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Tail lights

This component is part of Lights.

Definition

A variety of taillights (rather: colour of lens glass) were delivered with the cars, depending on the year of manuafacture. Details and accurate part numbers to be added here.

Its technical name & common name(s)
part # - start year & end year

Maintenance

Describe common maintenance procedures, and common faults that may occur. Describe how these may be diagnosed and resolved. Again, include diagrams, photographs and explanations. Where possible, include measures, tolerances, weights etc.

Symptoms when it faults
How to test if it is faulty - what tools to use
How to fix / change

Taillights sometimes “Tail Lamps” “Tail Lights” or “Rear Lights”. German: Heckleuchte.

Taillights on W113 cars have several functions: ‘Steady On’ red makes the car visible to cars following; brighter ‘Steady On’ red light indicates that the brake is being applied; a “Steady On’ White light shows when the shift lever is in the Reverse position; and a ‘Blinking’ light on one side indicates that the car will be making a turn. (This turn indicator may be red or amber as discussed here.)
W113 cars were fitted with 4 types of taillights: one was the original All-Red style, two were modified All-Red lights; and one was the later Red-Amber style. Each is discussed here and shown in photos.
Except for the country specific modifications mentioned here, taillights of US version cars and Euro version cars were the same. Three different types of All-red taillights were used before the final change to the later Red-Amber lights in early 1969. All the light styles are listed in the factory spare parts list
The so called “All Red” lights are the oldest. They are red except for the clear Back-Up lens. These All-Red lights have not been available for purchase since the 1980’s. Similar style lights are being reproduced. These which have been described as very close in appearance to the original lights. All-Red style lights modified from other Mercedes cars are described below.
The All-Red lights were installed on all W113 cars until the change to the final late rear light in early 1969 beginning with the 280 SL with VIN 007937.
There were two modified All-Red lights that for cars marketed in specified countries. These were fitted from the beginning of W113 production until the change to the later style was adopted.
One modification to the All-Red lights was for cars delivered to Australia, Italy, and perhaps, the UK. These were All-Red style lights with the usual clear Back-Up indicator but on these modified lights the Turn Signal area was Amber not red
Another All-Red modification was for cars delivered to France. These cars were fitted with lights similar to the All-Red lights except that the white Back-Up indicator was Amber.
Because of the Amber Turn Signal area, these modified All-Red lights are similar in appearance to the later Red-Amber style but the modified All-Red has a much wider center section than the later style Red-Amber lights. Also, the later style lights have a much flatter profile than the earlier lights. See Photos.
The All-Red lights are a one piece unit with the red light unit molded to the chrome bezel. The later Red-Amber lights are two piece units. The early taillights were not designed to have replaceable lenses. Replacement was the entire one-piece chrome frame with the molded-in lens and reflector.
The All-Red light lens can be separated from the bezel by drilling or similar technique and a new reproduction lens (or a lens from another style car) can be glued to the original bezel.
To separate an All-Red lens from the chrome bezel (your own risk): cut the lens carefully from inside the bezel with a Dremel ® or similar small drill or grinder. Once separated, the inner "glued-in" edge of the lens will be destroyed. After re-chroming, a new lens must be re-glued to the bezel.
Reproduction All-Red style lights are available new (2008) and are often installed on older cars when the original All-Reds are not available. These newer taillights will "drop in" to the older cars - no modification is necessary.
The later style Red/Amber taillights are original to all 280SL’s after the car cited above. These lights are available and sometimes used to replace the All-Red lights when availability or budget considerations make the later light style the best choice.

Above: All-Red Style

Above: All-Red style modified for Australia, Italy, and the UK. Note the Amber Turn signal and the "Wide Center".

Above: All-Red style modified for France. Note the Amber Back–Up section in the center bottom of the light unit.

Above: All-Red style light, back view.

Above: Red-Amber late style light. Note the Amber Turn Signal area and the "Narrow Center".

Above: Red-Amber late style light, back view.

Above: Red-Amber late style light, profile view.

Rear Taillight Styles	-	-	-	-
Style	Back-Up	Turn Signal	Years	Comment
All-Red	Clear	Red	1963-1969	Upto 044-007937
All-Red modified	Clear	Amber	1963-1969	Australia, Italy, UK
All-Red France	Amber	Red	1963-1969	France
Late Style	Clear	Amber	1969-1971	280SL after VIN 007938

Electrical Socket Plate or Bulb Holder

Mercedes sold the taillights always as a combined 3-part unit, that is, the outside lens, the reflector, and the electrical plate with the sockets that hold the different bulbs. The socket plates of the early style lamps are wired whereas the bulb sockets of the later lamps are sitting on an imprinted board. In addition the later ones incorporate two diodes into the electrical circuit.

Above: Bulb holder in a 230SL

Brake light: 18W
Tail light: 4W
Parking/clearance light: 4W
Back-up light: 15W
Turn signal: 18W

Above: Late 280SL bulb holder

Brake light: 21W
Tail light: 5W
Back-up light: 15W
Turn signal: 21W

Ground Connection

On an early style taillight the ground connection is a brown wire coming out of the electrical 6-prong connector that is attached to the chassis as shown here:

When not properly grounded this wire is very often the culprit of a fast blinking turn signal or a non-functioning brake light.

Old Yahoo content

The following is the content from the old Yahoo documents on the site. It needs to be structured and edited in the correct sections of the entire document. After moving particular content to its correct place in the manual, please delete it here.

Does anyone know if the later model pop-out lenses fit into the 230 SL tail light frames?

My 230 SL lenses are actually molded in place, looks like it would take some pretty careful epoxy work to make them stay.

It is common here in Germany to sell W 111 lenses inside 230 SL frames. I was amazed when I found a vendor at the Techno Classica in Essen who would take my tired old 230 SL red lenses in trade for new ones for only about $100. Only later did I realize that the supposedly 'NOS' 230 SL red lenses were actually W 111 parts glued inside W 113 frames.

Achim says: people just try to make the best out of the commonly known problem of very limited supply of NOS 230/250/280 SL (early, up to VIN 007937) taillights. They are no longer available from the factory, already for about 10 years now, and for some reason Mercedes-Benz hasn't set up a reproduction program for them yet although the demand among owners is high. However, SK Industriemodell in Übach-Palenberg near Aachen reproduces them or did for a while. They use(d) original chrome bezels and the foamed rubber seal from MB. The plastic parts (lense and mirror) are reproduced. As to the regular 220/250 SE coupé and 230 SL taillights, yes the lenses and the bulbholders are absolutely identical. If you're able to get (cut) them out of a W 111 bezel you can reglue them into a W 113 bezel. I have all three, the 230 SL used and NOS ones, a W 111 NOS taillight and a reproduced lense (SK Industriemodell, see above), they are all identical. Only that the reproductions are one piece (not 4 parts molded together during the production process) and dyed red from behind. But you (nearly) cannot see the difference.

230 SLs delivered in France have a different lens style. Actually there are three different types of 230 SL taillights. The factory spare part list lists them all. The regular ones all red with clear back-up lenses. The French ones have orange (amber) back-up lights instead of clear ones. The Italian (and for Australia I believe) have clear back-up lights like the original ones but orange (amber) turnsignal lights. You can find all three different types on eBay from time to time.

I find usually the problem with the brake lights has to do with a bad ground. To check: while the brake is depressed, get a wire and jump it from a good ground and the ground side (outer section) of the bulb socket. If the light comes on it is a bad ground connection. Or, if you have a volt meter have someone step on the brake and place one of the volt meter leads on the center terminal of the bulb socket and put the other lead on a good ground. If you read 12 volts then the ground connection is bad. If you do not read any voltage or it reads less than 11 volts you have a high resistance in your wiring some where up to the bulb. Trace the wire and clean the connections. Or, put the meter in ohms and check the resistance of the ground side of the bulb socket and a good ground. If it reads more than a 2 ohms you have a bad ground connection. The other thing that you want to check is that the socket itself is not corroded. If it is get a round wire brush and clean it out.

Thanks for the suggestions. I found my problem. The connection between the bulb socket and the pins for the plug on the socket plate were broken, it had a small hair crack. I drilled a very small hole into the center of the crack and filled it with solder. Now it works again. I checked the left socket plate and it had the same crack in almost the same position. I did the same here.

What is the differerence between the all-red and the 3-color taillights, as far as which year, model, and version of SL is concerned? I went to a car show this summer and noticed about 1/2 the cars with one type and 1/2 with the other. We have a '69 280SL, US version, with 3-color lenses. Are these correct? Could we also use the all-red ones?

The all red ones were for earlier vehicles, and are very rare in good condition now. My 64 230SL uses the solid red lights. These are NLA from Mercedes. I don’t have the data in front of me that says when the change occurred. Interestingly enough, in Europe the amber equipped lenses are sought after, and the solid reds are not particularly enjoyed. So if you can find an owner overseas, and you need solid red lights, you might strike a deal. However, your lights are correct for your car. There is a facility in the Star that advertises some new lights, with the solid red lenses. They are manufacturing them as repros, and want $1200 for them - yyyikes... !!!

I also have a 69 280SL. Supposedly it came with the all red taillights. I read somewhere the change to the 3 color lights occured in 1969. Mine must have been made early that year. Unfortunately, just before I bought the car, someone backed into the car while it was at a Stop. So I now have the 3 color lights which I prefer anyway and perhaps just slightly incorrect. I understand the red ones are more sought after and I believe is available from SL Tech for about $600.

Starting with production of the 230SL in 1963 to the 280SL in 1969 the solid one-piece bezel & red lens unit. According to Laurence Meredith (Orginal Mercedes SL Restorers Guide see Page #68) Amber indicator lenses replaced red ones for all markets in February 1969. Frank Mallory, a noted Mercedes Benz expert, states that the change took place in 1970. I suppose that by time somewhere mid-year of 1969, the change accured. Looking at the big parts chassis manual as of October 1972 edition ( A) group 82/86 electrical system figure (92) part number 1138200164 combined tail light left red blinker lens. See footnote 13 up to chassis 011040. Part number 1138201564 indicates amber blinker lens left footnote 14 up to chassis 011041-continues. LJK Setright's book Mercedes Benz SL & SLC see page 66 green 250SL roadster is seen with European lenses with amber end looks like the early one piece unit. Again in Laban's book Mercedes SL series The complete story page 117-125 same lens. Someone asked who distributes the reproduction Red taillight units. I came accross that information: Thomas Culp, Culp Creations Inc. P.O. Box 556 Southampton PA. 18966 215-357-4264. The assemblies are exact reproductions of the orginals including the fine part number writing and insert chrome bezel. They also include new clear optics and new chrome internal reflectors that make them safer and brighter to following traffic. Cost per pair includes new body seal gaskets $1199. An electriacl socket unit for light bulbs mounts to assembly costs $165 each.

Cars delivered in the UK, Australia and probably many other countries were fitted with amber indicator lenses from new, on SLs and all other Mercedes-Benz cars - in fact, on all other cars. Red indicator lenses were only used in some countries.

Does the parking (clearance) lights feature work on US cars? You can try by turning the light switch COUNTER-clockwise, you'll find two clicks, one for left and one for the right-hand side parking lights, front and rear. I would not be surprised if there are many who have not discovered this possibility, just like: try pulling the light switch OUT when you have it in the "headlights on" position - this is the setting to also activate the fog lamps included in the Euro style headlamps.

The US models, for the most part had this feature disconnected (at least on mine). There have been talks on how to restore this feature, same with the headlight flashing capability(wire needs to be reconnected). On my 1968 280 SL the foglights came on with the US sealed beam units by doing what you described (turning to either the first or second click clockwise and then pulling out).
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