W210 Instrument Pod Repairs / Echange?

[boggie]

Hi All,

Our W210 AG Instrument Pod has problems with both side LCD displays. Sections of the LCD matrices are not working so full characters are not displayed. This in turn, turns the time, temperature and gear indicator info into meaningless hieroglyphics. Oh what fun we had playing the “Guess What Time/Temprature/Gear We Are In” game. The miles seemed to melt away…. However, it has been steadily getting worse to the point now where no one knows what to guess and no one knows who is right if they do. Just meaningless blobs and dashes.

So, time to get it sorted: I imagine that no matter how simple the actual fault may be, the MB way of fixing this issue is to replace the whole pod. Mucho Spendio. My question is: Is there an alternative?

Surely the actual fault is something relatively simple like a connector, the LCD displays or the display processor? I am sure that many people must have spotted this opportunity to make money by replacing these relatively cheap components. It is I am led to believe, a common problem with the W210 and many other modern cars.

If this be the case, can any of you old sages point me in the direction of a reasonably priced, reliable, fast Pod Reconditioning facility? An off the shelf, exchange service would be good. If they had an on-site ‘fit it and program it, while you wait’ option it would be better and if they were located within easy reach of South Bucks / West London it would be even better still but it would be rather nice if there also happened to be a nice pub within easy walking distance for a pie and a pint whilst they swap the pods. That should narrow the field down a bit.

Many thanks!

 

[Will]

Hi there,

There's been a few threads on this recently so it's well worth a quick search

In a nutshell - there's a chance that you'll be able to DIY-repair it if you're good at that sort of thing. Not complicated, a little fiddly/time consuming, but possibly worth a shot. Not guaranteed to work completely - might be a 90% fix if you're lucky, or a perfect fix if you're really lucky

The other option is a repair from a proper speedo/cluster specialist. Prices seem to be around the £100-150ish mark, quite a few places doing them now with upto 3 years warranty. Google turns up a few, but most of them are mail order - you might find a place nearer that would do a sameday/mobile service for slightly more.

Will

 

[IanT]

Boggie,

I posted my solution here:

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/77115-dash-display-dying.html#post857257

I fixed it myself, successfully. Fiddly, time consuming and risky but very cheap.

Ian.

 

[lynall]

Google bba reman kent



Lynall

 

[boggie]

Excellent Information - much appreciated!

Definately worth a go at fixing it myself, I have repaired mobile phones and a PDA with screen issues in the past. I can't make it much worse and if I am not happy with the results I have only lost some time attempting the fix so will bite the bullet and get an exchange unit.

Removal looks easy too so I will give it a go at the weekend.

Thanks All

 

[boggie]

What a fantastic resource this forum is! I can report that following the instructions on this post to remove the pod: Pod Removal And then this post to repair the pod: Pod Repair I have sucessfully fixed the LCD displays on both sides of the instrument pod, saving myself around £800 at MB stealers.

There are a couple of additions and clarifications I should make:

On removing pod - Once you have pulled this forward a little with your pullers on either side, start working more on the side nearest the door. You should soon be able to grip the surround with your fingers and simply pull the pod out. Make sure you have moved the steering wheel as far out and down as possible as it only just clears it.

There are two plugs to remove. You will see a light grey lever that needs to swing through 90 degrees to unplug it. There is a small black plastic clip holding the lever in place on the top edge. Simply push this down, swing the lever over the plug and it will come out of its socket.

When MartAD says: "If you liberate the board from the white plastic slighty by pushing the adjacent (below the connection) white clips to one side, you should have enough room to see a gap between the offending rubber and the ribbon cable" the white clips he refers to are on the reverse side of the circuit board from the ribbon connector, one on either side. Unclip these and also the closest of the two white clips on either side of the centre ribbon. Now gently push the whole assembly up by pressing on the three clips in turn, taking care not to strain the ribbon cables. You need to create as much space as possible between the ribbon connector (glued to the circuit board) and the pink rubber strip that is designed to press down upon it (mounted on the white plastic part). Into this gap I slid a double thickness of 1.5mm rubber band, superglued together making 3mm. It is a real struggle to then close the clips with all this extra rubber and you will find they unclip themselves but if you get an assistant to poke a short section of matchstick in behind the clip whilst you hold it tight shut it will be held in place.

I plugged the pod back in and all the display pixels are working again! The whole process took me half an hour and don't be afraid, it is an easy fix and I am no mechanic or electrical expert. As long as you are careful and posess a coat hanger, 1 thick elastic band, some super glue and a match you can save yourself a lot of money with only about half an hour of your time.

Thanks to MartyAD for his posting, a very useful tip.

 

[IanT]

Glad you got it fixed.

Ian.

 

[After Shock]

boggie,

fancy a trip to Stratford upon Avon???

A few beers?? a curry too!!

After your hard work with the solering iron obviously! lol

 

[boggie]

boggie,

fancy a trip to Stratford upon Avon???

A few beers?? a curry too!!

After your hard work with the solering iron obviously! lol

Thanks for the offer but it has taken me weeks to find the time to sort mine.

However, I strongly suggest that if the failed LCDs bother you enough then you should have a go yourself. It really was suprisingly easy and effective, I have never done anything like this before but with the instructions from MartAD it was a breeze!

I decided to give it a go as mine really bothered me so I was going to get it fixed one way or another. I thought that if I failed to fix or worse; really screwed it up, I would be no worse off as I was either going to get a new pod or get mine reconditioned. Worse case scenario would have been: I bugger mine and have to shell out £170 to get it fixed.

Well I was going to pay that anyway so spending half an hour whilst the wife / kids were carving pumpkins was worth a shot. "Nothing ventured"....as they say.

Good luck!