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e300diesel
Date registered: Sep 2013
Location: Palo Alto, California
Vehicle(s): 03 G55AMG, 06 E320CDI; 17 Sprinter Roadtrek
| Flaky Brake Lights and melted housing
Ever since I purchased my truck. I've noticed Ive been going through bulbs kind of fast. Brake lights, most noticeably have been replaced about once a year. When I first replaced it, I noticed the housing was a bit melted around the middle, left tail light...which was an incorrect bulb. Since then, I replaced all of the rear light bulbs from Mercedes. After a recent changing of the brake bulbs, I noticed that the housing around the brake lights are also melting. But this time the warning keeps coming and going on one side.I checked the right bulb socket, which is the main culprit according to the dashboard, for seating and a good ground, so my only suspect is that the heat damaged the wire to the brake light, but still there no noticeable melting of the wire, though the bulb seems to has a mind of its own, looking barely dim then suddenly working full blast again.
So my question to the forum..
1) anyone have melted tail housings?
2) should I replace lighting fixture or wiring or both
3) should I upgrade to canbus iLEDs, to make it cooler
4) is this a SAM related issue?
Any other thoughts.
Thanks
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AlanMcR
Expert
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, CA, Los Altos
Vehicle(s): G300DT E300DT 230SL
Posts: 3500
| RE: Flaky Brake Lights and melted housing
I've had the pre-MBUSA taillight housings melt. The combination of extended use and direct insolation from the rear just gets the housing too hot. I went to LEDs but there were some difficulties discovered along the way. You might want to read that posting in your quest for a solution: http://www.clubgwagen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=5742 |
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e300diesel
Date registered: Sep 2013
Location: Palo Alto, California
Vehicle(s): 03 G55AMG, 06 E320CDI; 17 Sprinter Roadtrek
| RE: Flaky Brake Lights and melted housing
Thanks Alan,
I appreciate the thread...which convinces me more than ever to convert to the LED.
But before I do, I want to make sure there isn't something else going on, like some flaky wiring, or electronic control device malfunction.
The brake light, when installed and brakes applied, will sometimes barely show a current running through it (faintly lit bulb) while I'm holding the connectors to make sure it's a solid connection...this is when I get an error. Later, without doing anything go bright it will work fine and error will go away.
Then later I will go out again, and I'll get a tail light error, same side.
So I open it up and check connections and nothing, then later the tail will start working again, but the brake will stop working (once again it's dimly lit).
This has been ongoing for about a week now.
I thought it might be a bad bulb holder or a poor ground. So before investing in the LEDlights, which use the same bulb holder, I want to ensure there is not something else I am missing.
Any other feedback is appreciated.
Thanks
Vinay
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AlanMcR
Expert
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, CA, Los Altos
Vehicle(s): G300DT E300DT 230SL
Posts: 3500
| RE: Flaky Brake Lights and melted housing
Agreed. I think that your version has a big connector next to the CD changer mount. That connector may be loose. If not, at least you have another place to chase down connectivity issues. Clean and grease any connection that you touch. You'll thank yourself later.
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e300diesel
Date registered: Sep 2013
Location: Palo Alto, California
Vehicle(s): 03 G55AMG, 06 E320CDI; 17 Sprinter Roadtrek
| RE: Flaky Brake Lights and melted housing
Thanks Alan,
I am definitely cleaning and greasing every electrical connection i come across in this car. Will do to the CD changer area next and follow the wiring. Will advise if I uncover anything substantial.
Thanks
Vinay |
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Titus Pullo
Elite Veteran
Date registered: May 2007
Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada
Vehicle(s): '90 Wolf 240GD, '06 G270 CDI.
Posts: 1010
| Re: Flaky Brake Lights and melted housing
<div><br /></div><div>Another thing that comes to my mind: check your charging system. I currently went through faulty voltage regulator. Burned my headlights bulbs. It was charging at 16V at idle. Unfortunately there is no indication for overcharging.</div><div>Edit: I just noticed its about a G55, so disregard the previous. </div><p> </p>
Edited by Titus Pullo 4/10/2015 9:46 PM
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e300diesel
Date registered: Sep 2013
Location: Palo Alto, California
Vehicle(s): 03 G55AMG, 06 E320CDI; 17 Sprinter Roadtrek
| Re: Flaky Brake Lights and melted housing
I wanted to thanks the forum for the ideas and suggestions, this still doesn't seem like a big issue for most, but I wanted to share my findings.
I did clean up all the connections where the brake light wiring terminated in the rear corner under the cd changer and checked continuity on the wires to the bulbs. Everything tested fine.
So I went trolling though other mercedes e-class and s-class forums, who all seem to have similar issues isolated down tothe bulb holder. Which is available as a part according to the many posters. Unfortunately, that's not the case with the w463. So I began to examine the bulb holder.
I don't understand how such a simple design could be so complicated, but I believe it has to do with the CANBUS.
Every time I would try to tighten the connection, by bending the base metal connector, it would work for a while. Then even a fraction of a second of disconnection, like a bump, it would go out and not come back till I tightened the connection again.ii think once canbus detected a failure, it would not reactivate the bulb until it could verify the full current for some time. In the meanwhile it was also causing an occasional failure of the adjacent light bulb, which just confused me further.
I tried to replicate hitting a bump, so I could see what was happening and how it was getting loose, but still couldn't figure it out. But I did notice, however, that the metal bar was not held snug inside the light housing.
After a closer look, I realized the two plastic/rubber mounts holding the metal bar in the light housing, weren't holding very well. So I removed them, and noticed they had an angle to them. So I swapped them, thus reversing the angles...and voila the light fit better. I still wasn't sure that was the issue, but felt better about the fit.
This time, I tightened the bulb, verified it worked and it's staying. Fingers crossed. I also drilled some holes in the plastic fixture to prevent light fixture from overheating. I've been down some bumpy roads, and I think I'm in the clear. My guess is that the loose fitting created too much movement in the brake light that kept causing it to lose connection.
BTW, the replacement light fixture would've cost $268 from the stealer, and an LED without the same flaky holder design, is $249/pair on ebay. That's still my backup plan. There are other tail LED that are cheaper on ebay, which rely on the same bulb holders, but the $249 pair is a solid design from what I can tell in terms of electrical connections directly to the existing wiring. The $249 ones also include LED canbus error cancellors.
I will post some pics to help understand the issue, if anyone else is interested. |
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