New s430 owner, need assistance with instrument cluster

[s430owna]

Hi everyone, a newbie here on this forum and a newbie owning a mercedes.
I bought a 2002 S430 less than a week ago. The vehicle is in flawless condition and doesn't have any problems until today.

I was driving home today and all of sudden all my lights on my instrument cluster went out including lights on the buttons on my dashboard, (hazard, door unlocks, etc..). Also noticed i wasn't getting any turn signal sounds. I thought this was due to a bad fuse and checked mannual for fuse information and the fuse diagram in the trunk. After studying the diagrams and fuse information, i opened up the hood and tried replacing, F20, 21, 22 fuses with spare F5 fuse. When i replaced 22 fuse, all the lights went on in the instrument cluster and dashboard and i was like phewww... but after 5 seconds, lights on my instrument cluster started flickering and went out again. But this time, lights on my bashboard buttons are on and the divided line and pins on my instrument cluster light up. Numbers on speed odometer, letters, fuel indication, all those are out still... Now im pretty much stuck on what to do.. Please advise..

fyi, those lights that are out (Numbers on speed odometer, letters, fuel indication, etc..) do come on for a split second once in a while after engine is on...

 

[M6AJJ]

Hate to say this, but it is a real problen with the S & CL dash cluster.

Mine went exactly the same as yours last summer and in the end the whole thing had to be replaced at a cost of £800.

If you have a full service history, call Mobilo, they will send a technician out to you who will be able to diagnose the fault. If it cannot be repaired (as in my case) and as your vehicle is not legally roadworthy, he will arrange to have your car taken to the dealers and provide you with a replacement S Class all at their expense.

You are still responsible for the repair, but kick up a fuss.
This problem is well known and is the subject of a recall in the States.

I am still trying to get MB to reimburse me for mine, no luck so far, but you may have more chance. If it is any help I could get you details of the US recall.

Best of luck!

 

[jberks]

As M6AJJ says above, there is a known problem with the back lighting on the instrument clusters on the S class.

On the up-side, because it is common, there are several firms that now repair them. Google instrument cluster repair and have a look on ebay.

 

[M6AJJ]

Just seen on E Bay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mercedes-S-cl...627182072QQcategoryZ10398QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Brand new and going for £10 at the moment.

 

[M6AJJ]

And another one, £90

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MERCEDES-W220...627873647QQcategoryZ10398QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Blobcat]

And another one, £90

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MERCEDES-W220-S-CLASS-INSTRUMENT-CLUSTER_W0QQitemZ4627873647QQcategoryZ10398QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I wonder if these on ebay are 'as new' or perhaps have the irritating problem of the lights not working? or am I just cynical / suspicious?

 

[television]

I wonder if these on ebay are 'as new' or perhaps have the irritating problem of the lights not working? or am I just cynical / suspicious?

I have been thinking Bobcat about these things, I wonder what MB do with them, If they are binned, then it is a total sin in this day and age. Most manufacturer's offer Service exchange, Bosch do an exchange service on all of the parts, but never seen such things from MB.
Getting back to instrument cluster's, I wonder if they do send them back and service them, to disgard the whole thing because one silly bit has failed, is a terrible waste of resources,plus a unkind cost to the owner of the car. Also MB have made sure that they get the job by the necessity of removing the Data from the old unit,and transfering it to the new one.
10 years ago these units were repairable and all of the items supplied, A huge step backwards, and can mean that a car 10 years old will have to be scrapped, as the cost of the cluster will exceed the value of the car.

Malcolm

 

[Blobcat]

I have been thinking Bobcat about these things, I wonder what MB do with them, If they are binned, then it is a total sin in this day and age. Most manufacturer's offer Service exchange, Bosch do an exchange service on all of the parts, but never seen such things from MB.
Getting back to instrument cluster's, I wonder if they do send them back and service them, to disgard the whole thing because one silly bit has failed, is a terrible waste of resources,plus a unkind cost to the owner of the car. Also MB have made sure that they get the job by the necessity of removing the Data from the old unit,and transfering it to the new one.
10 years ago these units were repairable and all of the items supplied, A huge step backwards, and can mean that a car 10 years old will have to be scrapped, as the cost of the cluster will exceed the value of the car.

Malcolm

I agree Malcolm, (although it's Blobcat not Bobcat I'm not that fast). I once repaired 80 track breaks in a CCTV monitor system because I didn't want to throw it out. 10 yrs later it still works. I would be interested to see inside one of these instrument clusters. With most 'modern' things everything has 'chips' and the labour to repair means that it is not commercially cost effective. If you have the knowledge and time it is surprising what you can fix.

 

[jberks]

As I understand it, its only the bulb that goes. I assume its a cold cathode setup like you get on ipaqs etc. If I could fix my ipaq for £25, an S class cluster can't be much harder. The yanks seem to fix these things as a matter of course, and were are slowly following with repairers setting up all over the place. Its just an outrage that MB don't supply recon exchange units for a sensible price. Ok they may not make a big profit but it would at least infer they cared. I took this up with MBUK some time ago. Their view was that it wasn't a common fault! Funny how there is an industry forming to deal with them then!

 

[television]

Many people are wary about fixing these things, the risk being that the data can be lost in the process of repair. One would need to spend £20k on the gear to remove and re set the data before starting, and I do not think that this gear is available outside the MB net work. This is why,so far only certain clusters can be repaired outside MB. the speedo head for instance needs to be calibrated to the gear ratio of that particular car along with all of the rest.
Apart from that the electronic service industry is in a state of decline, very few courses exist now,as no one is coming into the trade. As said many times before, anyone can be taught to do a Code read out, when it comes to understanding what you are looking at on an oscilloscope,and really know, is another story. It takes years of dedication and wanting to know whats going on, to get to a reasonable under standing.

Malcolm