The light is PI$$ing me off

[C280 JR]

left stop lights not working, but the bulb does not need replacing, the plastic around it is melted, bulb keeps loosing contact, i put it in and it goes out after couple miles..what to do?

ELvir

[jnolte]

same thing happened to my 43. I had to rip out the bulb with plyers cuz the base was melted in. It works fine now though, i just used some glue on the sides, when it burns out i just pull her out get a new bulb and glue it in again. were talkin super glue, just a tad bit so its not permanatly in there..

[C280 JR]

why did it melt in the first place, and why cant it hold in its place and make contact, its not like its loose, and its falling out, its still firm in there

Elvir

[Denlasoul]

do you have the right bulbs in there? if they are wrong, could melt.

[C280 JR]

I think i fixed it, i taught that they way those bulbs work is if they get in contact with the silver plating around them, but when i took the bulb out i noticed a copper pin below the bulb that it has to touch, but the pin was very flat, and it was not making contact, so i stretched it and now its working.....for now, hope that fixed the problem

ELvir

[sph17]

There are 50 watt tail light bulbs that are available, that some people use for their back up lights or in "fog/driving" lams that use these type bulbs. Possibly some one in the past put in an incorrect watage bulb in your rear tail light assembly? This can lead to a melt down problem as noted below.

94-96 W202 use H-4 Bulbs for low/high beam. 97-00 use an H-7 for low beam and a different bulb for both the high beam and the fog light. High wattage off-road ralley (100 watt) bulbs are available online.

The standard H-4 bulb is a 60/55. at 13.5 volts they draw 4.44 amps each on low beam (watts/volts=amps). A 100 watt bulb draws 7.4 amps. Now if your voltage drops (turn lights on before starting car) to 12 volts each lamp draws 8.33 amps. I don't remember how my 96 W-202 (same lights) was fused, but I think each light got it's own fuse (for a total of 4 fuses). Now if you only have a 8 amp fuse for your high beams, you could blow a fuse if your voltage drops, or if you have corrosion on a contact so the resisitance goes up. In addition to that, my impression is that MB is only putting wireing that meats the minimum requirements of the application, so that the wireing to the low and high beams is only as thick as it needs to be to support a 4.44 amp draw of a 60 watt bulb. Thinner wire gets hot when extra current runs through it, increasing resisitance and going into a visious cycle where a fire in your wireing could occur.

If you have 100 watt bulbs, this could be why your plastic connector menlted.

That being said, I ran 60/100 rally bulbs in older W123 without ever having a problem. But my eye-balling of the wireing in the European Headlight units I obtained to put the bulbs in, and the wireing in the wireing harness of the US spec W-123 is much thicker than in the W-202.

I felt comfotable running the 60/100 in the older MB as I felt the wireing supported it. I would not feel comfortable running the same bulbs in the W-202.

BTW, I think the headlight units with the H-4 bulbs is much superior to the "new and improved" lighting on the 97-2000 models. I was more than happy with stock bulbs in my 96. I was not happy with the stock H7 bulbs in my 97, and even with SilverStars I put in, I think the 96 headlights were better.

Good luck.

<sph17>

[sorbo]

i had the sme problem and replaced the plastic part that the bulb pluges into and it is perfect.

[jnolte]

Originally posted by sorbo
i had the sme problem and replaced the plastic part that the bulb pluges into and it is perfect.

how much was that

[C280 JR]

i feel stupid now, its not my left tail light, its my middle light inside the car

Elvir

[jnolte]

Originally posted by C280 JR
i feel stupid now, its not my left tail light, its my middle light inside the car

Elvir

u mean the 3rd brake light????

good one elvir lmao

[C280 JR]

man, i was so pissed off cause when i think about how many times i walked out of the car and into the trunk and took that blub out and back in to try to fix it...its prolly been about 25-30 times

Elvir

[jnolte]

HAHAHHAHAA elvir u got owned by a car...and it has no brain!! hahahhaha lmao

[mr. gatsbury]

I just had the brake light go out. when i went to check it the bulb actually has a hole in the glass from when it went out. the plastic around the bulb is melted. I could break the bulb and use pliars to get it out but i'm not sure if it will go back in right because of the melted plastic. The bulb has been in there since i bought it 2 years ago with no problems. Any suggestion to how this happened and where can i pick up the little plastic piece if i need to replace it??????

[mr. gatsbury]

bump***


I just managed to get the bulb to sit right in the housing. It lights up fine but the icon on the dash is still lit up telling me I have a bulb out? How do I fix???

John

[mr. gatsbury]

bump

[jnolte]

Originally posted by mr. gatsbury
bump***


I just managed to get the bulb to sit right in the housing. It lights up fine but the icon on the dash is still lit up telling me I have a bulb out? How do I fix???

John

you most likely have the wrong wattage of bulb...