Step 1 take out the bulb from its plastic housing



Step 2



break off the metal thingys

Step 3

get the new bulb,which i bought at advance auto parts for 3 bucks for a pair of 2 and pull the wires to the side



after this you put light bulb back in the housing first ! then the metal things back in second and it should work. It worked for mine :D

i used 1.2 v bulbs by the way same exact bulbs to replace them

I tried this and it seemed like it almost worked..it lit up once, then fell apart as I was turning it in. Then after putting it back together (tighter) it wouldn't light up, then the little metal pieces broke into smaller metal pieces when I was turning them in :( Any idea what went wrong?

Great write up...BMW and M-B have been using these style bulbs for years (e.g. e28,e34 OBC, climate control, etc.), the fact that you can find them anywhere and avoid the $tealer makes them all the more better

There is a guy on Ebay who has been selling the OEM (+/-) bulbs for a while.
These are pretty standard euro instrument panel bulbs used in VW, Audis and MB.
Have also found them --with some searching- locally at Pep Boys.
OSRAM 2721MF

On Ebay --> Search for "instrument bulbs mercedes" or substitute VW or AUdi.
Price is 10 for $10 + shipping works out to $1.50/bulb, and they work fine for instrument panel too.
Here's current link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-MERCEDES-VW-AUDI-DASH-INSTRUMENT-CLUSTER-BULBS-1-5W_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33711QQihZ009QQitemZ 190161094251QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Most excellent post on changing bulbs. For the folks that failed at this....please note that after you bend the wires out on the side of the new bulbs at approx a 22 degree angle, slide the bulb into the plastic holder. Then slide the clips back into the holder trapping the wires under the side of the clip. Worked for me first time...

Dave Bunker

How much does the dealer charge for these anyway?

How much does the dealer charge for these anyway?

About $5 each --- G_d bless their little hearts -- and I do mean little.

About $5 each --- G_d bless their little hearts -- and I do mean little.

the dealer here in chitown they are 2.60 with tax a piece, P# is 62111391260

I had this exact idea with Advance Auto bulbs, but it didn't work out. The replacement bulb from the dealer come with the housing, as it's supposed to. The bulbs from Advance don't, and unfortunately -- they are NOT the same size bulb. They look identical in every way, except the Advance bulbs are a couple mm's too long, so you really can't get a good seating in the OEM bulb housing. I'm sure a bit of superglue or something would work, but it's not really worth it to save $3 over the cost of dealer bulbs.

Buy them on Ebay for $1.55 each for 10 bulbs - delivered
-- perfect fit no aggravation
-- advertised as Mercedes bulbs, but used Mercedes, Audi, VW and BMW
-- probably fit all Euro cars

http://motors.search.ebay.com/?from=R40&satitle=MERCEDES++bulbs+1.5w

.

A few quick questions....

those bulbs on eBay, are those the type that light up the buttons on the OBC? None of my buttons light up... not sure if the bulbs are burned out or something else is wrong with it, but i may as well start with the cheap option... also are these the same lights that are used almost everywhere? The blue buttons for the heater control have always been out but now that it's gotten cold they flicker on startup. Not sure if these are bulb related issues or connection issues, thanks for any help.

i have 2 small jars of them
$10 for 13 of them shipped

from all the clusters i bought and sold

black base
1.2v
oem
for cluster/obc

^^^ decent deal -- if they're FRESH, not used
If you have lots of lites out, you probably don't realize that area around headlight switch on dash should be lighting up.
Local AutoZone or whatever will probably have bulbs for this at about 2 for $5 -- you need one (I taped 2nd one wrapped in plastic in pullout module - next timeit goes there it is.)