Retro-fit W124 Head Light Wash Wipe, HLWW

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WDB124066

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
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6,176
Car
1996 E320 Sportline Cabriolet x 2
Is there a guide somewhere that descirbes how this is done for a 1996 car??

Is it a mission or essentially plug and play, does anyone know........
 
I plan to do the same to my 280SE - when I get round to it .

I have the headlamps with washers from the 420 I broke , along with the metal panels with holes in the correct colour , but still need to look at the wiring . If I need anything else I will need to get from one of the 500's in Clydebank .
 
wouldnt see it being that hard?

..or is it?

would have to source the wipers and the motors themselves, the trim piece that sit under the lights.

all nessasary wiring and switches. (ive never got to see how the wash wipe switch operates) anybody know?

then there is the connection feed from the washer bottle resevior to the wash wipe blades to think about.

i wouldnt mind doing this on my car either.
 
Can you not carefully drill your current trim pieces, if you look on the inside it might have a channel where the wiper would sit (It does on the W202 anyways)
 
I reckon you would be better going for a more radical solution and using a modern high pressure directed jet system. The W124 Headlight wash/wipe system was a bit of a clumsy afterthought imho and gave lots of problems with wiper motors often seizing up. IF headlight visibility is an issue then a high pressure system would be more reliable in the long term imho. If total authenticity is required of course you have no choice.:dk:

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Well you could bolt on a washer pump from another car (I dont know which one). You could also fit some washer jets from a range rover sport to the front bumper which would take away the problems with the wiper motors. You would obviously need to measure up where the centre point was for each headlamp and mount it in front. The range rover washer jet has a bolt underneath so would mount to the bumper quite easily. Might take the headache out of sourcing looms etc.
 
The headlamp wash wipe operates when the headlights are turned on and the screen wash is operated, so they must be connected the headlight wiring.

The other thing you'd need is a new screen wash bottle and 2 pumps as the head lamp was uses it's own pump, and therefore the bottle is likely to be a different shpae.

If you buy anything used, make sure to check the right hand wiper motor as it always seems to be the right onw that breaks. I believe the right one also contains the relay that times the motors etc and is therefore much more expensive than the left side motor. for ref, right side has 4 pins, left 3 pins.

Nearly every w140 I see on the roads has a broken right side headlamp motor with the blade in a odd position. The w124s don't seem as bad, but then less of them had the feature to begin with.

I'll try and trace back the wiring on mine and see where it's connected.
 
I reckon you would be better going for a more radical solution and using a modern high pressure directed jet system

I'm with Grober on this one. The original system is awful. Some modern cars have a pop-out washer jet driven by water pressure. It should be possible to mount a system like this in the trim panel under the headlight and use a pump to feed it from the existing reservoir. The reservoirs in most cars have two outlets and one is blanked with a blind grommet if it is not used

Nick Froome
the independent Mercedes Estate specialists
 
Cant see the point to doing this at all. The original system is awful. Have never used the headlight washers on our cars in the 10 years we have had them.
 
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Alright, I confess; it's just because I think they look a little naked without them, so really it is just a cosmetic thing as far as I'm concerned. And even then I wouldn't be thinking about it unless a nice fresh 1996 car made itself available as a organ doner. :):)

Darker cars also wear them better than lighter coloured cars IMHO, the black sets off against the dark blues and tends to match the main wiper - in terms of black things hanging off the car I guess....

I like the idea of being able to pull off the bits I need and put them straight on my car. For this I think most of it will be a bolt on situation, except for the wiring, which as mentioned needs to know the lights are on, and the main wash/wipe has been engaged. It's a pity I don't have access to the donor car; some literature would be much appreciated if available.......
 
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Yeah, I'd like to do something about the wipers on my white estate, think i'd like to take them off, have a feeling it would look better
 
Cant see the point to doing this at all. The original system is awful. Have never used the headlight washers on our cars in the 10 years we have had them.


So you've never operated the screenwash with either the sidelights or headlamps on ( which brings the HWW on automatically ) ? I find that hard to believe .


I like the feature and plan to retrofit to my 280SE , when I get around to it - I already have a spare pair of headlamps complete with wipers and motors , trim panels , water tubing and the reservoir with two pumps ( same reservoir as originally fitted to car , but with an extra pump . As stated earlier , I just need to take the time to look at the wiring ( on my 500 ) and figure out how they are actuated . I still have access to donor cars if need be .

It seems to be the concentric wiper shafts that sieze - I have stripped and relubed a few - sometimes the motor burns out , sometimes not . Happens to both right and left wipers and is completely random . Have had this on W123 , W124 , W201 and W126 ones .

The price of replacement blades for W126 ones is shocking now - I cut down old windscreen rubbers and fit these now .
 
i'm too a fan of these.

you can notice the difference when 1 breaks and the other one still works in the winter.... 1 dirty headlamp that isnt very bright (as its covered with road grime) whilst the other is nice and sparkly clean and bright.

well worth it, shame they are so tempermental!!
 
the trim with the holes predrilled are quite cheap. you can also just mask with 3m painters tape and drill yourself though. just be careful.
 

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