Mod Description

The 5 per side Hella daytime running lights on the 451 where surprisingly poor quality and failed regularly.

Mod Details

PremiumYes Difficulty Mod ID1248 Creditevilution For Linkhttps://www.evilution.co.uk/mod/hella-451-drl-repair.htm Copy to Clipboard

Over Priced Hella DRLs

If you have a fortwo 451 with these single 5 a side Hella daytime running lights…

…at some point, some will fail.

Why Do They Fail?

Hella charge a lot of money for their lights, so why are they shit? Very simple, cost cutting and money saving.

The body is made from aluminium and much like the Brabus alloys, they aren’t zinc primered before painting. This means that over a length of time, aluminium oxide (rust) forms on the surface of the body between the aluminium body and the paint. The oxide layer is fluffy and is a poor base for the paint.

It doesn’t take long for the paint to delaminate and the oxide layer creates a direct route for any water to wick directly into the light housing. Once in there, the water and the electricity causes corrosion of the LED connections and the copper tracks on the printed circuit board.

I got sent a few faulty ones by Dreamliner CDI. This was the worst one. Everything had corroded.

Repairing The DRL Unit

You have to lever the plastic lens out. Heating the unit up can help soften the glue.

It’ll flip out fairly easily.

Flip the unit over…

…and heat it up with a hot air gun or solder rework gun.

What If I have No Talent?

You can just buy replacements I guess. Obviously not from smart though.

Do a search for Hella LEDayflex.
Click here, here or here for examples.