Your dash problem is called dash flash and it is very easy to fix.I don't remember what i did with the pictures but you can find them here.The capacitor in the cluster that needs to be replaced is a (#272-1030)from Radio Shack and it cost about $1.75.I fixed my 92-500sl and it still works just fine.Bob Terry can give you the pictures.

 

Hi,

We had the opportunity to take the new 1990 r129 300 SL out over the weekend, however this time with Dancing Dash Lights did more. When you turn the blinker on the dash lights light up, the windshield wiper turns on, the radio pops and cuts out, and the seat belt light continues to flash until the blinker goes out.

Does anyone have any ideas or do I have major electircial issues?

Also, the fuse in the truck slot number 6 I believe keeps popping when you use the remote keyless entry.

In advance Thanks for eveyrones time.

Russell

1987 W124 300E
1989 W124 300TE
1990 R129 300SL

I 2nd what BossHoss wrote. If you pull the cluster, remove the screws on the back cover, and then pivot the back cover, you can then access the circuit board to replace the capacitor (picture).

The locking system and the infrared remote control unit share fuse #6. If you don't blow a fuse when you use a key in a lock to lock and unlock the car, then the remote unit is faulty. Otherwise, then you have a problem in the locking system. Let us know which is the case, and we can suggest a next step.

 

My 91 300sl Has Dance Fever Too All Gauges Just Stop Working Except The Temp Gauge For The Radiator And The Top Wont Close The Switch Just Flashes When U Try To Close It The Bottom Row Of Idiots Lites Wont Illuminate When U Turn The Key To Acc Position Took To My Mechanic And The Hooked Up The Reset Box And Got The Top To Close But He Says My Cluster Is Bad It Will Not Work If I Go Over 10 Mph And Theroof Will Stay Open Is There Anyway To Fix The Cluster Short Of Buying A New One

 

hey let me know if you find out anything cause mine is the same way and they said it might have been from jump starting it wrong.

 

Didnt Jump Start Or Anything Just Driving Then The Lights Flashed And The Gauges Dont Work Cant Even Tell How Much Gas I Have Or How Many Miles Im Driving Need Help Bob Terry.........

 

There are several fuses in the main fuse box associated with the cluster. Make sure they are good. If they are, then I am afraid your cluster is toast. You may try contacting these folks about a repair: http://www.instrumentclusters.com/

 

While we are on the subject on fuses. Do you all still use the "old" style fuses in your car? Or is it best to change out to the new type glass tube type? Any suggestion?

 

question does the 129 cluster have any thing to do with the soft top not operating what i mean is the top was down and then when the cluster flashed the lite would only blink when i tried to raise the top it wouldnt go back up ,my mechanic said that they built it that way so u couldnt open the top at high speeds so i went and boght that capacitor from radio shack 99 cents i hope that will fix the cluster and the soft top problem.

 

cap replaced

well i got the 470 uf cap today and replaced it but still the same problem and i did check all the fuses with a test light and all were good, any other suggestions ? i'm open for any. thanks

 

i bought the cap too same problem my mechanic and bob terry says the cluster is shot going to try to get another cluster dammmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

well i sent the cluster to BBA REMANUFACTURING 866-573-2740 ASK FOR KEITH
they repaired the cluster and give u a lifetime warranty i got it back total time 6 days installed the cluster everthing works perfect and yes the top works too great people will recommend highly they fix other stuff a/c modules etc try them out im happy now can finish enjoying the summer..................................

 

oh yeah the price i 4got 349 plus 25 dollar shipping for two day service..................

 

Flashing dash

Reason 1:
Most of the time the car is started with jumpercables and then after starting the cables are taking of the battery. On that moment the voltage may rise up above 16 volts and distroy the capacitor, or.. the voltageregulator. I had it myself with starting my motorcycle on the SL battery. I made a mistake with the polarisation and had the same troubles. The protection circuit breaker relay kicked in. I know at least that when this happens the check engine light does not come on when you turn ignition to position 2. And the car becomes difficult to start, does not run well etc. Look for the overvoltage protection relay, it's the one with a fuse in the
top.
If you are using junpercables put the lights from your SL on while starting, and leave the jumpercables at least for 10 minuts, put on your blower and backwindow refroster, so the alternator is giving a lot of current and the voltage stay low when you disconnect the jumpercable. After that turn of the currentusers. Do this for master and slave functions.
So the best thing to do is not use jumpercables but use a batterycharger and never start other vehicles on your expensive SL.

Reason 2:
A lot of older R129 has problems with the rubbers on top of the windshield . The windshieldglas is round and the frame is rectangle. Between this MB has mounted a rubberpiece what becomes hard and then it starting to leak raindrups
inside the moulding on the sides. The most drups leaks tru the instrumentcluster into the carpet, but sometimes it leaks on the connectors. Between the connectors there wil come a residu of white corroding and after a while this corroding is shorten the connectorpins with the same flashing results.
Clean the connectors and repair the leaking.

 

Hi, I have a 470 uF capacitor, says 16v and 105deg on the side just like the original, but it's half the size - is this the wrong one, or has capacitor technology gone the way of everything else, i.e. become smaller?

Don't want to install the wrong one and bugger it up worse. thx!

 

nevermind - I installed it anyways and presto - problem gone. I guess the capacitors have become smaller... yay!

 

Thank You!

I changed the 470uf capacitor and my dash flash is gone! The hardest part was getting the cluster out and it's not that hard. The info on this forum made it easy.........thanks

 

My 'Dash Flash' is Over!

Following the advice in this thread, I bought the Radio Shack 470 microFarad capacitor and installed it on the instrument cluster circuit board.
I was surprised that the original capacitor (which I removed) was also rated 470 microFarads (I was expecting to see a value of 300), but I made the exchange anyway.
I was further (very pleasantly) surprised that this one change completely eliminated the 'Dash Flash' problem that had been an annoyance for almost 10 years!
Further research revealed that electrolytic capacitors are notorious for poor reliability.
While I cannot measure the present value of the old 470 capacitor (but it is NOT shorted), it is reasonable to suspect that it actually now has much lower capacitance than its original rating of 470.
In one of his threads, bobterry99 suggested that this capacitor could become "fried".
Since this problem is fairly widespread, it seems likely that this component was either bad to begin with, or experienced a rapid failure in the field (i.e., frying!)
(I would guess the reliability problem for this capacitor traces back to its original manufacturing process, rather than to user-related problems with jumper cables, as some have suggested).
Thanks, All.

 

Does anyone have a pic of the third capacitor at the other end of the cluster? I got ahead of myself and removed all three without marking the polarity of the capacitors. The pic posted by bobterry99 solves my problem for the first 2 but i would like to confirm the third one. Can anyone help?

cheers Rob

 

what kind of bulbs you using, standard or change to the LEDs

If LED, pls change to another the type or brand of LED because when you dimming voltage is decrease and not enought to run the LED

Use the single LED not multi LED

 

Does anyone know where to get a BUK 453-50b Transisitor that is on the 129 circuit board. I went in to repair my dancing lights and found the transistor leaking. I tried radio shack and they dont carry it. thanks

 

First post? The unofficial forum greeter, msbarsi, should be along soon to welcome you and advise you to fill-in your profile information.

To check this tranistor you removed it from the board, right? Are you positive it is defective? If not, and your cluster works fine but just flashes lights, then I suggest simply replacing the 470uF and puting (sic) it all back together. If it is suspect, then I suppose you should google that part number to locate a datasheet or a similar current part.

 

Dash Flash problem unresolved

1994 sl600. I was gifted with the well discussed DASH FLASH virus for the first time about two weeks ago. Scared the petroockio out me the first time I saw it. Feared it was the famous '93-'95 wiring harness breakdown shorting out (I already replaced this once). The forum, however, well described the "dash flash" problem. My car now has all of the known symptoms, to a tee. Thus, as recommended, I immediately super cleaned all the fuses and fuse contacts. Seemed to improve the problem, but no resolution. I then replaced the 470 uf Cap on the circuit board. I was hopeful, but, no change. The dash flash occurs whenever I use the turn signal or headlight switch. Nothing else seems to activate it, "yet." If anyone else has any more ideas on this problem except for rebuilding the circuit board I would greatly appreciate hearing from them on the forum.

By the way, I had to discover while replacing the capacitor on the circuit board that the board simply separates from the dash unit by CAREFULLY prying it apart from its backing. You DON'T remove the 3 or 4 very small torx screws in the center of the board. The board is held together only by the connector pins for the tach and the other instrument gauges. Of course, it snaps back together in reverse. Hope this helps the next guy.

 

Dash Irregularity

I believe the problem may still be caused by a bad capacitor on the speedometer board.
Reasons:
1) The large value (and large size) capacitors are put on the speedometer circuit board to filter out transient electrical effects produced by switches (like the turn signal), so that these transients won't trigger 'flashes' in other sub-systems on the board.
2) These large capacitors (like the 470 uF) are 'electrolytic type'. They contain a special electrolyte material (a fluid?) to enhance the amount of capacitance that can fit into a relatively small can.
3) Electrolytic Capacitors are notoriously the poorest reliability component in any electrical circuit. They can slowly dry out, thereby losing most of their ability to do the filtering. (I have been told that Electrolytic Capacitors are not permitted in military hardware, for this very reason.)
4) There are additional Electrolytic Capacitors in the speedometer board(beyond the largest, 470 uF) that may have failed. Replacing the 470 might not be sufficient. If you go into the board, again, you might change the other cylindrical cans on the board (as well as trying yet another NEW 470, as it is conceivable that the 470 uF that you put in MAY have been bad because of 'shelf life').
I feel truly BLESSED that simply replacing the 470 uF in my '91 500SL did the job. I think it is very hard to diagnose a circuit board failure like this, even if you are a Tech, if you don't have a circuit diagram reference.
My hunch is based on the likelihood that the problem stems from a failure in filtering, and the Electrolytics are in there to do this filtering.
Good Luck.

 

Thanks so much for the suggestion. I will investigate further!

 

My car SOMETIMES pops the driver's side speakers (its an aftermarket radio) with the blinker on. Sometimes it's barely audible, other times it will litterally make the the radio cut out.... for those that have done it.. Do you think replacing the capacitors in the cluster is the solution? It's very erratic as to how / when it's going to do it...

The other thing is that the dash dims / brighens a bit with the blinker on.

I'm an EE and have no problem desoldering / swapping out caps...

My car is a 1990 as well.

Thanks for the info.

George