S212 2011 Zenon Adaptive Main Beam Assist Inoperable

[inHen]

I recently had my left dipped beam fail and traced the fault to the ballast, that had apparently been sat in a scrap yard by the look of it and had filled with water. The failed ballast had worked perfectly up until the failure, assuming that it also controls the movement of the main beam lens(?)


I replaced the ballast with a brand new unit from Zenons4U with the identical 5DC 009 060-02 part number and the HID illuminated immediately. However, the Adaptive Main Beam Assist is inoperable without the usual warning message in the speedo and when in 'AUTO' lighting mode the 'AUTO' symbol does not appear below the speedo when the dipped beams are on. I can't tell if the long distance function is operable on the motorway as traffic has been too heavy to test. The cornering function works with the steering and the separate cornering lights illuminate as they should. When the Lights come on the left lamp adjusts considerably more than the right before it finds it's position.

Last night I kept getting flashed by other road users and discovered that the left high-beam was activated when on dipped beam and the deactivated when on high beam where the right lamp functioned correctly. I had to turn off the engine and lock and unlock the car three times before this problem was remedied.

I'm wondering whether there is process that I have missed when installing the new ballast to allow the CANBUS to properly recognise the new item due to it having a different serial number to the old?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[bob 6600]

You need to get it coded as it is a control unit.

 

[star]

Plus find where the water is getting in, otherwise you wasting time and money as it's likely to fail again for the same reason.

 

[inHen]

@bob 6600;- Coded by MB dealership I'm guessing? So the CANBUS recognises it? Or coded to set the parameters of the encoded stepper motors(?) controlling the motion of the lenses?

@star:- There was no sign of any water ingress in the light cluster itself, it was clean as a whistle and the red rubber gasket sealing the unit under the cluster appeared to be in good condition so I assume the water got in before it was fitted and degraded the insulation on the pcb. There is evidence of crash repair all over the place;- the 2015 interior and wheels, the 250 rear bumper and AMG LED rear lights and Avantgarde front bumper. Not to mention the condition of the unit, you can see in the photo how corroded the case is whereas everything else under the bonnet is squeaky clean and it was missing several retaining screws.

 

[star]

An indie with a star can code it (needs bar code scanner as well). Take out headlamp and inspect, seen loads of these cracked after small taps, or it's a few hundred£ gamble.

 

[inHen]

@star;- Can I assume that an 'indie' is an independent MB specialist with STARcom diagnostic software to code the ECU/CANBUS to recognise the new serial number of the unit as part of the car or, as I suggested, set parameters for the lens position?

I have fully inspected the headlight and it appears to be in slightly poorer condition than the right one but still completely clean inside with no stains from previous water ingress and the 13pin connector to the ballast appears as-new. Having said that, I will seal the ballast when I come to install it in its correct position, I've cut a small hole at the edge of the large access panel in the engine bay and the new unit is currently cable tied to an adjacent hose outside of the light cluster. I've been checking it regularly since installation and the position appears suitably dry for now.

 

[Craiglxviii]

InHen- yes. Your closest Indy is Welwyn Merx in, surprisingly, Welwyn. Very good indeed. Have been using them for two years and have no complaints.

NB I cannot at all recommend Millenium Merc in Bedford, they wanted an extortionate amount for work that I later had done by W-M. Couldn't get my car out of there fast enough.

 

[star]

Correct, but not all indies have the full oe kit. The water must of got in somehow?

 

[inHen]

@star;- I'm guessing, due to the condition of the unit that it had sat in a crash damaged car for some time with the 13pin socket open to the elements at a scrappy, for example.

Would a hard reset of the ECU help? I know on older models you can disconnect the battery for 30 seconds and go through a DIY restart procedure. Is this possible on the S212? Perhaps the ECU would re-learn all of the components after restart? I'm guessing the Brabus chip would have to removed beforehand?

 

[star]

I think you should visit a star equipped garage, it will not fix itself by disconnecting anything. Brabus chip is on engine and nothing to do with headlamps so won't affect headlamp programming.

 

[bob 6600]

The reason I know it needs coding is because a friend had the exact same issue. The wash bottle above it leaked onto the control unit

 

[inHen]

Well I am no further forward. I took the car to my local independent and explained the situation and they plugged in their Star software and couldn’t identify an issue!

I explained that the headlights behaved as a car fitted with smart lighting and active main beam assist should up until the dipped beam error warning. I explained that I had changed the hid ballast for a unit with the same part number. Also that the car appeared to have been in an accident as it’s a ‘61 plate with 2015 interior, 2015 led tail lights and wheels and an Avantgarde front bumper and 250 rear and suggested that perhaps the headlights were replaced too. They said that earlier models had separate ballast and control modules in each light cluster and they couldn’t see the secondary control module in mine so the headlights should be plug and play ie self calibrating, no coding or updating required!

The diagnostic software didn’t suggest an issue with the equipment behind the windscreen or with the headlight clusters but did show the historic codes produced by the original failure of the ballast. They didn’t charge me for the time.

Since then I had an issue whereby both headlights started to randomly recalibrate/track left and right each time I made a small correction to the steering while I was on the motorway. I pulled into a services and restarted the car and haven’t had it happen again. I couldn’t see anything on the windscreen that would have impaired the camera (?) and no warning message in the speedo.

The plot thickens!

 

[ajlsl600]

can this not be reverted back to the simple tried and tested.i must be getting to old , headlight switch, main, dip, driving lights and fogs with which i am happy enough , seems like a large and probrably expensive headache. forgive me and explain the advantage of this, if it worked and why one would want all this hassle.

 

[CowleyStJames]

bob6600 is bang on. I've had a replacement ballast in my 2011 E250 estate and main dealer charged me for calibration services via Star

 

[ajlsl600]

glad a solution seems near. a small classic car ,MG tf or the like, is starting to seem like a good choice.

 

[Craiglxviii]

can this not be reverted back to the simple tried and tested.i must be getting to old , headlight switch, main, dip, driving lights and fogs with which i am happy enough , seems like a large and probrably expensive headache. forgive me and explain the advantage of this, if it worked and why one would want all this hassle.

Because regulations require cars with headlamps of 2000lm or more to fit a levelling device to prevent excess dazzle when the car is in a heavily loaded condition e.g. full boot. This device can be manual adjustment (twiddly knob) or automatic.

 

[ajlsl600]

ok thanks for education, twiddly knob seems the simplist idea.no ? and yr saying that my w208 likely has less than 2000lm then ,i am happy enough with them .

 

[Craiglxviii]

ok thanks for education, twiddly knob seems the simplist idea.no ? and yr saying that my w208 likely has less than 2000lm then ,i am happy enough with them .

Depends on what lamps the car was homologated with. For halogens they don’t require levelling (usually 1500lm/ lamp). Auto levelling and manual twiddly knob are around cost neutral nowadays as a system and of equal complexity.

 

[ajlsl600]

got you. i have developed a dislike for just about everything thats controlled by silicon and or little black,silver boxes. HOW complicated does a set of HEADLIGHTS need to be?? i subscribing to classic car, pre 1980. hope that rules out that as an issue...... i dont want to have had to go to school with hawkins to have a chance of motoring enjoyment sans electronics

 

[star]

There's no changeable "bulbs" in most LED headlamps, so new headlamp required if part of it fails, £800 a pop.