I'm having a little bit of a problem with the left headlight on my 1992 190E. I noticed that it was a little dim, so I took it out and looked at it. When I put it back in it was back to the normal brightness. After about a week it went dim again. So I figured it must be something with the contacts. I sprayed some contact cleaner on the prongs of the bulb. It worked fine for about two months, but now it's dim again. Does anyone know how I can fix this problem? Thanks.

I would suggest investing in the Euros and getting rid of dim lights all together.
try www.importvision.com
they're selling the DEPO brand for the 190E for $200. listed for $250 but if you mention this forum you'll get it $50 cheaper.
that's just a suggestion though. I'll let the pros answer your question regarding the dim light on the existing assembly.
good luck.

__________________
Whether you think you can or cannot, Either way you're right!. by Henry Ford.

Consider a bad bulb or a bad fuse as well as the wiring and connectors. I'd be suspicious of the bulb if moving things areound helped for a while.

Contact cleaner doesn't really do the trick for corroded connectors. If it's too bad, you'll have to replace them.

__________________
Cheers, Neil

Sounds like you have a ground problem. I'm not sure of the exact location but there should be a ground wire connected to the body close to the headlight area. Remove bolt and clean all connectors and reconnect.

__________________
Mercedes Benz Master Tech - Retired

Would you say that the Euros are a big improvement over the stock headlights? Also, how hard is it to install Euros if I would decide to go with them?

mercedes guy,
I opted for the Euros only after reading great feedback about them in this forum ! the info I gave you was from this forum as well. They're well worth the 200 investment. 200% improvement in light if not more. as for the process, the only time u're looking forward to is removing the three bolts that holds the headlight assembly together on both sides, and swapping the connectors. Not more than an hour if you take your sweet time and do your research here on the DEPO Euro. Ashman and others have some great indepth material on it.
best of luck.

__________________
Whether you think you can or cannot, Either way you're right!. by Henry Ford.

I don't know if your car can use sealed units, but they're MUCH cheaper (i.e. under $40 at your local parts dealer). The sylvania silverstars are very bright.

Been there, done that...

Assuming your model uses the 9004 bulbs, odds are the connectors are shot. These things melt over time even with normal wattage bulbs, and very quickly with high-watt bulbs.

Totally underbuilt and very 'unMercedeslike".

You can buy replacement 9004 connectors at Autozone and splice them on.
They are much beefier than the originals.
Only one was really bad, but both headlights got brighter due to less voltage drop.

Euros are much better, but this fix is under $10...

__________________
1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.

Hey there CSNOW, can see you've posted one of your usuall on point responses.

Both my headlights are un-happy and I am confident it's the connectors, jiggle stuff around and they work again, next not working again.

Is the part actually called a "9004 Connector", is that the term I use when purchasing at the parts store?

I've delayed on this one as long as I can.

Funny, you mention melt, I can actually see, upon bulb removal, what you are talking about, the connector looks as though it's gotten hot and literally melted.

Thanks in advance,
Joel

An older post. Glad it helped.

That's right. 9004 connectors.
Stock item. Under $5 each.

Solder and heat shrink for best results.

__________________
1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.