Mercedes SL500 R129 Dim Center Brake Light Fix (1989-2002)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ม.ค. 2020
- A common issue on Mercedes-Benz SL roadsters as well as CLK models from the same era is with the rear brake light getting dim and no longer working.
Many think this means the light is due for a replacement, but there can be another, sneaky cause that is the culprit!
This problem can be caused by the WIRES leading to the 3rd brake light, and they are easier to repair than you think.
Watch along as I take apart my trunk to share with you how I solved this problem in the past. The repair still holds!
What you'll need: 01:41
Beginning of Repair: 01:00
Culprit of the wire breaking: 01:15
My broken old wires: 01:43
My nice new fixed wires: 02:12
How I did it: 04:10
What your brake lights should shine like: 07:18
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USED IN VIDEO
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Wire:
Some old 16 Gauge wire
Found at your local hardware store
Shrink-tubing (variety pack. Good to have):
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...
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I fixed this wire you are talking about today, it made both the third brake light work and the reverse lights work !
Thank you very much for this video. It was extremely helpful and saved me about $5000 at the dealership. or I mean, Stealership
Glad it helped! Can't imagine what they'd want to charge
@@that90sbenz they wanted to charge me $200 an hour for electrical troubleshooting and cap it at $16,000, so the bill could be $16,000 then they could say we weren’t able to fix it. Pay your bill and take your car. Another dealership quoted me $5000. I wonder what they were going to do.
@@that90sbenz the Steelership always sizes you up they think if you own a 500 SL you must be the richest person on the planet, they don’t know I paid $1200 for this car with 80,000 actual miles on it, because they told the previous owner it will cost $20,000 to fix the hydraulic pistons for the convertible top, I fixed it for free by adding some bars leak to the hydraulic fluid pump.
Now I know what the hell happened to my 3 brake light! The ground wire broke BUT I did not know where? Ended up taking out the 3 break light soldering a ground wire to the Light bracket and used alligator clip and clipped it on to part of the trunk reinstalled the cover ..broke 3 clips ..and now works fine. Wish I you would have made this video 5 years ago! Thanks... now I know where to look next time:)
rioraton Glad this video helped! I only found out about this issue from an obscure post on MBWorld after digging for a while. I gave it a try and how about that! Never saw a video before about it, so I decided to undo some panels to show you guys how I fixed mine.
I have a 97 SL600 I didnt even know my 3rd brake light was out till i made a video and saw in the video, i had the exact same problem and it also looked like someone did a poor fix once already thanks to your video my car is good to go now.
Love to hear it! Mine was quite bad from whomever did it before me. they tied together the wires and didn't even use the electrical tape correctly.
Probably no one tried to do a cheap fix on it, the dealership handmade these cars and they rigged up some stuff with the wiring in the trunk, mine looked the same, and was owned by a lady that was not mechanically inclined at all, so they made it look ugly at the factory with that trunk wiring.
By the way, I just passed inspection today and registered the car as Antique vehicle and my insurance rate is $20 for six months. Any 25-year-old car could be registered as an antique vehicle and qualify for the cheapest insurance rates possible.
Thanks for this clip, now I'll check the wires as my 3rd brake light isn't working !
The SL500 R129 body is the best SL ever built.
keep away from the hydraulic suspension cars.
Agreed! Great looking cars. Yes, I stayed away from those hydraulics for my purchase. They’re fun with unlimited $$$$$, sadly I wouldn’t know...
Really well done video. Much appreciated.
Thank you! glad it helped
Just as well I had a look at your channel, as my center tail light doesn't work. I already have a full lens and light unit in stock awaiting install. I'll probably check the wires first or test the existing light. In this one the seal was old and lens clips broken letting in water (so I assumed light was fried). When you lifted the trunk collected water would pour out the hinge hole you were working at.
Lex Cameron It’s good to inspect both of those. The lens is also a common problem. Yours could be a mix of both. Best of luck, and keep us posted on what you find 👍🏻
Thank you 🙏
Glad it helped!
Thanks. 👍 information. Have this problem too 👏👏👏👏👏. Now I know, what need to do!
Can’t wait till I own one of these
They're as fun as they look. Don't give up on this dream!
6 leds only if the 5w glass halogens bulbs have been replaced
Hey thanks for the video! I just fixed mine today but I have 3 wires I only see 2 on yours? Any idea?
What year is your car? I am not sure why there are 3. Do you have the phone/GPS antenna in the center of your trunk lid? It looks like a small dome. It could be for that. Or it's possible that if yours is an older model with bulbs instead of an LED strip, it's an extra wire for more current draw. These are just guesses. Would be cool to figure that out, there's always something to learn about these cars, no matter how long you drive one.
@@that90sbenz thanks for the quick reply, I’ve got a 2000 sl500 and it does have the little hump antenna on the trunk, I see a little black microphone by the rear view mirror as well but it doesn’t have the phone or anywhere to plug the phone in. Is that the reason for the black microphone and antenna?
@@jake2772 Very cool! Yes, that is your phone/GPS antenna. I think it was just used for tele-aid, which means you should have a red SOS button on your dome light. That option may have been separate from the phone option. All the r129s were pre-wired for phones and past a certain year had that black microphone, but only some had the phone option equipped. The handset would have been in your center arm-rest, and the dial-pad would be the radio key-pad. Older models had a dial-pad in the center sunglasses compartment. The phones no longer work since they use a retired analog network protocol. So yes it's the reason for the antenna, but it's not the reason for the mic. My SL has the mic but never had a phone or tele-aid.
@@that90sbenz awesome! Yes it has the red button on top top. Have you ever read or thought of using any “sealant” in the hydraulic fluid to possibly swell up any gaskets that leak on the convertible top? Like blue devil hydraulic seal fix or at-205 reseal etc?
tried to search for the instagram couldn’t find it tho
Renamed to "that90sbenz"😁
Awesome video. I need to check this on mine. Also I would love to help promote your channel. Mines not big but growing pretty fast. Also would love to do any colab videos to help the community. Have a great day. Also I subbed. 😄
Pete’s Carport thanks Pete! A collab video would be neat. Let’s do it! Thanks for the sub, means a lot. I’ve got some more videos in the lineup