hi guys, i have a prob w/ my 1997 Mercedes E420, and wanted to ask here b/c you guys know so much.

I'm getting a "lamp defective" warning everytime I turn on the lights, and I traced the problem to the front sidemarker lights. It takes 2825 5W wedge bulbs, and I also found out that these cars have a problem of alternator voltage being higher than the design voltage of the lamps.

therefore I'd put in new bulbs, but they'd burn out real fast. So instead of buying new bulbs every 2 months and getting that friggin lamp defective message everyday, I thought I could install a lower wattage bulb? I don't want to mess w/ resistors if I don't have to.

So I have to somehow lower the current that's going to the lamps, can i achieve this by installing a lower wattage bulb???

I found this online:
Trade No. Design Volts Watts Amps Avg. CP Life
161 14.0 2.66 0.19 1 4000
158 14.0 3.36 0.24 2 3000
194 14.0 3.78 0.27 2 2500
192 14.0 4.62 0.33 3 2000
168 14.0 4.90 0.35 3 1500