[W126 Coupe] City lights or not?

[Steve Nervig]

On Thursday, February 16, 2006, at 08:01AM, Axel Wulff <axelwulff at hotmail.com> wrote:

snip
>
>As for the city lights.
>
>Satish put in a set of Bosch Euro headlamps in my car last year and I just
>got around to putting bulbs in the city light sockets. 
>
>Problem is they don't light up.
>
>I had expected them to turn on at the first click to the right on the light
>switch, as the corner lights turn on.
>Nor do they turn on if I turn the light switch to the left for the parking
>lights.
>
>Any thoughts? Am I doing something wrong or are they not wired properly?
>
>Not a big deal, it would just be fun to have.
>
>BTW, what kind of bulbs are people using? I got an 1893 5 watt from the
>local Pep Boys store. Is the bulb the problem?
>
>Cheers,
>Axel
>


Axel, the city lights must be hooked up separately. There is no corresponding wire in the headlight loom of the domestic MBs. Usually, the euro light assemblies require a 6-pin connector, while the domestic assys use a 5 pin connector. From my web site:

- Wiring Instructions <http://24.22.134.24/~dakota/2/projects/EuroLights/Resources/wiring.pdf>

You need (2) extra pins for the city light wires; you reuse all the other pins from the current connectors - they just pop out of the old connector and pop in to the new. I would suggest getting (2) additional (total of 4), though as it is easier to use a new pin at the parking lot end (for the jumper cable) rather than trying to get all of the solder out of the existing pin when you add the jumper. With a real hot solder gun, reuse wouldn't be a problem, but my gun is rather pathetic, so a new pin made it easier. 
 
- City Lights
Eurolight lamp units sometimes include a City light.(I believe these are called "side lights" in Europe, but they actually face the front.) A city light is a 4- or 5-watt light that sticks through the main lamp's reflector into the lamp itself. European vehicles are equipped with city lights rather than US-style amber parking lamps. City lights are legal for use as parking lamps in the US and in Canada; amber parking lamps are NOT mandatory.

Since the DOT lights that you are replacing don't have city lights, a very small bit of wiring is required to hook them up when using the eurolights. The city light has two wires, one of which is a ground wire, and the other of its wires is the positive feed from your front park lamps; the one used for the existing dim amber park lamp filaments. This makes for parking lamps that WORK, and if a headlamp ever malfunctions, oncoming traffic still sees you as a double-track vehicle. In addition, it makes your front turn signals much clearer because they now go "BRIGHT-off-BRIGHT-off" instead of "bright-dim-bright-dim" when the lights are on.

This picture (see link below) shows the city light socket pulled out of its hole. It has a ground wire (brown) attached, as well as a power wire (gray), which would be connected to the Pin # 3 of the euro assembly. This wiring is internal to the eurolight assembly. See the wiring instructions to see how to hookup the euro lights (including the city lights) to the car wiring.

This shot (see link below) shows the city light socket. It uses a 4 or 5 watt bulb, such as Jahn 4088 5W. 64111 5W or Osram T4W. I've found a six watt bulb that can be used too.

See <http://24.22.134.24/~dakota/2/projects/EuroLights/Heads/Headlight.html> a couple of photos.

Hope this helps.

BTW, Kevin, good write up on the city lights and the side parking lights. I believe they are called "standing" lights in Europe. 

Regards,
Steve Nervig
1992 300CE Sportline