[Jan T]

Anyone know what this white mark is on my RPM gauge at the bottom of the temp reading? It just appeared yesterday when I started up the car, but was not there the day before.

WhiteMarkOnDash by JanDaMan, on Flickr

 

[rudeney]

Defective LCD panel.

 

[Jan T]

Defective LCD panel.

Thanks, any ballpark ideas on cost to fix something like that? I can only assume financially counterproductive to fix since our cars are hardly worth anything now.

 

[rudeney]

The "official" solution is to replace the entire instrument cluster, which is a $2000++ job. I seem to recall this coming up before and someone found a DIY solution:

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r230-sl-class/1654890-sl-instrument-cluster-lcd-panel.html

 

[funymuny]

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r230-sl-class/2267810-instrument-cluster-inkblot.html

Search google for pink shrimp sl lcd panel. Fairly common.

I expect it is this...it can change, morph, but believe the long-term trend line is only one direction. I did find an 'expensive' instrument shop to replace mine, move the miles over (mine was on the speedometer). All was fine afterward. Ultimately I sold the car and bought a newer one.

 

[Jan T]

Thanks for the info. I think I will just leave it alone, no big deal.

 

[Jan T]

Went to cruise the coast today and noticed upon start up that the mark grew larger even with the car just sitting there overnight not running. Ugh, may need to have it taken care of with it growing like a virus because now I really notice it. Will look into cost with my mechanic, as my skills may not be that great to do it on my own.

 

[rudeney]

Here's another thread about this:

https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-r230/577200-sl500-2003-instrument-display-led-problem.html

A guy there disassembled his and replaced just the LCD panel with a used one from a "donor" cluster. I've had similar issues with our C240 where the LCD dims when it gets hot. I have found a few places selling replacement LCDs for the C240 for around $70, which is much better than $2K for a new cluster. Just a quick search and I found this:

LCD Display for Dashboard Mercedes Benz R and SL Class

So, someone is making these LCD panels. You may not be able to DIY, but maybe you can find a good indy willing to tackle it this way as opposed to replacing the entire cluster.

 

[kbob999]

You have the infamous 'pink shrimp'!
Here's a DIY I made for it: https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-r230/593796-r230-instrument-panel-lcd-diy.html#post6504485

 

[Jan T]

Ha ha, WTF looks like over time the shrimpie is going away. Here are some more photos where it got worse than the photo above and then began to get better. Not sure if it will revert back to worse later, but it seems it almost cured itself for now.

IMG_4584 by JanDaMan, on Flickr
IMG_4850 by JanDaMan, on Flickr
IMG_5333 by JanDaMan, on Flickr
IMG_5789 by JanDaMan, on Flickr
IMG_6197 by JanDaMan, on Flickr
IMG_6702 by JanDaMan, on Flickr

 

[MrShades]

When the "shrimp" moves around like that it makes me think that the display does not have any broken pixels and that this must be something else

If there where any broken pixels they would be constant and not change and walk around like on your car.

I would phone a Mercedes mechanic and ask about it and also send him send an email with the pictures so they can see what you are talking about

 

[rudeney]

It's not the pixels themselves, but a bad electrical connection in the Mylar ribbon cable and where it attaches to the glass that sandwiches the liquid crystal. It's not something that can be fixed - you have to replace the LCD panel.

 

[Jan T]

It's not the pixels themselves, but a bad electrical connection in the Mylar ribbon cable and where it attaches to the glass that sandwiches the liquid crystal. It's not something that can be fixed - you have to replace the LCD panel.

Thanks for the info, I will just leave it as is and live with it & just enjoy driving it. No big deal for me in keeping it as is, and probably not worth fixing it since these cars sell for pretty much nothing anyway. I just found it interesting to see it disappearing and wondered what was going on.

 

[kbob999]

Thanks for the info, I will just leave it as is and live with it & just enjoy driving it. No big deal for me in keeping it as is, and probably not worth fixing it since these cars sell for pretty much nothing anyway. I just found it interesting to see it disappearing and wondered what was going on.

If you can find a donor instrument panel, you can swap the LCD fairly easily. I wrote a DIY for doing this. https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-r230/593796-r230-instrument-panel-lcd-diy.html

Problem is...most LCD panels are old and the fade with time. Eventually, we won't have any bright ones to use anymore :frown

 

[rudeney]

Something similar happened on the W230 C-Class, but instead of erroneous pixels, it would totally fade when left out in the summer heat. There are replacement LCD panels available for the W203 for around $80. Originally, it was an Italian company making them, then the Chinese got into it. I would guess someone makes them for the W230. BTW, "pink shrimp" is also a problem on the SLK.