Dashboard stopped working??

[oyohbb]

Hi guys,

Last week I bought a 2007 Mercedes CLK W209 320 CDI. It's beautiful to drive. But this morning, I turned the key and all sorts of weird lights appeared on my dashboard, and the darklight which shows the radio/speed etc in the middle of the speedo went a weird light colour rather than the dark blue/purple.

After a few seconds the dashboard went dead, and it has been that way ever since. Nothing on the dashboard works except the fuel guage and the temperature guage. The speedo, rev counter, indicator lights etc, nothing works. The outside indicators and headlights etc are still working, but there is no way of knowing this from inside.

None of the steering wheel buttons work either. I have searched the forum for this, there have been a couple of users with similar issues but no answers.

I bought the car privately by the way, so I don't have a warranty either.

 

[Vlad]

Not an uncommon problem....if you get the dash pod taken out you can send it to BBA Reman and they will fix it for you. From memory @ £250

 

[npuk]

Cluster Repairs UK - Instrument cluster speedometer repair, correction, modification and spares.

 

[oyohbb]

Cheers guys. Quick update, it doesn't look like it's off, basically it's stuck. The fuel and temp gauge are stuck, and the purple display is on but there is no text.

Cluster repairs in Edmonton is not too far from me. I might try and disconnect my battery and reconnect to see if that can reset my display.

 

[bigfatjim]

You say you bought the car last week. Was that from a trader?

 

[oyohbb]

No I bought it privately. The instrument panel is definitely stuck, not dead. Now it's dark, you can see its on and bright purple.

 

[bigfatjim]

I would start by checking the panel is plugged in correctly. Sounds as if it may a simple loose plug at the back.

 

[oyohbb]

I've disconnected and reconnected the battery and it's back now. How odd. My engine mgmt light has come on now! Grrr

 

[oyohbb]

After a three drives the engine management light has cleared too and the car is as good as new!

 

[bernstein]

After a three drives the engine management light has cleared too and the car is as good as new!

I had a similar fault on a 2007 E320 5 years back. Same solution, remove the connector and plug back in again. The fault reappeared after 6 months, same solution. 3 months, same. 1 month, same. Eventually every day. I went to a cluster repair man and he told me the fault was not repairable. Fitted a replacement cluster and have had no trouble since. Mileage reading is miles out but everything else is perfect.

 

[zipdip]

Happened to me on a company Vectra,all I had was indicators,20 mins with the battery disconected and it all came back and never did it again.

 

[Dryce]

After a three drives the engine management light has cleared too and the car is as good as new!

I had the dash die on my W211 I owned some years back.

The battery needed replacement.

Watch out for a message such as 'comfort settings disabled' appearing if the car is left with the engine switched off but the electrics switched on.