The light went out in my instrument cluster, just got my windows tinted and it feels like driving in a void lol. It’s very hard to tell my speed at night.

i know I need to replace the bulbs but would like to also know how many there are and some of the “while your in there’s”.

I’ve never removed the instrument cluster before….

 

It would be highly unusual to loose all of your instrument cluster lights all at once. Could it be the fuse 14 which also controls the windshield wipers and some exterior lights. ? I forget but I think there are 3 cluster bulbs. I have had the instrument cluster out of my 190E. The hardest part was disconnecting the speedometer cable from the transmission. There are several harness connections to disconnect but each is unique so not a problem. Be careful removing the cluster from the dash so as not to break the edge with a pry tool if you use that method.

 

In agreement with Laura. Your rheostat that dims the lights might be busted or the fuse is blown inside the dash. I assume the lit up switches around the dash are also kaput. They use fiberoptic to lite up those switches. BTW the bulbs in there last forever, because they are not running very hot. The life expectancy goes way high at lower power for edison/tungsten bulbs.
BTW some just short out the rheostat because no one ever dims the dash lights, they are already not bright enough.
Yeah be careful with pulling the dash as to not break the plastic parts. It is an acquired art and small hands help. The plastic parts are almost impossible to purchase these days.

 

Oh wow! I had no clue you could dim the lights on the instrument cluster. I must have turned it while cleaning and wiping my car down inside.

so false alarm, I had already checked my fuses and all and this car has trained me to panic at the smallest things haha

 

This is great news! As for the cluster, once a 190E rolls into a junk yard near you, take the time to go remove it's cluster. Practice makes perfect. You will need to do this at some point in your car.
Also buy the instrument cluster you just removed as it is worth having a spare, even for the parts in it. I have 3 of them now including my original which is not in the car any longer.
A cluster was only $60 or so at the junk yard when I bought mine, probably more now.

 

the triangle between the rear light switch and cluster is cracked, I think the tint guys did it but I’m not upset I have damaged some of my interior trim already over time. I plan to black out the “wood” once I find quality parts.

Sadly we don’t have any 190s in the scrap yards I check every couple weeks but I did almost buy a 93 2.3 for 1000 dollars obo. The dash was immaculate and it had same color interior as my car. I have 1 crinkled door card in the back too

i really hate i had to pass on it, I don’t have space to truly part it out and many other priorities right now

 

the triangle between the rear light switch and cluster is cracked, I think the tint guys did it but I’m not upset I have damaged some of my interior trim already over time. I plan to black out the “wood” once I find quality parts.

Mine just cracked all by itself, spontaneously. It happens. Only plastic crack in my car. Bummed.

 

I am glad that I am not the only one that has a 190E with cracks in the black plastic dash bits. I think the ones on my car may be weather related when the car gets very cold. Soon will be time to put it away for the winter. The moose unting season began a week ago and I have two cabins rented but after the hunters leave I will get busy.

 

I haven’t resolved my AC issues yet to worry too much about this but the plastic open/close vent levers have both snapped internally.

I don’t recall ever actually breaking them they just sort of collapsed in there. I would like to replace those too but haven’t bothered looking into it yet, the fresh air vents are decent this time of year with moonroof

 

The driver side vent lever on mine snapped as well. I stuck it back on with JB Weld and it has held so far after two years or so but I just leave it open anyway.

 

Winter must be right around the corner! Summer went by but too fast..... again.

At least the driver side vent plastic is still for sale. $128 at AutohausAz. I should probably get a replacement. I can not complain as my original lasted 34 years.

 

Yep that left side triangle on mine cracked as well about 10 yrs ago. Back then the junkyard still had goodLike ones, so I grabbed and swapped it in.
Not sure if you've all seen plastic welding, it's sort like soldering. That may be the future to repairing plastic pieces, I"m going to look into getting one.
Just like Dolucasi, I've got extra instrument clusters, one complete and one for parts. I usually put the car on ramps, disconnect the speedo cable at transmission, then pull the triangle and push from behind.
That way you won't stretch the speedo cable and cause the bouncy needle problem.

 

If you don't have the owners manual for your car, you might try finding 1 online because the owner's manual contains such bits of information. Try www.books4cars.com to see if they have it. Maybe the MB Classic Center might still have them.

 

I think you're right. Plastic gets brittle over time and combined with the cold weather, that can cause the plastic to crack.

 

I replaced one of my vents some years ago because the lever had broken off. They were still available through the MB Classic Center but not cheap. I don't know if they're still available or not. Probably a junkyard dash find might be a better way to find this vent. You might also try www.adsitco.com.

 

It's a little unusual that your dash lights went out but certainly not impossible. I would heed Laura and Dolucassi's warnings about removing your dash. Proceed with extreme caution. It's pretty safe to say that many W201 parts and especially interior parts are no longer available and good ones at the junkyards are also getting to be fewer and father between.

 

I'll be curious to know what you think of the plastic welder after you get it and try it out. I agree that that's probably the future with most MB interiors NLA and very few good ones left in the junkyards. I've been very fortunate to avoid this problem so far but never say never. I think information is always a good thing.

 

JB Weld is your friend when patching plastic cracks but apply it from the back side.

 

Definitely agree I've used a lot of JB Weld on both my cars. The R129 suffers from even more brittle plastics, but there are a lot of 3D printed solutions that are better than the original.

 

I've been fortunate to not yet have to deal with any of these issues so I'm open to all solutions. I've been wondering if 3D printing might be an overall solution to the W201 OEM parts shortage in general. Supposedly MB has been using 3D printing for 30 years but it doesn't seem to be showing up in W201 parts availability yet. If I was lucky enough to be an EVO owner, I'd be pretty unhappy about the lack of W201 parts given the ever increasing value of these particular W201 varieties .I keep hoping that the ever increasing EVO values will help to save W201 parts availability for our more mortal W201s.