Dashboard problem

[Grahamcol]

Hi, I'm new to this forum but have a problem with my 2000 W reg C280 W202 which I purchased 3 months ago. When I took it to my local indie for service, they had difficulty resetting the service assist reminder. However, they managed to do it using star and they reset some stored fault codes at the same time.

However, one fault they noticed and which wasn't cured was that at switch on (pos. 2) most of the warning lights will illuminate very briefly (for about 1/2 a second) and then immediately extinguish (prior to starting the engine). This includes oil warning, ABS warning etc. The instruments however continue to work during this period. My understanding is that all warning lights should continue to light up until the engine is actually started. I'm a bit concerned that at MOT time the tester will see this and conclude the ABS warning light is not following the correct sequence and will probably fail the car although it did have a new MOt when i purchased it 3 months ago and the ABS light does not light up with the engine running. By the way, all warning lights seem to operate when necessary (i.e. when there is a genuine warning) so the problem really only seems to be present prior to starting the engine.

Is this normal on this model ? My indie has suggested it might need a new instrument panel to cure but has suggested leaving it for now. However, I'm a bit worried about the next MOT.

Help please.

 

[fredfloggle]

Having had a similar problem (light wouldn't go off) I asked the test station wheter it was a pass or a fail - they said that it was not part of the test and passed the car.

 

[Grahamcol]

Hi Fred,

Thanks for your reply. Seems you have a somewhat opposite problem to me but thanks anyway.

 

[television]

I would not worry about the problem, the ABS light has to go out in X seconds, once the engine has started.

There is nothing in the test for when the engine is off or not running

 

[Grahamcol]

Thank you television. That helps put my mind at rest. Apart from this I'm very pleased with this car and it was a bargain price with just 61k miles and full service history. It needed lots of (mainly minor) cleaning / polishing etc and some scratches polishing out when I bought it plus a service and one of the rear springs broke shortly after I took it home. However, it's now absolutely stunning and i'm hoping to keep it for many years along with my W202 C200 which is also a fantastic car despite having 119k on the clock.

 

[television]

203's do break springs more than most others in the range, interesting as they do not on the 202

 

[recycled]

actually i think there is an abs sequence., and the lights should go off when the engine is running.
If it does not, it is a fail.
Whether if it goes off before the engine starts as in you case is a fail or not, i do not know.

 

[glojo]

I would hate to ignore a warning light,
It really highlights the cry wolf situation because when will we know when not to ignore it?

I understand and appreciate there may well not be a problem and am not saying there is, I just don't like ignoring any warning light.

Regards
John

 

[television]

I would hate to ignore a warning light,
It really highlights the cry wolf situation because when will we know when not to ignore it?

I understand and appreciate there may well not be a problem and am not saying there is, I just don't like ignoring any warning light.

Regards
John

This is not the issue here, the warning lights will come on if there is a fault.

There is nothing to be gained by looking at an instrument panel when the car is not runnig

 

[recycled]

strange though because if the oil light goes off before the engine starts, does that mean oil is circulating before the pump is even working?
does anyones 202 do this?

Mine does not. i do not think it is an MOT failure, but i do not think it should work that way.

 

[television]

strange though because if the oil light goes off before the engine starts, does that mean oil is circulating before the pump is even working?
does anyones 202 do this?

Mine does not. i do not think it is an MOT failure, but i do not think it should work that way.

If the oil was not circulating the lamp would come on when the engine is running, if the main beam and other lights work,then so are all of the rest

 

[DrNick]

Surely if the oil light goes out before you've even started the engine then there has to be an instrumentation fault.
I conclude from this that there is NO GUARANTEE that the lights will light if there is ever a real fault. This certainly applies to the oil light, and I would suspect will apply to any other light that appears to go off early. In modern cars it is not obvious what controls these lights -older cars had signals coming direct from the various sensors, but modern ones I suspect have various computers in the way and so cannot be second-guessed.
If I was in your position I would be trying to verify these things still work (eg an occasional emergency stop to check the ABS, checking the oil level manually every so often)

 

[Grahamcol]

Thanks everyone. The warning lamps DO light when there is a genuine fault. I've managed to prove this in three ways. 1) If I remove a sidelight bulb, the bulb failure indicator lights up. 2) When I didn't use the car for 6 weeks, both the ABS and BAS/ESP warning lights lit whilst driving for the first journey. I think this was due to low voltage (see other peoples posts about this issue) and once the voltage had risen, the lights did not continue to show after the next start up. 3) The low fuel warning light always comes on when the fuel is very low.

My guess is that the car should get through the MOT but in an ideal world I would prefer to get the car fixed. However, the cost of an instrument cluster is vast and I would rather avoid it if at all possible (like the last owner). In any case, is there any guarantee it is the cluster causing the fault and could it be something else causing the warning lights to function other than was intended by Mercedes ? If people feel it is definately the cluster at fault here, does anyone know of somewhere in the Midlands where I can take the car to be fixed without spending a lot ? I would go back to my indie (WDM Cars, Birmingham) who seem very helpful but they have already advised me that they would be looking to replace the cluster with a new one (not reconditioned or repaired) as they have had bad experiences of using repaired / recon ones. That sounds expensive.