Light sensor but not rain sensor? 2007 S203 Avantgarde SE Sport

[BTB 500]

Our 2007 C230 S203 Avantgarde SE Sport has auto lights (which work fine), but in the first position the wipers give a fixed interval intermittent wipe rather than being rain-sensing. From the outside there appear to be two sensors at the top of the windscreen.

Does anybody know what the standard spec. would have been, and/or whether it was possible to specify auto lights as an option without auto wipers (I know that on our Vito rain sensor plus light sensor was a single option code)?

I'm having a couple of small things looked at under warranty and I've been told that the wipers are fine ... the car doesn't have a rain-sensor. What do you think?

I've got no problem if that's really the case, but if it's meant to have auto wipers then I'd like them to work!

Many thanks in advance

 

[whitenemesis]

Combined rain and light sensor looks like this

I'm guessing yours is just the two (one large, one small) lenses as seen in the centre? If so that's the light sensor for auto headlamps

 

[BTB 500]

Many thanks for the quick response. It does only have the two lenses (but then so does our Vito, which is the same year and has both auto lights and auto wipers!). My SL has auto wipers but not auto lights!

So was anything standard on my S203, or were they both options:

1. Light sensor
2. Light and rain sensor

??

 

[Rory]

Mine has auto lights only (which I don't use).

Auto wipers were a £90 option - which the MB Manager who had the car before me didn't think to add (despite adding lots of other stuff). The £30 ISOFIX mounts would have been even more useful now we have a granddaughter!

Perhaps others can comment, but I've not been that bothered. The only car I've had with auto-wipers where they worked seamlessly was a Peugeot 406. My wife's Honda Jazz has them, and it even has a sensitivity setting on the stalk, but they still never seem just right. And they often wipe the screen on start-up, which is really annoying and probably not a good idea if the blades are frozen to the screen!

 

[whitenemesis]

As there is no way to adjust the time interval on the standard offering I just had to retrofit the rain sensor on my C270. Worked very well, as it does on the CLS.

One should always switch the wiper to OFF when not required. This stops the single wipe on IGN on..

 

[clk208]

And they often wipe the screen on start-up, which is really annoying and probably not a good idea if the blades are frozen to the screen!

This happened during the winter on my CLS and resulted in the passenger side mechanism damaging itself as the wipers were frozen solid with ice! Now leave the stalk mostly in position 0 and just enable rain sensing when it starts raining. When the screen isn't covered in ice actually works really well - wipers go at an optimal speed for the rain.

Back on topic - my dad had a brand new W203 in around 2003 and that had auto headlights but not wipers.

 

[BTB 500]

Thanks guys.

The auto wipers on the SL do one sweep if you turn the ignition on with them inadvertently switched on, but the ones on the Vito don't. Both generally work well apart from that.

If the S203 is only meant to have auto lights that's fine though. Just if it had (malfunctioning) auto wipers I'd have got them fixed while it was in the dealer anyway.

 

[BTB 500]

Mine has auto lights only (which I don't use).

Auto wipers were a £90 option - which the MB Manager who had the car before me didn't think to add (despite adding lots of other stuff). The £30 ISOFIX mounts would have been even more useful now we have a granddaughter!

ISOFIX was standard on the centre row seats of our Vito!

My SL was an M-B manager's car originally - he specced adaptive damping (£3,600), but not heated seats (£360)