My babysitter got pulled over in my c280 and now I have interior light issues. I'm guessing she hit some sore of interior light button combination while trying to find the registration.

When I engage the security (with the key), the rear interior light comes on and stays on.

If the lights are already on (from having the door open) when the security is engaged , the front fades off, but the rear remains on.

The only way to keep the rear light from coming on is to disable the open-door illumination setting.

Seems like a weird "feature". Any ideas?

 

What year is the c280? It could be just like u said the button combination i get them mixed up some times. Oh by the way what was she/he doing driving your c280 and what did they do wrong?

 

Have you tried turning off the rear light when the door is open, then closing and opening the door and see what happens? Or try turning off the rear light, then turning on or off (opposite of what it is) the lights-on-when-door-open button.

 

I had this problem with my old 1998 C230, I eventually figured it to be a bug in the logic that manages the lights. The sequence to mess things up, if I remember right, was: Sit in car, turn on lamp, exit car, close door. Lamp stays on. Now open door and - with door open - turn off lamp by pressing switch. Lamp stays on because door is open, close door. Lamp stays on. As I recall, from here on out, most combinations of on and off with door open and/or closed, would get the sequence right out of kilter! The solution for my car was to reverse the whole process as closely as possible, which was to get into car, sit down, close door, wait until lights should go out, which they do not 'cos it's hosed. Then turn them off. This time they do. Then exit vehicle, lights turn on, close door, lights turn off - Fixed!

Repeat if it does not work first time.

I cannot remember the sequence clearly now, I should try it with my new car I guess, but it was possible to reset everything this way.

Possibly, like the sun roof which can get confused, and can be reset by holding the up-button for so many seconds - if memory serves - there is a way to reset the lamps too. But hope this might help.

Lawrence

 

Lawrence you just reminded me what I do when my lights go funny. I sit in the car with the door closed. I turn on then off my dome light, then my rear dome light, then my map light. Not only does this check for normal behavior, but in my mind it also resets things. Next I open and shut my door to see what setting it thinks it's on. Then I hit the lights-on-when-door-open button if necessary and check again. May need to repeat. It's worked for me so far.