Rear light housing assembly wiring smelling like smoke, open the truck and plastics housing was melting and very hot.
2008 Mercedes Benz C300 electrical complaints
Page 8 of 9: complaints 191 to 220 of 228, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The brown wire in the right hand brake light melted through the wire harness and started to melt the light board. This is a fire waiting to happen, I smelt burning in my car when I was driving. The break light no longer works.
Multiple system warnings on dash saying to check right rear tail light, brake lamp, and signal light. Upon replacement of light bulbs, noticed that the ground wire cable covering was melted as well as burns and melting on the bulb housing unit. All right rear lights worked intermittently or dimly and now don't work at all. Now, there are system warnings for left rear lights as well. This is a safety issue as a fire can start in the trunk of the car as well as having rear lights working intermittently or not at all with no warning. Vehicle is no longer under warranty and authorized dealership won't repair at no charge unless there is a recall. This is a known issue with these vehicles, by both the manufacturer and authorized dealers. Recall should be issued.
Warning message displayed in instrument panel advising to check rear right hand side marker lights, on initial inspection in the truck their was a smell of burning plastic emigrating from the right hand side rear light cluster on removal of the fuse panel cover and inspection the wires which connect the wiring harness to the lighting backplatei I was unable to hold the connector with a naked hand due to the excessive temperature. After leaving things to cool down for 60 minutes I was able to remove the wiring harness connector from lighting cluster back plate to find that the earth pin (brown wire extreme right hand side ) was melted and also the pin to which it mated too had also began to melt the plastic which supported the pin on he lighting back plate. The earth (brown wire) is of an extremely low gauge for the potential load this wire would potentially need to carry under maximum load (all lights lit).
Rear lights circuit board burnt and wire for lights melted.
Right read brake lamp harness melted causing malfunction of the brake lamps. Warning indicator in the dash. I am worried about a fire. Also low beam headlamps stopped working for no reason. Checked the bulbs and they are both good.
Connector (harness) is melted and shorted the circuit board for tail lights and is now inop.
I drove my car home from work. Everything was working fine and ten minutes later when I went to go back to work, the car would not start. I could get all the electrical working , but the car would just not start up. I was told it was the steering lock, and it needs replaced.I got towed to the dealership and was told that my steering lock needs to be replaced. I don't feel safe driving this car anymore. Imaging driving in a bad part of town suddenly your "steering lock" malfunctions or my wife is driving and is stuck in a bad part of new orleans.
My right passenger side tail light connector board is melted. All my lights stopped working at once and dealer stated its a faulty connector board that needs to be replaced. Same issue so many others have reported. Mb needs to recall this issue bc it makes no since I have to pay 400.00 for a well known issue that is hazardous which the dealer advised.
As reported multiple times by others, tail light connector is insufficient to handle the heat emanating from the ground (brown) wire. Connector burns. Cable covering melts. All tail lights (including brakes, turning and reverse) stop functioning. - safety issue- (not to mention gas tank sitting not too far from source of fire) preliminary symptoms: random warning messages in dashboard about lights malfunctioning. One tail light dimmer than the other. Repairs required: new connector/new pins plus regrounding to avoid certain recurrence authorized dealers know well about the problem. "recall should be issued" "recall is surely coming" but will not replace if out of warranty references: prior report chain the federal safety agency id number: 10499828 pictures and multiple information http://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w204/465331-tail-light-connector-melted.html.
The wiring harness to the tail lamp on the right side was fried & filled with smoke and now the tail lamp goes very dim & almost off, but replacing with new bulb doesn't help.
Tail light message. Found harness melted on the passenger side tail light. Now I get a message from both sides.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercedes benz c300. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60 MPH, the fuel gauge reading displayed empty although the fuel capacity level was half full. There was a recall associated with the federal safety agency campaign id number was 08v303000 (electrical system). The VIN was not included. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 45,000.
Cars automated warning system indicated problems with right rear lighting system ("check right rear turn signal etc"). Took car to mechanic. There had been a short in the right rear electrical system...plastic circuit box exhibited signs of a short and melted plastic. Mechanic replaced wiring, circuit box and lights. Could very easily have had a fire in the trunk of the car.
Burning smell and melted connectors on rear tail light assembly.
The left rear light was noticed to be dimmer than the right one. Once the light cluster was open up, a burn /melting of the electrical socket was noticed.
The left tail light connector and the plate connection melted. Reported the issue to mb dealer and mb cac but they refused to accept it as a design flaw. The explanation given to me was it melted because of heat of light bulbs. The same flaw has been reported on many forum and I think it is a recall item.
The right rear bulb assembly and harness have melted and are only intermittently functional.
Both tail lights lamp carriers and contact bushings had melted around ground wires in my 2008 c300 mercedes.
Driver information system showed that the rear right brake lamp was out. While checking the rear tail light to replace the bulbs we checked the harness and it was completely melted! Then I knew why I had smelt a burning smell before. I called my nearest mercedes dealer ship and they said it would cost around $500-$600 to fix. I didn't have to explain he knew exactly what was talking about but im out of warranty. This should be fixed by mercedes. Its absurd and needs to be brought to attention for our safety.
Ground wire to rear right tail light melted at the connection point to the tail light board and harness. Smelled smoke and found damage shortly after.
Noticed for the first time that the left rear brake and tail light was much more dim than the corresponding lights on the right side. I also noticed that these same lamps also flickered from dim to slightly brighter and reported on the next service appointment. When it came back from the dealer the problem was marginally better; however, it still exists to this day. I see numerous complaints on mercedes owners hotlines with various degrees of success at that dealers. I have also seen comments about a so-called fix that has been mentioned. My complaint was never printed out on my copy of the work order for that service date either. I've given up.on complaining to mercedes as I had another complaint to the factory which ended up just being brushed off as normal. Once again no documentation of that visit was given even thought a factory rep was present. My belief is that the tail lamps should be fairly equally bright in order to provide vehicles behind you an accurate location of the rear of my vehicle. A proper fix that completely corrects this issue should be required to be performed on these vehicles at no charge to the owners. I am the original purchaser of this vehicle.
Started the vehicle and there was a failure for head lights, tail lights and turn signals. I took the vehicle in to repair the bulbs and they told me the control board failed, melted and they replaced it. I was later told this is a common issue with the 2008 c300.
I have had numerous messages on my 2008 c300 mercedes regarding tail light/ brake light out. I have noticed that my passenger side tail lights/ running lights are much dimmer than the driver side lights. I have inspected the wiring harness assembly on the passenger side and noticed significant discoloration with the "brown wire" and associated connector; the connector has also been "hot" to the touch. I have an appointment with my local mercedes dealer next week to have it inspected/ evaluated. I really became more cautious following the recent news article regarding 2008-2009 mercedes tail light issues. Something is not right and it needs to be addressed/ corrected.
The right rear tail lights stopped working. After examining the wiring and harness were melted. Had to bring in to fix. The back board were the lights are on was also burnt. Now having problems on the left side. I just saw on the national news were other people are having the same problem with this year car. It seems the wiring is not proper size to handle the electric load. This is very dangerous driving this vehicle with the rear lights going out. The lights are running way to hot. Seems to be a defect on this year 2008 vehicle. I heard that this is being investigated by you. My wife is afraid to drive the car because of getting hit from behind because the problem with lights burning out or maybe a fire from the wiring melting. Mercedes says they will not fix and that this is not a problem.
The rear driver side tail light assembly failed multiple times. The connectors to the bulbs and the panel was melted due to heat and therefore, dimming of the lights occurred followed by complete malfunction. The first time was replaced under manufacturer warranty. The second and third time this occurred was paid for out of pocket because vehicle's mileage exceeded the manufacturers warranty coverage.
My message ctr on my mercedes c 300 (2008) steering wheel said to check right, rear tail and brake light. I have checked the lights and had a mechanic check lights, and all seem fine. I heard the report on wbz radio on 7-15-2013 about rear lights on mercedes 2008, and 2009 possibly causing fires, and wonder if the message on my car may be warning of a possible fire or future failure.. I called the mercedes service dept. And they had not heard of this problem! I called wbz radio in boston, and they directed me to nhtsb web site. The message to check rear lights still comes on.
While driving in the evening on highway, both tail lamp warnings came on indicating bulbs had burned out. I stopped car after smelling an odor. I saw the left tail lamp was dim and the right tail lamp was normal. I did not open trunk. After reaching my destination I changed the left tail lamp bulb, but bulb was still dim. I pulled off the electrical connector and found 3 leads on the connecter burned and melted. I went to the dealer in alexandria, virginia and inquired about the problem. I was informed no recall had been issued and the dealer would not fix. So, I purchased left tail light assembly, connector and pins to make repair myself (I am a former airplane mechanic). Tail lamps have been functioning normally since I replaced the parts.
Right rear tail light dash monitor indicated a problem. Found the right rear tail light circuit board ground wire burned and smoking. Plastic connector and lighting circuit board melting. Appears that the electrical current draw is greater than the ground wire can handle. Taken to dealer for fix. No response as yet, but based on other online reports, it appears unlikely they will support a warranty claim fix.
The passenger side rear tail light harness caught fire and melted. There are countless complaints and reports on this issue, but mercedes refuses to correct the problem or do a recall. Most incidents occur between 50,000 and 60,000 miles and is not covered by warranty. You can google this issue and see the wide spread complaints on the melting wiring harness. There are also several discussions on mb forum. Below is another website with several complaints of melted tail light wiring and non-working tail/brake and turn signals. I've contacted reliable mercedes in springfield, mo and they acknowledge that their shop has repaired many mercedes c300's with melted tail light wiring, but said mercedes will not fix recall this problem. This is a tremendous safety issue and I respectfully request that your agency address this matter with mercedes. Http://www.arfc.org/complaints/2009/mercedes/c300/electrical_system/problem.aspx.
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