In USA you can. Tail light post on Benzworld shows a letter from MB where you claim .

Bazzle

 

Thanks for putting me on to the USA brake light recall. I'm in Sydney Australia, and had the same intermiitent brake light problems (on 2 SLKs). I sent the USA recall information to MB Asia Pacific who replied that no recall was in effect here, nor would there be. The MB service centre wanted AU$500 per tail-light to replace them - talk about highway robbery!
So in the end I fixed them myself for no cost except some time and patience. Follow the link to see how.
http://users.bigpond.net.au/strasser...top_lights.htm
Keep up the good work.
Tony

 

Nicely presented and helpful post.
However I personally found soldering difficult due to surface finish on the conductor rails.

I'm sure this fix will work for a period of time but since the fundamental cause is not addressed the failure will occur again in time.
I'm continuing to "discuss" this matter with MB having also had the "run around".

The question is "What is the difference between USA and ROW on this fault. The bottom line is the litigous nature of customers in USA.
This is a straight forward design/manufacturing fault (acknowledged by MB in the USA) so why not elsewhere....If not deemed a RECALL elsewhere it should at least be deemed "A FIX (FOC) ON FAIL".

Stuart

 

Stuart...You can drastically reduce the chance of the problem reoccurring by putting a dab of di-electric grease on each contact where it touches the contact rail. I had mine replaced, but I'm still planning to apply the grease as I did with the old ones I repaired.

 

Thanks Stuart. The conductor rails are galvanised steel. By filing or sanding the surface you can get a sufficient bond with the solder and copper.
There's no guarantee this will last however and it may lead to some corrosion of the rails, so maybe in a few years I'll have to source a replacement tail-light assembly from Hella. I note they're advertised in the USA for less than $100, not the $500 I was quoted by MB.
This is a strange problem as the nearby tail light, which is the same wattage and on for longer at night, doesn't exhibit the same problems. The only thing I can put that down to is the surface area of the conductor is larger and therefore dissipates heat more efficiently? It's also below the stop light and so maybe convection plays a role too? Who knows? Life is full of little mysteries.
Cheers

 

Hi,
Thanks for tip.
Stuart

 

In Europe brake lights are 21w, tail lights 5w, flashers 21w, fog guard 21w, reverse 21w
The problem occurs on the brakes since these can be on regularly for extended periods with an automatic in traffic.
The fog guard is rarely used but will presumably incur the same problem.
The flashers and reverse lights are little or intermittently used and therefore do not exhibit the problem.
You state that tail (side) lamps are 21w. This is different to my understanding. Possibly a market specific issue but I think not.
Stuart

 

Stuart,
you are perfectly correct. I was looking at the wrong lamp (reversing). The tail lights are 5W as you say, which explains the difference.
My fog guard light was also in terrible condition - lampholder only, not the conductor rail - and so I thought someone had swapped it with the stop light. We never use fog-guards here as there is rarely any fog.
Cheers,

 

The driver's side brake light is out. I pulled the housing off the car and mapped the circuts. The running, turn and back up lights all work okay. The upper lamp, the brake lamp, the socket was stuck in the housing, had overheated at one contact. I reworked the socket, check all of the bulbs and still no brake light. I then put a digital meter on the connector. Pin 1 is the common and pin 4 is the black wire with red strip - no power when I press the brake pedal. Without a schematic or map of connectors and harness routing, I gave up for the day and then found this web site and this series of posts.

OBW, we purchased this car used early this year. We will see what the local MB dealer has to say about the recall and the maybe they will know why there is no power on pin 4. Neesless to say, I will not pay for MB to troubleshoot this problem.


And if someone knows why the right side has one less lamp the the left side. On the left (driver's side), pin 6 goes to a lamp on the lower inner portion of the housing. The same postion on the right side is does not have a lamp assembly! Strange.

Neil

 

Hi,
Sounds like you have more than one problem.

Melted brake bulb holder and housing is the subject of the RECALL on SLK and associated models.

The apparent ommission of a bulb holder on one side is correct. This is used for the Fog light on the opposite side but MB hold the view that the High Intensity Stop light should only be on one side of the car to differentiate this from the brakes in fog. This is a legal requirement in some countries eg Germany so thay make common for all markets.

Third problem of no power to the rear light cluster on one side only. Are you sure about this? The galvanised rails on the cluster become oxidised and it is possible to get a false negative reading from a multimeter. (Black/Red and Black/Green are indeed the brake light circuits.

I believe that the LH and RH sides are independently fused so you need to check out your fuses. Think they are likely on the end of the dash. Don't have my workshop information available at present so can't check.
If there is still no power it is possible that the PSE unit in the RHS boot space below the floor (I assume SLK otherwise it may be located slightly differently) has gone bad.

The PSE is a multi purpose module which controls door locking, security system, bulb monitoring and interior light. I've never actually heard of your symptoms occurring before so suggest it was a false reading. Are ALL these other systems working OK? If NOT then it is definitely the PSE.

Stuart