gmandrik

Alright guys, I'm in desperate need of help/advice.

I have a 2004 clk500 and I have a rather odd Instrument cluster problem. Most of the time when I turn the car off and let it sit there for a while and then come back and put the key in, my instrument cluster doesn't power on for a while. There is absolutely no illumination and my speedo/tach are not working during this period. If I pull the cluster fuse and put it back in, it powers on right away. Once the cluster does power on, it will work just fine for the rest of the trip until I leave the car for a while again. I also noticed that when the car just sits there, every about 5 minutes my analog clock resets itself going backward for a while and then forward to reach its proper time position.

The battery is rather new but I went ahead and checked it anyway and it's in top shape. I also cleaned the pin connector in the back of the cluster and that didn't seem to help. It's really driving me nuts . Can it be my capacitors on the cluster failing? I'm royally confused here . Any advice will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Rudeney

It sounds like the cluster is losing power. Maybe there is bad wiring from the fuse to out. I'd try ringing it out with an ohm meter.

gmandrik

I checked the power supply and everything looks good and consistent. Makes me believe that the issue is in the cluster itself. Possibly relay or capacitors?

Rudeney

If it's the cluster, then there's not much to do but replace it. And that is expensive - it has to be a new "virgin" unit and it has to be coded with options and have the odometer set from the EIS. If you put in a used cluster, it will show "------" for the odometer and it will lock out all coding for it and the EIS (this is the situation I have with the C420). I have heard that if you can get a used cluster's odometer zeroed with aftermarket equipment that you can then use it like a virgin unit. I haven't tried that, but I spoke to Hartmut at Palo Alto Speedometer who will charge $175, but I haven't had time a chance to ship off a used cluster to try yet.

gmandrik

Does anyone know of any decent places that could refurbish my cluster? I came across some places in UK but would prefer to keep it in US due to shipping times

Rudeney

Call the guys at Palo Alto Speedomoter - they have genuine VDO equipment and seem to know their stuff.