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R171 Tail lamp removal procedure

68K views 63 replies 28 participants last post by  WarwickThumbNT  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thanks to Durkatlon for showing and explaining the procedure as we met this morning to remove ponia003's tail lamp assembly and install the AMG tail lamp (with the central horizontal smoked area).

Credit goes to Durk for explaining and demonstrating the procedure, and to Dan for the demonstrator vehicle.




The procedure has been described and illustrated in the following posts:

1. Link to John's (UK-C200) post: http://www.slkworld.com/slk-r171-general-discussion/10397-tail-light-removal.html

2. Link to Zeiser50's post on removing the center panel in the boot/trunk: http://www.slkworld.com/slk-r171-general-discussion/3611-remove-paneling-rear-center-section.html

What follows is mainly a supplement to the above 2 posts, and perhaps the accompanying photos will make the procedure clear. This is by no means comprehensive and does not replace what a skilled and trained authorized technician may provide.

The procedure in outline form
Tools:

Small flat head screwdriver (more like jeweler's flat head screwdriver)
8mm socket and corresponding ratcheting wrench
T-15 Torx head screwdriver
wedge tool (optional)



1. The first procedure is to remove the center inside/inner smooth lining/panel inside the trunk/boot space and is broken down as follows:

a. Remove 8 (4 on each side) RECTANGULAR 2-piece expansion-type fasteners located at the upper portion of the panel

b. Remove 5 (2 on each side, one in center just below trunk latch anchor point) ROUND 2-piece expansion-type fasteners located at the lower portion of the panel

c. Remove 2 torx screws at each lower corner. These are covered (round). The covers are hinged open by using small flat-head screwdriver revealing the underlying torx screw.

d. Remove 2 rubber bumpers. Loosen the single screw that holds the second generation digital satellite radio receiver and pivot downward (older models: first generation satellite receiver may need to be removed using a different method)

e. Loosen the rear of the rectangular "horse-hair" borders that "protect" the complex hinges of the trunk/boot lid. These are part of the furry inner lining at the sides of the trunk/boot space. Loosen also the panels that one opens to gain access to the rear of the tail lamp assembly, e.g., when changing out the turn signal lamp.

f. Remove the center panel by pulling the panel's RIGHT outer edge inward and upward to release one side from the compression fitting at the lower corner (I labeled them "legs"), a wedge tool may be handy but not really necessary.

g. Once the right side is free, it will be easier to loosen and free the LEFT side but be careful as the wire connections to the trunk light (caution: hot lamp) and to the trunk lid separator mini-switch are still attached. Disconnect these once they are visible and accessible.

h. Center panel should now be completely free.


2. Remove the four 8mm nuts that fasten the tail lamp assembly to the body panel. As John stated, 3 are easily visible and the fourth is behind the furry panel but easily felt. Take great care in removing the nuts. Loosen first with the ratcheting wrench, then use fingers to loosen and remove completely. DO NOT drop these or they will fall into the deep recess of the rear body panel, never to be seen again. The tail lamp assembly can now be worked loose. Disconnect the wire harness that clips to the tail lamp assembly.

Post #3 (no post title)

Location of expansion-type fasteners, torx screw and rubber stopper/bumper:

yellow arrows point to the RECTANGULAR 2-piece expansion-type fasteners
red arrows point to the ROUND 2 piece expansion-type fasteners (including the center one)
blue arrow points to the rubber bumper
white arrow point to the torx screw position

The coloured arrows point to those at the right side of vehicle, there is a corresponding left side.

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Post #4 (Removing RECTANGULAR 2-piece expansion-type fasteners)

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What the RECTANGULAR 2-piece expansion-type fasteners look like:

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Post #5 (Removing ROUND 2-piece expansion-type fasteners, and torx screws)

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Post #6 (Removing the rubber bumper)

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What the rubber stopper/bumper looks like after removal, notice the arrow-shaped lower end (be careful not to tear or damage these during removal)

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Post #7 ("horse-hair" border loosening procedure)

"horse-hair" border at the trunk/boot lid hinge mechanism

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What it looks like when all loosened (note photo shows the center panel already removed)

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Post #9 (Removing the center panel)

Remove center panel from the right side first, then left. One must loosen the compression fitting or leg that is at the lower corner by pulling upward and inward or use a wedge tool to loosen.

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Close up of the "leg" or compression fitting

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Post #10 (Remove connection to trunk lid separator limit switch and trunk light, remove 4 nuts)

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8mm nuts

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What it looks like after removing tail lamp assembly. Notice the four holes through which the tail-lamp is fastened to the body.

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Hope the above is helpful and clarifies the procedure better.
Assembly or replacement is of course the reverse procedure.
 
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#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
[Edit]
Tip from Oregon Bob for removing harness to rear lights.
(Apology to @AZ SLK for using your post, but it will not add to post 1. Myk)

Awesome and great timing as I should be getting my conversion DIY for LED brightness and turn signal mod from Durk early this week and have emailed the seller of LED tail lights and hope to hear back shortly.

Thank you for the additional pictures and narrative along with the the original posts.
 
#4 ·
Great write up Eddy. I had a good time learning about the car with you guys.
 
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#7 ·
Is there anyway to include the part numbers to the photos? Just for extra clarification? It's just a suggestion.
 
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#9 ·
Broken Tail Light

This looks like a great post and could be helpful for me. I went to lunch the other day and noticed on arrival that my right side tail light was broken. I have no idea how this happened. I am guessing some nice person in a parking lot "kissed" the corner of my car and then left. Replacing the assembly looks like a pain, but should be easy enough.

I have another question though, which might make me take my car to the shop. I have noticed that the plastic roof/lid protective separator no longer comes down and cleanly engages where it should.

I also noticed that whoever hit my car, pushed the light back into the body a bit - maybe no more than 1/8" to 3/16". I do not see any body panel damage. Just damage to the light assembly. Light bulbs are still intact and work fine. I am wondering if the rear has been twisted a bit? Does this sound like a possibility?

I'll be searching the forum more for replacement tail light part numbers. I am sure there are replacement recommendations.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.
 
#10 ·
As you can tell from the picture of the SLK included in this DIY which shows the tail light removed, there is really no way for a tail light to be pushed into the body without the body panel warping. Since you mention that roof separator does not want to engage anymore, that lends additional credence to the idea that the body panel is slightly deformed in that area.

It sounds like a trip to a bodyshop is in order. If you want to save money on the replacement tail light, you can actually get the original manufacturer version from Amazon.

Here's the right tail lamp housing (CLICKY! CLICKY!) (non-AMG).
 
#11 ·
Thanks Durk! Your post seems to confirm my suspicions. I guess my girl hasn't been to her favorite body shop in a while. Just not the time of year I wanted to have to do this.

When I called the Benz dealer they wanted my VIN to ensure the correct part. Did these lights change during the 2005 model year?
 
#12 ·
When I called the Benz dealer they wanted my VIN to ensure the correct part. Did these lights change during the 2005 model year?
No, but there are 2 versions of the light, one for AMGs and one for everyone else. The difference being that the center section (which has the backup lights) is smoked on the AMG version and clear on the other one (the clear version being the one I linked from Amazon in my earlier reply).

I remember that the dealership wanted $450 for a single AMG tail, which I subsequently picked up from Amazon for $300. So there's definitely some savings to be had.
 
#13 ·
Moderators, is this thread worthy of a Sticky in the DIY R171 section?
 
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#18 ·
Hi Eddy/Durk,

Yesterday I found one of my brake tail lights not working. Could one of you confirm the product below is suitable and reliable as replacement?

9 LED P21/5W 380 BAY15D 1157 STOP REAR BRAKE TAIL LIGHT BULBS SUPER WHITE | eBay

Thanks!
Fred
I don't think those will work. The tail lights on the R171 use a bajonet fitting where the two bajonet prongs are at a less-than-180-degree angle (PY21W a.k.a #7507) and only the "+" pin is sticking out the bottom (with the "-" being the body of the bulb housing). The bulbs you linked use a 180-degree bajonet and have both a "+" and "-" pin on the bottom.

Additionally, after installing LED bulbs you need burn off the excess current through a parallel resistor. If the bulbs do not have this resistor built-in, the car will throw up a "bulb out" warning on the dash and turn the bulb off. You can remedy this by installing a resistor yourself, but this involves wire splicing etc, which you may or may not be ready to pursue.

The eBay ad you linked says the bulbs run off less than 1W of power, which leads me to believe that these do not have a resistor built-in and will therefore give a "bulb out" warning.
 
#19 ·
Very good point Durk, I believe you right. Those bulbs are advertised as SLK compatible by the seller... the usual ebay problem.

Would you have the part number for the Brake-tail bulb for an SLK 2009? I am new into SLK world and I find difficult to manage replacement parts, since I have no access to the part numbers until I take things a part.

Any clues where I could get a hardcopy for the parts catalog?
 
#20 ·
@fredmec00, A word of caution... using online parts references can sometimes differ from your own car's requirements, due to geographic differences. I used an online SLK R171 owner's manual to check what new front foglamp bulbs I needed for my 2005 SLK 55 AMG, and it suggested I needed HB4 bulbs (I think it was a U.S. version of the manual). However, in the UK, it appears that the front foglamp bulbs on my car are actually H7 type bulbs, so I had to reorder a different type of bulb!

So, my recommendation is for you to check the hardcopy owner's manual for your car (or, at least, make sure it's one for your country's marketplace) to find out what bulb type you need.
 
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#22 ·
tail light removal and replacement thread thanks

About a month ago I bought my wife her new dream car - 2006 SLK-280 black with the nice cream interior - a bit rough but worth fixing up. Not a real good wrench but DIY er when I can. About a week after we got it, I noticed water in the drivers side tail-light and then within several days, three messages showed up saying lights in both tail-lights had gone out and it was using alternate bulbs.
Turns out the LED's on the bottom had stopped working for the brakes, and the upper fog lights were taking over the function on both sides. I figured I needed to replace both tail light assemblies and started searching around for new parts. I ended up ordering two new tail-lights from Mercedes-Benz Parts and Accessories | MercedesPartsCenter.com each one OEM MB for 135.43 and 24.00 shipping for the two. They arrived within a few days and today I followed all this great threads guides and pictures and took mine apart and put the new ones in. All worked great and the three messages went away as soon as i plugged the new one in. Little tight but great guidance and I figured it was my responsibility to thank those involved and perhaps this can help someone in the future. Brian
 
#25 ·
Thanks to Durkatlon for showing and explaining the procedure as we met this morning to remove ponia003's tail lamp assembly and install the AMG tail lamp (with the central horizontal smoked area).

Credit goes to Durk for explaining and demonstrating the procedure, and to Dan for the demonstrator vehicle.




The procedure has been described and illustrated in the following posts:

1. Link to John's (UK-C200) post: http://www.slkworld.com/slk-r171-general-discussion/10397-tail-light-removal.html

2. Link to Zeiser50's post on removing the center panel in the boot/trunk: http://www.slkworld.com/slk-r171-general-discussion/3611-remove-paneling-rear-center-section.html

What follows is mainly a supplement to the above 2 posts, and perhaps the accompanying photos will make the procedure clear. This is by no means comprehensive and does not replace what a skilled and trained authorized technician may provide.
I can 'sense' Jeffs' fingers itching to zap me for replying to an old post.

Thanks to Eddy, Durk and Dan for putting this lot together.

Detailed photo's are a real plus when dismantling anything. These are spot on.
I'm only updating bulbs but wanted to make access as easy as possible.
Avoids the issues of dropping things into inaccessible areas.

Having just updated the front indicators to Cree bulbs, I'm doing the same in the rear.

Front was straight forward, but a real pain on having to have small hands and the dexterity of a magician. That's someone with 40 years experience on rice burners
 
#28 ·
This detailed procedure to remove the tail lights worked fantastic,
Thanks for sharing Eddy/Durk.

The only minor issue is that I could not fix the problem!

Once I got access to tail light backside, I removed the fog light bulb
The bulb filament seemed fine, wire continuity ok.
So, I installed a new bulb I purchased from Pelican parts, PN 000000-008156-MBZ, genuine 21W, long life fog bulb.
It didn't work.
Cleaned contacts with contact cleaner and emery cloth,
And still not working.

An interestin thing to point out, I measured the voltage in the bulb socket and it gave me intermittent 0-12 V.

Now I don’t know if this intermittent voltage is due to lack of resistance from my multimeter or an actual problem with the tail light module.

Any help will be very welcome.
Thanks!
 
#29 ·
I see one reference in here to "replaced my tail light in under an hour."

If I've never worked on my SLK before (worked on other cars, but I'm no automotive genius), and my goal is to take out the trunk lining to see if a service place forgot to reconnect the sensor to the trunk partition latch (the one that registers if it's closed so I can put the top down), how long should I allow to take out the trunk linings, look around in there, and then close them back up? (I'm figuring if it's just a connection that was left undone, that'll only take a few seconds to reconnect.)
 
#31 ·
If I've never worked on my SLK before (worked on other cars, but I'm no automotive genius), and my goal is to take out the trunk lining to see if a service place forgot to reconnect the sensor to the trunk partition latch (the one that registers if it's closed so I can put the top down), how long should I allow to take out the trunk linings, look around in there, and then close them back up? (I'm figuring if it's just a connection that was left undone, that'll only take a few seconds to reconnect.)
I assume the switch itself is in place (no hole where the switch should be)? It is possible that they didn't plug in the connector. To figure that out you'll have to unfortunately get the big plastic piece from the near end of the trunk that goes all the way across. Basically you'll be following the instructions in this post until you get to this picture, where the switch you're looking for is pointed out:

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