Front & Rear Side Marker Lights

[sassanbehnam]

The Front & Rear Side Marker Lights on my 280SL do not turn on.  Light bulbs are checked to be ok, 
connections are OK but we the light switch is turn to position 2, Side Marker Lights don't turn on.  In fact
I checked with volt meter & zero volts.  Whats could be wrong?  Please help.

Thank you,
Sassan

[iftykhan]

I would probably start by checking the fuse

Ifty

[iftykhan]

Also check the flasher relay.
Have a look in the tech manual under electrical.

Ifty

[mdsalemi]

This may be a stupid set of questions here, but you never know…

What year is your car? Did the side markers ever work while you have had the car?
Is it possible something might have been changed (like the headlamps and tail lamps where these derive power) and the plugs/pigtails are not connected?
Older style headlamps (pre June '69 I believe) and tail lamps don't have a place to plug in markers, as cars before this had reflectors only.

Of course if yours worked at one time, these questions are moot, but I have no idea of how long you've owned your car, or if you ever saw the markers work.

[sassanbehnam]

I have a 1970 280SL US model & mostly original.  Honestly I never noticed and I've owned my car since early 90s 2nd owner.
Over the past weekend I decided to disassemble the lights & clean, check for issues.  That's when I noticed the side markers don't work.

I checked all connecters to be OK.  Next I'll check the fuse & flasher relay.
I keep you posted.

Thank you very much Mike & Ifty for your reply.

Regards,
Sassan

[jpinet]

If you have no voltage, I assume you took your ground for your voltmeter somewhere on the body, so it's not a ground issue. If you took your ground on the light, check again with the ground on the body to eliminate a bad ground possibility. Next, see where the + wire runs to. If you have no power at the source, see where power should come from and keep going. It's a bit of a detective game; where's the culprit?

[Iconic]

sassanbehnam,
I must ask, are you trying with only your parking lights on, or have you tried with your headlights on?
Unlike any other car I have owned, the sidemarkers only come on when the headlights are on, not just the parking lights.
At least that is true for '70 280SLs (US version, of course).
I believe this is mentioned in the glove-box manual.
Mark

[Flyair]

I found that on the wikipedia page focusing on Pagoda that side markers installed on US models illuminated only from 1970. Since your car is a 1970 model, the side markers should illuminate.

see "North American models"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_W113