W124 Replacing bulbs in heater and ventilation controls

[Bert Lad]

I have got to replace some bulbs behind the heating and vent controls on my W124 - E220 . Has anyone done this and if so I would welcome suggestion on best way to gain access and change the bulbs .It is a bit cosmetic really but annoying when driving at night.

Thanks
Bert

 

[Spike]

Look inside the vents and on each side at the bottom you will see some little clips.

Lift them *very* gently with a small flatbladed screwdriver and pull the vent out which will allow you to change the bulb.

You will probably pull at least one clip off its mounting as they are brittle, so be sure you have a little bit of superglue ready to fix the clip back after

 

[Bert Lad]

Many thanks - will give it a try

Bert

 

[Geoff_Slade]

Replacing bulbs in heating and ventilation controls

Not sure which bulbs you mean. If it's the bulbs in the air vents then Spike is absolutely right with one minor amendment (gosh Spike I never thought I'd be able to add anything to your advice it's always been my bible) Anyway there are clips at the top as well one on each side of the vent so (including the bottom ones) four in all. They're a bit tricky to see at first they are hidden inside the vent behind the grille and are black in colour. I guarantee you'll break at least one clip but they still fit back OK even with one broken. The driver's side is a lot harder to get out than the passenger one because there is nothing really to get hold of whereas with the passenger side if you drop down the glovebox lid it's quite easy to pull out as you release the clips (useful to have six hands at this point!). Oh and PS the vent is one complete unit the grille is not separate it all comes out in one piece and the clips are part of it (initially I thought the clips held the grill on and that this then separated from the main body of the vent(what a plonker!).

But I'm not sure if you mean those bulbs or the ones on the main circular controls. If it's those that you mean then:

Pull off the knobs by covering them with a cloth and then gripping them with pliers and pulling. Underneath each knob is a nut (21mm me thinks but could be bigger, haven't changed one recently) . Unscrew these nuts. Just above the radio at the bottom of the facia (in the overhang) are two Phillips screws. Undo them and the wooden facia just pulls off to reveal the bulb holders (just pull it down and out). There are four bulbs in total; one in a bulb holder for each knob (these bulbs just pull out)and one in a circular glass housing which sits under each rotary dial. Carefully release this glass housing and the bulbs sit in holders behind this. They are 12v 0.4 watt mini wedge bulbs. In the good old Haynes tradition refitting is the reverse of the above :? I hope this makes sense