W210 Full beam not working

[bassbluestew]

Hi all,

I'm a newbie so be gentle !!

I have just purchased my first MB.......its a 1998 E300 TD ( W210 - only 82k miles and a full MB service history too ) and I'm rather pleased with it.

Driving home from the garage in the dark, I noticed the full beam switch was dodgy, sometime I'd push it forward and nothing happened, sometimes it worked ok, the flash option worked fine. Over the next few days this got worse, as did the flash, and now a week later neither of them work.

As it's a 10 year old car I though I'd spray some contact cleaner into the switch, but as you all know, that's not possible as there's just no gap to spray into !!

Is it a big deal to get into this switch to check it out ?? I am reasonably handy so will happily give this a go myself, I assume I'll need to take the steering wheel off ??

Any help most gratefully received,
great forum btw, I spend hours here just browsing,
Stewart

 

[Ellsy Tanners]

Hi stewart,

Not to difficult to do.

1. Remove the airbag ( igntion off and dont but back on until airbag is reconected as light will be put on. 2x 30torx i belive

2. remove the steering wheel, 1x 10mm allen key bolt

3.then you will be able to unscrew and remove the combination switch and try to clean it or replace it

i hope this helps

 

[bassbluestew]

Steering wheel

First off, thanks to our great mods for moving this to a place where it will more likely be seen, newbie mistake, thanks guys !!!

Secondly Ellsy, thanks for the info, is the front cover ( the middle section I suppose ) held on by the two torx screws at the back, I'm finding it really tricky to access those, any tips ?

Thanks again all,
Stewart

 

[hmang]

a long thin torx bit or you might be able to crach them with a 4mm allen key...i did on my 202 .

obviously torx bit is the preferred option

 

[star]

Hi stewart,

Not to difficult to do.

1. Remove the airbag ( igntion off and dont but back on until airbag is reconected as light will be put on. 2x 30torx i belive

2. remove the steering wheel, 1x 10mm allen key bolt

3.then you will be able to unscrew and remove the combination switch and try to clean it or replace it

i hope this helps

After steering wheel removal, you have to take the clock spring out,( wiring coil for steering wheel) . be careful when doing this as it falls apart easily. held in with 2 phillip screws. you need to remove as a unit and not allow it to serparate.

 

[television]

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...GA=722.608&CT=F&cat=45Q&SID=46&SGR=105&SGN=05

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...GA=722.608&CT=F&cat=45Q&SID=54&SGR=640&SGN=15

 

[bassbluestew]

mmmmmmmm

Thanks guys for all this great info, guess what I'll be up to next weekend. I also want to get my hands on a Mercedes replacement cd / radio for the shoddy aftermarket unit currently in my dash, so if anyone knows anyone with one for sale, I'd be grateful

Malcolm, I wish I spoke Russian, that website look full of interesting stuff but my Cyrillic is rusty.

S

 

[bassbluestew]

thanks

Thanks guys, got the problem sorted and thanks to your advice was able to install a new switch myself, with a wee bit of help from a friendly local garage.

Unfortunately I have done something to the drivers air bag which I'll post about separately.

thanks again
Stewart

 

[lewis_webb]

Hi, I have got exactly the same problem, I bought a brand new stalk from MB and fitted it yesterday but still no better. Does anybody have any other ideas what it could be?

Thanks

 

[colechelle]

Lewis, other fault which you are talking about can be the rotor light switch, that rotor switch unit is also the fuse board for the whole light circuit, have change a few now the the fault you are having!!!