Euro headlight conversion

Probably the first thing anyone does when they buy a Bruno Benz is to get rid of those hideous North American Market (NAM) spec headlights. Not only are they an eye sore but also a safety hazard as they have very poor lighting.

The NAM spec headlights make use of 9004 bulb main low beams and H3 fog light bulbs. The Euro lights support both High and Low main beam using H4 bulbs as well as the sane H3 fog light bulbs. The particular Depo branded lights I purchased also support a W5W wedge bulb as a day-time driving light.

Since the Euro lights have more features the connection socket is obviously larger. The NAM spec headlights use a 4 pin socket, whereas the Euro headlights use a 6 pin socket.

North American Spec Headlight Socket

__________
|    0    |
| 1     2 |
| 3     4 |
|_________|

Pin | Colour | Purpose
---------------------------------
1   | Green  | H3 Fog Light ( + 12v )
2   | Brown  | GND
3   | Yellow | 9004 Low beam ( + 12v )
4   | White  | High Beam?? ( + 0.11v ) 

Part Numbers
6pin Female Socket = 006 545 80 28
6pin Socket Cover = 009 545 30 28
Female Socket Pin = 003 545 26 26

Depo Euro Headlight Socket

___________
|    0    |
| 1     2 |
| 3     4 |
| 5     6 |
|_________|

Pin | Colour | Purpose
----------------------
1   | N/A    | Dummy ( Open circuit )
2   | Brown  | GND
3   | Blue   | W5W Day time driving wedge bulb ( + 12v )
4   | White  | H4 High beam ( + 12v )
5   | Yellow | H4 Low beam  ( + 12v )
6   | Red    | H3 Fog light ( + 12v )

The socket and cover are both easily available from any Mercedes dealer and swapping the wires in is pretty simple as well.


Only nuance during installation is dealing with the headlight washer system. The Euro spec lights don't seem to have the exact same bolt pattern to fit the NAM spec headlight washer assembly. The washer assembly has two screws into the headlight and one into the chassis. I was only able to retain the screw in the chassis as the Euro headlight's screw holes didn't line up. Its holding up pretty well actually.

One thing I hate about the Depo Euro headlights is that they don't supply these little metal screw holders. You have to transfer the ones off the NAM lights. Usually they're pretty rusted out and could do with being renewed.

I had a VVME ($30 Chinese made) HID kit that I originally purchased to install on the 190E a few years ago, but never got round to doing it. Since I needed new bulbs anyway for the 560SEL, I decided to install the HIDs as well with the Euros. The H4 bulbs I've got have both High and Low beam. But only the low beam is Xenon. I never use the high beam, so that was fine by me. On the passenger's side, I bolted the HID ballast to one of the nuts holding down the coolant expansion bottle. On the driver's side I actually found an unused hole in the fender, so I just put a bolt through it and mounted the ballast there (see pic).

I just need to source some yellow halogen H3 bulbs for the fog lights now. Colour temperature on the HIDs is 5000k (Pure white).