First want to thank everyone for your help on the forum, especially AAC,Benz4Dirt&sky, Bklyn1971, ae86pwr, Drew, Wolfgang, UncAI, C0-Rod, Alex, pleubner, and bcbenzo for all of your advice on plus sized tires. I will soon be posting pics.
HELP: I was trying to install the AC Chrome Rings on my 1998 ML....but they were not the AC rings with the double sided tape....they were specially made without tape (from Ebay)...to just "push in"....needless to say.....after 3 hours, and a lot of banging....it DID NOT HAPPEN. My question is....as silly as it may sound (I don't have the car very long)...I am having a difficult time recalling if the images (the white images that indicate where the air is blowing to...the red and blue temperature lines, and the 1,2,3,4 for "force" of air coming out) on all three temperature dials on the ML are illuminated. I am worried that I may have banged so hard...I knocked them out.....or is it my imagination...and they were never illuminated to begin with. ANY Recollection???....THANKS A MILLION!.................J :D
The dials are illuminated.
you may have broken the bulb or loosened it.
it is located behind the center dial, you just pull the knob straight out and the bulb is there on the bottom.
1 bulb for all 3 dials.
Hey "Blue".....can't wait to see the pics....As said..there is only one bulb for all three dials..simply pull the middle one, and there she is..just use some tweezers to get it out...l also agree with the other member..go with Jerry's stick on variety...much easier....[:D]
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1999 : Black Opal ML 430 : 125,000 KM (traded-in)
2002 : Bordeaux ML 55 : 130,000 KM (traded-in)
2006 : Silver lridium ML 350 : 53,000 KM (stolen)
2006 : Cubanite Silver Metallic : 24,000 KM
I assume you bought the polished aircraft-grade aluminum rings? That’s what I have and you are right, they are a very tight fit. However, I like them much more than the plastic stick-on style because they leave more of the markings on the dial visible and they don’t tend to fall off after the truck has been sitting in the hot summer sun all day.
To make it easier to install them, you can gently bend the flange of the trim ring. I believe the instructions actually suggest this. I had to do this on all three of mine. Be very careful, though, as to not make the flange into a polygon as opposed to a circle. I just did the bending with my fingers, which seems difficult and you feel like you aren’t making any progress, but you actually are angling the metal just enough to aid it slipping into the opening. Also, you might consider removing your wood panel and taking it to a workbench for the installation. It’s easy to remove – just pull the radio out, then the wood panel will unsnap from the dash, undo a few wiring connections, and it’s out.
As others have pointed out, you likely did break the bulb that is behind the center dial. It’s and easy fix. Just grasp the dial tightly with your fingers and pull it from its mount. You will see a small round hole in the clear plastic illumination panel, at about the 6 o’clock position. You may need to use tweezers or small needle nose pliers to remove it. Some have used a small rubber hose to “grip� the bulb and extract it.
Linear Mode
