I've never pulled out the instrument panel, i hope its as easy as you guys have explained it. Cause it was a bitch on my 190e i never finished that ODO and lighting has been non fuctional.
Well allow me to post the first failure ... though I haven't given up yet.
I have a full temp display, and a lot more of my clock and if I push in just the right places I can get the full clock.
But... once I snap on the back two peculiar things happen that don't happen while the unit is completely apart.
1) My gas needle gets sticky, sometimes it moves, sometimes it doesn't, and often it makes a not so nice clicking noise.
2) When I turn on the headlights the low gas light and whatever that little circle light next to it both light up.
I'm thinking the shim I used is too dense and too thin, I should've tried something with a little more give and a little more thickness, so I'm going to try that this weekend... only have to drive about 20 miles between now and then so hopefully that clicking noise isn't going to cause anything to get worse.
Skiflyer... the guages did a similar thing when I reconnected. It should adjust itself. You may need to disconnect and reconnect the two plugs in the back as I did to get the guages to set properly. As far as the loss of pixels the only thing that worked for me was cutting strips of that aluminum AC duct tape and placing them where I found just the right pressure points.
I had to do this even with the back panel of the cluster because I would get all the pixels working while the cluster was out and then when I would start pushing the cluster back in place I would loose some pixels. I then used the same tape to secure pressure on the back cover of the instrument cluster. It's trial and error but worth the satisfaction when done!
well the thing is, I was hooking up the cables while I had the front and back removed and the gauge was fine, then I'd snap on the back and it'd go haywire... then I'd take it off and try again, gauge was fine. So I'm not sure what's up... but I'll put some miles on and see what happens.
Much more concerned about the extra lights that are on right now though.
I'll try the duct tape, because that's exactly what I'm seeing. I'm also considering figuring out exactly how to remove the entire circuit board so I can really get in there and play with the pressure points. I started at 10pm last night... this time I'll wait til I have a few hours to play around with all the details.
Oh... and in the true DIY fashion... my toolset was, a parker stainless steel jotter pen, two steak knives, a pair of scisors, and a mouse pad.
First of all, HUGE props to Franasia for his fantastic pictorial! I just spend about 4 hours on this. I had the cluster out and separated from its shell and the shims in (I started with a mouse pad) within half an hour. Then...the trouble began.
I took the disassembled cluster to the car and plugged in cables. I had the clock fully displayed, but broken digits on the temp side. That's where the "trial and error" began. I ended up leaving the mouse pad shim in place on the clock side, but ended up using some foam, a rather thick piece, on the temp side. I'm posting pics of results.
By the way...that kinda broken temp reading is correct here in south Texas today. It's F**KIN' HOT. I will revisit this repair in the fall. But I am HAPPY with the limited success. I no longer have any fear of working on this cluster.
Well...after a couple of hours...back to more of the same...PLUS notice how the needles for speedometer and tach are hanging below the zero? BOTH give incorrect readings while driving or idling. I AM SICK OVER THIS...SHOULD HAVE LEFT WELL ENOUGH ALONE!
Anyone know if these will re-set or a way to re-set them. I'd rather have my tach and speedo working than these stupid pixelated numbers. Anyone with any info on this problem please reply.
A few days ago, i called the Benz Dealer here in Long Beach, CA, and i got quoted $1,080 on a brand new cluster. That doesn't include labor for putting it on and reprogramming. So i was really really really really lucky and i bought one on EBAY for $300. It's BRAND SPANKIN' NEW! A customer had a Mercedes Parts store order it for him. He paid for it in full, and guess what? THE CUSTOMER NEVER PICKED IT UP! So that same store put it up on ebay for only $300!!!!!!
If there's anyone interested in mine, let me know. I'll let it go for $150 shipped.
The ONLY PROBLEM is the pixels in the clock. It's in mint condition, no scratches, absolutely no damage.
Let me know guys. Thanks.
I'm confused...it's new, but it has pixels out? There are other clusters with pixels out for less than $150 on eBay. You might want to clarify or I doubt you'll get any buyers. Good luck.
Well...after a couple of hours...back to more of the same...PLUS notice how the needles for speedometer and tach are hanging below the zero? BOTH give incorrect readings while driving or idling. I AM SICK OVER THIS...SHOULD HAVE LEFT WELL ENOUGH ALONE!
Anyone know if these will re-set or a way to re-set them. I'd rather have my tach and speedo working than these stupid pixelated numbers. Anyone with any info on this problem please reply.
Thanks
Wow, that really sucks...I've never seen that before - sorry to hear about it. There are places that fix these clusters so you might want to go that route if no one else knows what's up. Do a search and you'll see what I'm talking about. Good luck.
I'm confused...it's new, but it has pixels out? There are other clusters with pixels out for less than $150 on eBay. You might want to clarify or I doubt you'll get any buyers. Good luck.
LoL. I'm so sorry bro. i didn't mean to confuse anyone. What i'm selling is the current one i have. the original one that came with the car. not the one i bought from ebay.
The one i'm trying to sell has pixels that aren't working where the clock is.
regsatx... I'm not sure if it'll work for you, but my needles had also moved out of position (temp, fuel and rpm) and I manually moved them until they were set properly. Perhaps while the car is off you can set the needles the zero positions and then they will adjust... or while car is on (if necessary) only if you know where they should read. The only one that did not adjust properly on my cluster was the temp which reads about 60 degrees when it normally read about 80 degrees before. No big deal... since I know that and can compensate for that reading if it starts to climb. I'm sure I could have gone back and adjusted that needle but I had the pixels at 100% read that I did'nt want to open the cluster and start all over again.
Linear Mode
