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My ML320 Interior LED Mod (Pics)

20K views 19 replies 12 participants last post by  sgtpepperaut 
#1 ·
Hi everyone

I wanted to spice up my ML a little so I decided to a LED conversion mod to the interior and some exterior. Here are some pictures: (click the bar to view full size)

Here is the Dome Light. All LED's are SMD's and are white with a natural blue tint. If in some pictures they seem electric blue, thats the camera. Their not Electric blue but do have a natural light blue effect to them.



Here is the Front Driver and Passenger portion of the car. They provide just as much light as the regular factory bulbs if not more. As you can see I haven't swapped the floor bulbs yet.



Very well lit. Not obnoxious amount of light. Just slightly more than factory OSRAM bulbs.



Drivers perspective.



Back seat passengers reading lights create a nice white/blue effect when shined on the head liner.



Back seat lights provide nice amount of light for passengers.



View from the cargo area.



I also replaced the license plate bulbs.



 
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#4 · (Edited)
The factory sizes are:

Dome & Cargo: C10W 42mm Festoon (6411)

Backseat Passenger Reading Lights: C7W 36mm Festoon (6418)

Floor Lights and License Plate: C5W 36mm Festoon (6418)

However I used 36mm size C5W bulbs for everything. I bought a 10 pack on eBay. A lot of people say they don't fit but they fit fine for me.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Let me know what happens when you replace the rest of the lights. Are you doing the ones in the bottom of the doors as well?

For some reason on mine and other members, when you replace everything with LED's, the dome lights, front kick-space, and front doors wont work propely. They flash for a second when turned on,then turn off.

Thoughts are there isnt enough draw from the LED's. I ended up having to leave the factory ones in the domes just to have the rest work.

Looks great on the black by the way. Plate lights are excellent.
 
#5 ·
Im having the exact same problem with the floor lights with the flashing problem when I replace the floor lights. With the factory bulb in the floor lights everything is fine. But when I put LED there it gives me that issue. It's probably the draw problem.

But oh well. Big deal. Either I keep using the floor lights with the factory bulb like I am now or remove them. Don't matter to me. :)

I am however having an issue when I unlock the car I get in start ignition all within 5-10 seconds my dome lights stay on until I manually turn them off. If I just unlock the car and get in and wait for the lights to dim before ignition they go off as usual.

You have the same issue?
 
#13 ·
I swapped out all of the bulbs in my 98 ML320 today for LED's. I'm still seeing spots from checking them all as I put them in... For the front dome lights, rear passenger lights, trunk light, and glove box light, I used these bulbs here:

10x 42mm 3 SMD Canbus White Canbus Error Free No Error LED Lights Bulbs | eBay

My vanity mirror bulbs didn't show up yet, but for those I ordered these here:

2pc White LED 29mm 31mm Fuse Visor Vanity Mirror Light Bulb 3SMD 6641 TS 14V1C | eBay

I went with CANBUS bulbs. I had done this in an SLK that I used to own with non CANBUS bulbs, and had issues like other people in the thread have described. Mainly when I rolled down a window or dropped the top, the dome lights would flicker briefly. I'm hoping the CANBUS bulbs will prevent things like that. The bulbs I used in my SLK didn't fade out after shutting the doors. They would just turn off. These fade nicely, so I think that's a good sign.

I ended up being really glad I did this. Unbeknownst to me, the previous owner had put the wrong bulbs in the front dome lights, and here is the result:


 
#16 · (Edited)
I finished up this mod today. The LED fuse style bulbs that I ordered for the vanity mirrors showed up, but unfortunately they were considerably longer than the original bulbs and did not fit, so I had to improvise.

I had some small LED panels laying around that I bought for something else and never used. I was able to twist the metal ends off of the bulbs I had bought, and solder them to the wiring for the panels to make an adapter. The panels had 3M tape on the back, so I stuck them right in.

It wasn't easy prying off the vanity mirrors. They were snapped in there pretty tight, with two clips on the top, and two on the bottom. There's a little indent in the plastic on the side by the mirror so you can use a small screwdriver or similar tool to pop them out. On the passenger side cover, the glass cracked when I was trying to pop it out. Luckily I had bought a used visor at one point to replace a broken mirror cover, so I was able to swap in that mirror.




 
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