Dash & Instrument Cluster Dead

[harleyman55]

Hi - Everything on the main instrument cluster above the steering column is dead. Fuse was the first thought but am very unclear from the fuse panels diagram as to which one it might be. it is a 2001 CL500. Anybody with help will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

[eGuru]

Hi and welcome to the club. There was a recall for this problem about a year ago. Have a look at this thread for more info:

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=24232

 

[M6AJJ]

Yes, definitely a recall for the cluster. You, or the previous owner should have had a letter from MB about 18 months ago asking you to return the vehicle to the dealer. From what I understand, even if it was replaced, you then had a further ten year warranty on it so nothing to lose taking it in to the dealer.

 

[harleyman55]

Thanks

I appreciate the feeback. Thanks for the help. MB here I come............

 

[robschoice1]

I thougt [from reading the threads on the other MB site] that it was not all CL500's but only those cars affected by three particular batches of Instrument Cluster Is this right?

 

[jberks]

is the cluster actually dead or just unreadable? AFAIK the backlights on those clusters fail rendering them unreadable. Its just a cold cathode bulb which can be replaced by a number of firms these days (MB will only sell complete dashes).

Crazily they've introduced the same bulbs (though not as critical) on lots of other models now with the same issue. I had the cluster on my 3 year old E class replaced because the bulb went. £800 if it had been out of warranty. Lots of work in the future for the after market boys methinks.

 

[psmart]

Dont laugh....

W203 C220cdi MY2003, came to use the car today after 2 weeks, everything fine for a 2 mile trip, parked up, then when I came back, following faults seen:

1. Cluster completely dead, no display and no speedo, or any lights on the dash.
2. All automation disabled (ie. Sunroof, gear change, indicator click)
3. Gearbox limited to 3 gears
4. Starting is a problem, have to disconnect battery, ensure all is powered off, re-connect then quickly jump in car and start! Would indicate voltage of battery low, but volt test shows not to be the case.

Plugged in diagnostics and no Instrument Cluster exists, so the computer must be down! Removed all fuses, non blown (engine compartment, passenger compartment and boot).

Any ideas, were any C' classes re-called for display failure?

 

[television]

I will look it up in the morning

 

[television]

Your Front SAM needs to know that the cluster is ok with other things..I think that it is a CAN BUS fault and common on the 203 and the cluster plugs in on the X30 can connector.

The convenience features also run from the front SAM, and this could well be a water ingress fault

The instrument cluster uses the control module A1

 

[psmart]

Hi Malcolm,

Many thanks for the info, your information is very accurate and useful. Yesterday when I put my hand behind the dash it did feel wet. I ran the car for over 100 miles full heating on and aircon on, but still after disconnecting and reconnecting the battery the fault persisted. I put the C-class battery on charge overnight as a precaution and this morning was registering at 12.77 volts.

This morning I took the battery out of the ML and swapped it over (the ML battery is a carbon fibre unit and its on-load voltage was 12.89v) and low and behold, the C came back to life, everything working (except all modules registered a voltage fault). So it was either water thats now dried off, or the C-class battery has a fault on a cell. Will see over the next few weeks what happens, but in the mean time will try and buy a dash removal tool to see if water is ingressing.

Thank-you very much Malcolm.