitted courtesy lights fade to black in unison with all the other interior lights as they are controlled by a magical black box?

S.
 
yeah - got them .... + the vanity mirrors....

....although Steve was looking at my car and telling me that he could get lots of other bits to light up too . . . like the lever under the dash that releases the adjustable steering wheel column (assuming you have one of those as standard too !!!) - don't think i'll be attempting that one though !

nice mod though Shude - at least I know how to disconnect them easily now when i want to take my door cards off properly for the next mod ;) ;) ;)
 
Originally posted by Steve_Perry
One silly question, I'm assuming the newly fitted courtesy lights fade to black in unison with all the other interior lights as they are controlled by a magical black box?
Nope, the black box turns them on and off without any grace at all! If you want them to fade you will either have to fit a capacitor to the lamp or try wiring them up to the dome light instead. The way I have described is the OEM way, and TBH you will never see the fade on/off anyway, unlike the pre-facelift lamps they only come on when the specific door is opened. I have yet to see how effective they are at night :)
 
excellent instructions mate, would the above apply to my 98 C250TD sport ? you say the bits cost about a tenner,was that from the dealers ??
 
Originally posted by pepe
excellent instructions mate, would the above apply to my 98 C250TD sport ? you say the bits cost about a tenner,was that from the dealers ??
This will work on your car, the parts are from the stealership parts dept. The wiring looms are about £3 each, pins are pennies and the lamps are about 50p each, bulbs about the same. Not bad for a £50+ option! :)
 
Originally posted by Shude
I have yet to see how effective they are at night :)

They are very effective at night ... great for avoiding tripping up over all the old mercedes parts in my garage (smelly rubber pedals . . . boring black shift surrounds, non-blinking mirrors :eek: :eek: etc etc ;))

S.
 
Originally posted by fuzzer
Rear puddle lights anyone :p
Don't think I haven't been planning it! :)

I think these should do the trick, they are the slightly narrower w124 courtesy lamps. I will try to mount them in the rear speaker covers rather than in the door trim to avoid expensive mistakes :)

124courtesy.jpg
 
Fuzzer:

I forgot to say, is that a pic of a w203 rear door? That is UGLY! :p
 
Its actually a pickie of out T210 rear door.

Its also got ambiance lighting in the front and rear footwells.
 
Originally posted by fuzzer
Its actually a pickie of out T210 rear door.

Its also got ambiance lighting in the front and rear footwells.
Like an xmas tree inside then! I plan to add some more lighting in those factory locations as well :)
 
Originally posted by Shude
Like an xmas tree inside then! I plan to add some more lighting in those factory locations as well :)

Where does the W202 get its ambience lighting from the factory then Nick?
confused.gif


S.
 
nice one shude, excellent pictures and description!

mine came with these and vanity lights as standard too! and mines a SPORT???
 
Originally posted by Steve_Perry
Where does the W202 get its ambience lighting from the factory then Nick?
confused.gif
It doesn't! If you have a w202 then from the factory you're in the dark basically. Factory locations for the w210 are in the front passenger footwells and in the front-seat-backs for the rear passengers. While changing Marks pedals I found the same w124 courtesy lamp right above the pedals, so that's where the R129 SL has them :)

Originally posted by Alps
nice one shude, excellent pictures and description!

mine came with these and vanity lights as standard too! and mines a SPORT???
Well...it's possible that the first owner (if it's not you) asked for them as options, they are just a couple of tick boxes :)

More likely your C36 was floodwired and fitted for all options before leaving Bremen for the Affalterbach AMG factory. I guess they assume when you buy the best model there is in a class you'd like some of the toys, if not all of them :)
 

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