Instrument cluster not working?
here so go easy on me I'll try to give as much info as I can. I have a C200 CDI 2008, firstly my car would randomly die on start up, the car would unlock, all dashboard lights/radio/screen would work but when I go to turn the ignition it would completely kill the power to everything.
The only way to get it to work would be to wiggle the wire on the battery then everything would turn back on and start up again. After it happened 2 or 3 times I charged the battery up, and it stopped happening.
Now maybe 2 weeks later I've started the car up, and the clocks have stopped working, along with the controls on the steering wheel, the rest of the car all seems to have power and be working, it starts and the radio and rest of the dash works.
The strange thing is that since this has happened the clocks back Lighting is coming on, usually when the cars been left a few hours. even when there are no keys plugged in, and drains the battery overnight. I've put the keys in when the back-light is showing and it's the same situation as when it's not showing, car starts, everything works except the clocks and steering wheel controls.
I did replace fuse F28 and F5 after searching prior to writing this post - but that didn't work. So I'm thinking next thing I should probably try a new battery? Or should I be looking to replace the instrument cluster or both? If i need new clocks is there a way to show the correct milage of the car?
Attached a pic to show what I mean. Appreciate any help
Then I connected it back to the car and it read 12.1V, but the clocks have started working again. I'm not sure if this is because of the battery being charged because I did try that once before hand, or that I hadn't disconnected the battery since putting in the new F5 fuse, and maybe that had an effect with resetting the cluster or something? I dont know.
I also tested the voltage on start up and it dropped from the 12.1V to 8V, before going back up. from reading having a drop that big can be a sign there's an issue with the battery?
The clocks are working but the original issue was back, where the car would die on start up, and you'd have to move the wire on the battery for the power to come back on? I've added 2 pics, so you can see that once the wire has been moved the light in the boot will come back on and you know the powers back.
Am I best off replacing the battery? Or is this caused by something else? Now the clocks are working I assume the back-light won't stay on and the car won't drain again, the car still starts ect and there's power to everything, just sometimes you have the move the wire to enable that.
Thanks for any help.
Last edited by Azazel9; Jan 15, 2022 at 10:51 AM.




The two problems I see are 12.2v after charging and 8v when cranking.
There is a problem with your battery replace it asap it should be 12.8v after charging and drop to something like 12.1v when cranking.
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They found a fault and repaired it, clusters been fine ever since.
Edit: This was the site I used, https://www.ecutesting.com/
here so go easy on me I'll try to give as much info as I can. I have a C200 CDI 2008, firstly my car would randomly die on start up, the car would unlock, all dashboard lights/radio/screen would work but when I go to turn the ignition it would completely kill the power to everything.
The only way to get it to work would be to wiggle the wire on the battery then everything would turn back on and start up again. After it happened 2 or 3 times I charged the battery up, and it stopped happening.
Now maybe 2 weeks later I've started the car up, and the clocks have stopped working, along with the controls on the steering wheel, the rest of the car all seems to have power and be working, it starts and the radio and rest of the dash works.
The strange thing is that since this has happened the clocks back Lighting is coming on, usually when the cars been left a few hours. even when there are no keys plugged in, and drains the battery overnight. I've put the keys in when the back-light is showing and it's the same situation as when it's not showing, car starts, everything works except the clocks and steering wheel controls.
I did replace fuse F28 and F5 after searching prior to writing this post - but that didn't work. So I'm thinking next thing I should probably try a new battery? Or should I be looking to replace the instrument cluster or both? If i need new clocks is there a way to show the correct milage of the car?
Attached a pic to show what I mean. Appreciate any help
I want to let you know I have the same problem for few days.
My car is C200 1.8 Kompressor. 2009.
Even if the engine is off that light os not coming off.
After I my battery was dead overnight, when I started with jump leads the cluster was work I only for few seconds and then comeback to the same light.
What do you think I should do please ?
On tester says… cluster faults …
Many Thanks


