260E instrument and switch lights have gone - please help

[david searle]

I've just bought a 1987 260E - lovely car and it has only done 80,000 miles - but I've only used it for 2 days when after filling up with fuel for the first time, all the instrument and internal switch lights (electric window swiches etc) have gone out. It is now hard to see how fast I'm going in the dark - which is a problem because it is quieter than the BMW I used to drive.

The light for the gear selection had already gone (but I had assumed this was just a bulb and hadn't got around to fixing it yet). Checked the fuses and (according to the user manual) number 5 covers the instrument binacle and rear brake lights - but the fuse is fine and the brake lights work. All the other fuses are fine too.

The internal courtesy lights still work.

Can anyone give any ideas what it could be? And is this sort of thing normal for Mercedes? The BMW didn't have any problems......

David

 

[dave elcome]

David.

Hopefully Andy will pick up on this post. He gave advice recently about a similar problem, i think it was on a 190 though, but the end reult was that there is a "master" fuse bulb fitted, if this goes, everything goes.

 

[sunil sood]

check the following

fuses sometimes look ok to the naked eye but can be faulty-so replace the fuse with one that you definitely know works(read about this on the usa site).

is the dash illumination knob which is like works like a dimmer switch in the off posstion-ie fully anti-clockwise?-if so turn it clocwise for full brightness-also known as a rheostat.
?faulty rheostat.

faulty master bulb.

 

[Andy]

Hi David,

If all the dash lights have gone off & the centre console lights . I would check normal fuses first. Remove them completely and make sure there are no hair line cracks. If not it will be probably one of two things. Remove the clock assembly. On the back of it on the oil pressure\temp side you should see a red light socket. The rest will be black. This is actually a fuse. Remove it by twisting it 180 degrees. It will pop out. Have a look at the fine wire on it. You will see. If its whole or not. If there is nothing on it at all then its blown big time you will see what I mean. If thats ok I would check the potentiometer. Its the white ceramic funny shaped thing at the bottom of the rear of the clocks held in with a couple of screws. Sometimes you can see the wiriing of the board come adrift. Don't bother trying to repair as it will not or will break again soon. A new one is about £12 or 13.


Good luck. Hope the above makes sense. Or it will do when you remove the clocks. Don't forget what has been said about the fuses though.


Regards

Andy @ www.mercedesservicing.com

 

[JonathanC]

David

Off the wall idea but did you zero the trip counter when you refuelled? Not sure if you are aware but the button to zero the counter also is a dimmer for the panel lights ( I only discovered this recently). You may have inadvertently twisted this buttom, therefore dimming the lights, when you reset the trip.

Sounds daft and I am sure this is too easy but it's the kind of thing I would do, although you are unlikely to be as daft as me!

Cheers

Jonathan

 

[david searle]

Thanks for all the information so quickly - very impressive for an ex-BMW driver!

I did re-set the trip when I filled up, and fiddling with the trip reset switch tonight has brought the lights back. But, I don't think it was that simple - the instrument lights went out totally last night, and when trying it just now, when I dimmed it as far as it will go you can still see some light.

But it is back on for now, and I will make a note of the suggestions if the problem comes back again.

Thanks.

David

 

[JonathanC]

David

Glad that at least now you can see how fast you are going! I still think the dimmer is to blame, it could be that the dimmer for the lights is slightly dodgy and in certain positions breaks the circuit.
This can happen if the carbon track within the dimmer is worn or the wiper that runs over the track is worn. Easy enough to fix - get a new one, they don't cost much.

Cheers

Jonathan

 

[piestore]

dash lights

it was a common fault for the vairable resistor to fail which resulted in no dash lights