Newbie with faulty head lamps

[Dave.]

Hello all .ive introduced myself in the new user section and its my first merc ever !

I have purchased a 2002 E240 advantgarde 2.6 v6 with 214k drives like a new car ! i was shocked ! full service history from wolverhampton merc dealers

well ive posted a pic in the gallery and in the new members section .

Bagged it at £350 ! Family friend it has a couple of rust spots and the main fault is the head lamps not working .

Im good with cars but the merc is totally new to me .

Here goes ,

The car is fitted with xenon lights ,the PO had the problem of the lamps failing ,he didnt notice if they failed at the same time ,he purchased two bulbs from ebay and fitted them and they dont work either .
The o/s old bulb had shattered into the lamp unit ,the n/s old bulb looked to be ok but didnt work and he binned it.

This is where he gave up and sold me the car (which has never let him down from new ! )

I have checked the fitment of the new bulbs he purchased they are fitted correctly and the large twist on plug is fitted fine .

I have checked all fuses under the bonnet in a box on the o/s strut top area (all fine)
I removed the back seat portion to reveal the battery and another fues box and checked those (these all appear fine to the eye and via my multi meter)

As i am unfamiliar with my new car can anyone point me in the direction of maybe a relay ? or more fuses ? spent hours on here and google to no avail

It seems not so many w210 had xenon lamps

i would love some help into what to test and look for next ,the car was well loved and always clean ,no accidents or bumps /knocks .

The lamps simply stopped working ,im thinking the old bulb that was shattered maybe blew a fuse or relay .

Many thanks in advance Dave

 

[Dieselman]

The lamp fuse box is mounted on right hand end of the dashboard, open the drivers door and lever off the cover.

The lighting circuit is very simple, through the switch, out through the fuses and to the lamps/ballasts.

 

[Dave.]

oooo i didnt know that ,im going to look right now i know its dark and raining and really damn cold but im excited , is this a normal when you get your first merc?

Everything is crossed !!!!!!!

 

[Dave.]

Well im back in brrrrrrrr .

All the fueses are ok few 15a and a few 7.5a removed checked for continuity all fine

BUT i tried the lights and got a small flash from both so i re tried them about 15 times and the passengerside came on !

So i turned them off and on really fast for 10 seconds and the drivers came on

Now they are both working !

I dont understand at all

 

[nigel cross]

PFM
lets hope that it was an hr fuse

 

[Dave.]

PFM
lets hope that it was an hr fuse

Hehehe PFM indeed ! :bannana:

Thanks for the fuse location BTW

I owe you a beer ,Or im going to pop £10 in the Help for Hero's Box

 

[Dave.]

Same again this mornibg ......No lights on the xenons just a little flicker ,keep tuning on and off and they finaly work any more suggestions guys .

Well im going to remove a lamp completely from the car and have a poke around

 

[Troon]

With this new info my guess, as they are unknown burners from eBay, is that the ignition modules are rubbish. Sounds like teh problem fluorescent tubes have when the ballast is on the way out - turn them on and off enough and you may get them to strike.

Unfortunately the solution is a new pair of decent bulbs, Philips or Osram. The W211 takes D1S burners, which are about £50 each — I don't know what type your car will take.

The only other possibility is corrosion on a switch or relay contact, but I'd expect that to improve with use.

 

[brucemillar]

You may have a duff switch or contact. Suggest that you try your meter on the switch and work you way forward through all the connectors you can find on the light circuit. Sounds like they want to work but are getting a poor contact at the switch.

 

[andy27168]

Hi,
Have to agree with Troon on this, I had a similar issue with my C43 Xenon bulb when it failled, if you flicked the light switch OFF/ON the bulb would ignite, it quickly failled completely and I as you replaced both bulbs with ones off of E-bay, though mine have been perfectly ok.
Wonder if the bulb connectors are on correctly, as it does seem strange that both of the E-bay bulbs should not work properly.

 

[jaymanek]

I take it you have ruled out the xenon ballasts

 

[Dave.]

Thanks for the replies ,i havent ruled much out at all ,i tried to remove the bumper this afternoon but ran out of light so ill resume tomorrow ,ill get the ballasts off the underside of the lamps and check all the components ,my friend can test and repair the ballast units if i remove them ,i dont even know if the bulbs are correct as i havent got the old ones to compare .

What i found odd is i have driven the car tonight with the lamps working perfectly but when switched on from cold its random which lamp lights up first tonight was after ten on/off retries and the drivers side came on first a few more on/offs and they both are on once on and warm they both come on first go every time .

Ill buy a pair of bulbs just for piece of mind as you suggested

Thanks again for the help so far

 

[funb0b]

Had a similar experience with a conversion kit I bought off eBay for an another car, my money would be on the ballast's.

 

[elite_504]

Hi Welcome aboard, sounds like the ballast to me.
Tricky to help on an "unknown" set. It'd be really good if you could find someone with the same working set, and try swapping the ballasts around to see if this will pinpoint the problem.