I recently purchased a 1999 silver C280 in excellent condition until a raccoon went nuts in my garage, but I'll leave that story until another time. The car came with only a little booklet describing the console buttons etc. Is there a manual that went with this car that has more useful info or do I need to get something else. For example, the right rear brake light has gone out, as indicated by the dashboard light, but I have no idea what bulb to use or how to change it. Can you recommend somewhere to get the manual or other documentation. I have had bad luck with the CDs available on E-Bay. I purchased a 2 CD set for my older car, a 1985 300D that my son is now driving. I could never get the CDs to work on my computer.

I am a first time poster and appreciate any advice. I will include a picture of the car in future. Cheers.

 

Yes, there is a owners manual, which outlines most of the functions of the car. Your local Mercedes dealer can get you one. Or go to www.books4cars.com. They carry OEM and reproduction owner's manuals. There are no bulb munber in the the owners manual, only wattages, go to Pep Boys, Auto zone and they have charts to tell you the correct bulb. Also if you have good eyes take out the old one and the bulb number is on it. The stop lights are the top bulb, you open the carpet cover turn a plastic latch on the bulb holder and carefully pull it back Turn the bulb counter clock wise and it come out. To reinstall get some bulb grease, and insert the bulb giving it a very easy push and turn clockwise until it is secure. According to what speed the Cds are ripped out "new" CD" are ripped at 20x or 22X, older CD players won't play that high a oversampling speed. How old is your computer? If it is over 5 years old, you have the same situation, you can buy and CD-ROM at Best Buys or any discount computer store that will play up to 52x speed. But you have to know wha OS system and version, RAM and how big your hard drive is. if you are running over a GB on the hard drive I would get a CD ROM/DVD, you can watch movies play CD's and burn them also. I use Nero OEM for burning. go to www.nero.com.

 

or, you could just remove the bad bulb and take it to local auto shop and buy a replacement.

 

Thanks for the quick replies. Wizard, my computer is not quite 2 years old and I build them myself with the latest stuff, CD burner, DVD burner etc so I don't think it's the age of the drive. If I remember correctly, it was last year sometime that I purchased and tried, the installation had a problem with Windows XP professional or vice versa. This past weekend I went looking for the discs to try again and so far have only found one of the two. If I could get it working then I would be more comfortable about getting a set for the C280. I'll the website you referenced. Thanks again, this forum is a great help. I've been reading quite a bit of it. Ill have to get my son to get on and look at the 300D stuff

 

Hey Wizard,

Have you actually purchased one of the manuals on this site? If so, which one? Looking at the list, I really don't see one for our cars ('99 C280)

There is this one: 94-00 202 Electrical Troubleshooting Manual for C-Class such as C280, C220 and others by Mercedes (94_202_ETM) but this seems too specialized

Or this: Mercedes C-Class C280 C230 W202 W203 compilation of articles compiled into 168 page book form by Unique (97_31593A) but what does a "compilation of articles" mean? Is it a repair manaul?

Or this: 93-00 C-Class Service & Repair Manual for Mercedes by Haynes in hardcover edition covering C180-250 normally aspirated 4 cyl. gas and all Diesel & Turbo Diesel models. incl C220 (97_3511) but if I read this righ it's for 4 cyc. ONLY