Bulb Warning light

[MCB]

The bulb warning light came on in my 1997 W202 Elegance on Saturday. I have checked all of the main bulbs i.e head lamp, side lights, all indicators, stop and tail etc, seem to be working ok (including the number plate lights).

I have one of the heater control back lights which has gone but this hs been like this for some time and the warning light has not come on before apart from very briefly when I got the car in October but went out after a couple of days and has not reappeared until now. Car has 118,000 miles with mostly MB service history. Is it a glitch? or a sign of impending problems. All other electrics appear to be ok.

 

[cheshirecat]

Have you also checked the rear and front fog lamps?

 

[jberks]

The bulbs may 'appear' ok but ...
I had an intermittent warning light when I pressed the brake on my last E. Checked and all ok, changed the bulbs anyway and it still kept coming on 1/2 the time. Then when mucking with the light on, about I noticed that for a moment, the bulb was much brighter. So investigating further, I cleaned and retensioned the contacts on one side and was amazed how much brighter that side suddenly became when compared to the other. So, did the same on the other side, had much brighter tail lights and never heard from the warning light again.
They deteriorate over time and you don't notice - but the warning system does!

 

[BarryG]

The bulbs may 'appear' ok but ...
I had an intermittent warning light when I pressed the brake on my last E. Checked and all ok, changed the bulbs anyway and it still kept coming on 1/2 the time. Then when mucking with the light on, about I noticed that for a moment, the bulb was much brighter. So investigating further, I cleaned and retensioned the contacts on one side and was amazed how much brighter that side suddenly became when compared to the other. So, did the same on the other side, had much brighter tail lights and never heard from the warning light again.
They deteriorate over time and you don't notice - but the warning system does!

As jberks says even if the bulb looks lit the contact can sometimes not be enough for the system to recognise a working bulb. I had a similar problem ( mentioned in another thread ) where one of my sidelights was illuminated but wasnt seated tightly in the holder.


Barry

 

[MCB]

Thanks for the replys, true to Murphys law the warning light has gone out tonight! I'll keep any eye on it!

 

[television]

Thanks for the replys, true to Murphys law the warning light has gone out tonight! I'll keep any eye on it!

With a fauly brake lamp this will only come up on the display,after the brake pedal has been pressed.

Malcolm

 

[BarryG]

Thanks for the replys, true to Murphys law the warning light has gone out tonight! I'll keep any eye on it!

If I was you, tomorrow I would go round the car and manually check all the bulbs are well seated. Only take a couple of minutes and may be worth it

Barry

 

[ishyz]

warning lamp exterior.

I have the same problem, my exterior warning light stays on when the engine is running. All the bulbs are working and i have had a go at cleaning adjusting contacts on the bulbs, but no luck. I noticed the rear bulb holders are of a crap design which hold the bulbs crapply.