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I drive a CLK320 04. Recently, I parked my car facing a window store. To avoid the headlight straight on the store windows, I turned all lights off with the engine on, after moving my car I turned the lights on, but guess what, the instrument cluster was as shown in the photo. I checked the fuse and it seems okay. Any idea on what happened and how it can be fixed?
Try pulling fuse #42 (end of dash, driver's side). Leave it out for a few minutes to see if that resets the cluster. Also try twisting the reset stalk to dim and brighten the dash lights. If that doesn't do it, then it's an electrical problem inside the cluster itself.
I tried both, to turn the dim knob on and off and also replace the fuse number 42 after waiting several minutes. It didn't work. About the cluster, does it have bulbs we can replace?
No, it has LEDs that are surface mounted on a Mylar ribbon cable. So the other lights on the dash work, correct? If so, and it's just he cluster, I suspect that the ribbon cable inside the cluster may have cracked so that the power lead is not making contact. If that's what happened, it's not really repairable unless you are HIGHLY skilled in that sort of thing.
I can't think of anything other than an internal failure in the cluster. It's a pretty expensive part to have a dealer replace. If you know of a good electronics repair tech, you might try that route.
The cluster is fairly complex. It could be a cable issue or a chip issue or even a CAN bus fault. Get a used one on ebay for 100$, program the old mileage in it and call it a day.
"program the old mileage in"...that's easier said than done.
Well...Star with developer mode can do it, or if that fails for some reason you can invest another 150$ into a tool designed just for that. So 150x2 and you're 300$ in.
Tip for buying a used Mercedes...always check the mileage in the EZS as well and hope somebody didn't spend 1000$ on the tool that can reset EZS as well as the cluster..
I don't think SDS, even in developer mode, can do this - I tried and never found any way to do that. SDS will only allow mileage transfer between the EIIS and cluster when one is a new, unused part. I had to replace the cluster in the C240 and I went through a lot of attempts at this. I did not want to "tamper" with the system - I just wanted to replace the cluster with a used one that would have the car's correct mileage. Buying a new cluster for around $1000 was an option, but mine was an early build and it had the older style fuel sender system. MBZ quit making the older style cluster, which meant I'd have to replace the fuel sender, rear SAM and cluster. Plus, I could not get a dealer to sell me the cluster without them doing the coding, so i was looking at over $2K in parts and labor for all that.
What I discovered is that if you zero out the mileage stored in a used cluster, then SDS sees it as a new "virgin" unit and will allow you to marry it to the car, which copies the odometer value from the EIS. There are several tools that will do this, but they are all cost in the thousands of dollars. The techs that have these generally charge $300-$500 to do the work for you. I found one option for under $100 - an EEPROM programmer called Carprog. The challenge with it is that the EEPROM has to be removed from the cluster. Now, if you are going to remove the EEPROM, then another option is to transplant your cluster's EEPROM chip(s) to a used cluster. That will work, but in my case, I tried it and ended up running the EEPROM. So, what I did was to buy a bunch of blank EEPROMs and write them with generic code having zero miles (lots of good info on this at http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk).
There are also other ways, but i think they constitute tampering. There is a tool called Tacho Universal that will (somehow) code a cluster to ignore the miles from the EIS and just display whatever is in the cluster itself (hence your comment about checking the EIS's mileage). Another method I;ve heard about is a way to physically jump out part of the electronics in the EIS so it does not communicate mileage to the cluster. Again, those methods seem like tampering, and i wanted no part of that, even though I would never be selling the car.
There are several tutorials online on how to do it with SDS. I have a few spare clusters so next time my cluster is out I'll give it a shot. As far as I remember it involved "virginizing" the cluster first.
In any case, no, you do not have to remove the EEPROM. That was way back in the day. Hand held tools with a display that can easily code mileage are in the 150$ range now. Simple readers/writers that connect to your laptop can be had for like 50$ and also easily read the EEPROM, swap values locally on the computer and re-write it.
Is it tampering? If you don't program the correct mileage most definitely.
There are several tutorials online on how to do it with SDS. I have a few spare clusters so next time my cluster is out I'll give it a shot. As far as I remember it involved "virginizing" the cluster first.
Well, yes, the cluster (or EIS, whichever you need to replace) needs to have zero miles in its stored odometer values. But it doesn't take developer mode to program a "virgin" cluster or EIS - that's a native function of the "stock" SDS.
In any case, no, you do not have to remove the EEPROM. That was way back in the day. Hand held tools with a display that can easily code mileage are in the 150$ range now. Simple readers/writers that connect to your laptop can be had for like 50$ and also easily read the EEPROM, swap values locally on the computer and re-write it.
When I did the C240's cluster, the tools I found that could program the cluster's EEPROM either through the OBDII or through the clsuuer's wiring harness were well into the thousand dollar range,and those were "hacked clones". The genuine tools were in the $5K++ range. Of course that may have changed over the last few years.
Is it tampering? If you don't program the correct mileage most definitely.
That mirrors my thoughts, but I think technically, in most states, changing ANYTHING dealing with an odometer is considered "tampering" and must be reported on the title or odometer statement, even if performed by an authorized service center.
Well, yes, the cluster (or EIS, whichever you need to replace) needs to have zero miles in its stored odometer values. But it doesn't take developer mode to program a "virgin" cluster or EIS - that's a native function of the "stock" SDS.
When I did the C240's cluster, the tools I found that could program the cluster's EEPROM either through the OBDII or through the clsuuer's wiring harness were well into the thousand dollar range,and those were "hacked clones". The genuine tools were in the $5K++ range. Of course that may have changed over the last few years.
That mirrors my thoughts, but I think technically, in most states, changing ANYTHING dealing with an odometer is considered "tampering" and must be reported on the title or odometer statement, even if performed by an authorized service center.
I won’t post any links for obvious reasons but the tech on the w209...era cars has long been cracked and hacks for it are rather affordable right now. You can even take it to your local shady guy who’ll take care of it for cheaper if you don’t want to invest in the hardware.
As far as reporting it or fearing it's tampering who cares...how is a merc dealer charging 2k for an instrument cluster not tampering....with your wallet that is. 300$ and you’re back in business. These cars are worth what now....6k? You can’t pay 2k for a cluster because the initial engineering was shoddy and some ribbon cables decided to leave the circuit board.
Back to my first post on the instrument cluster backlight, I still didn't find solution. The issue is that the backlight doesn't turn on, all the rest is working fine as it should. I've contacted some firms to repair but so far, I found none. The CLK W209 cluster doesn't use light bulbs similar to other clusters that you can replace from the back of the unit. It seems that in my cluster the light bulbs are inside the unit, maybe soldered to an electronic board, although I am not sure about that. I wished I could know. I assume there're more than one backlight bulb in this unit. It's strange that all backlight bulbs turned off when I turned the headlights switch off. If it was just one backlight bulb, but all, it my lead to another failure, such as a bad contact or other devices in connection to it. I'm now wondering whether the problem is the instrument cluster itself or a bad contact from the headlights switch module. That's how the issue came up. The engine was on, the headlights were on, the instrument cluster backlight was on, I turned the headlights off and the instrument cluster backlight suddenly turned off and never turned on again. If the root cause is the headlights switch module, it would be much cheaper to fix with an used part. I don't know if there is any way to test it before investing on that. Any comments?
The lights are surface-mounted LEDs soldered onto a flexible Mylar circuit board which basically means they are not repairable. There is not a direct connection between the light switch and the backlights. They are activated electronically via CAN bus signals. However, I suspect the dimming feature has them all wired through a single circuit within the instrument cluster and that's what has gone bad.
Any new updates ? I have the exact same issue on my w211 2007 e350. I removed teh cluster and found no accessible light bulb that can be replaced.
Same with mine. Backlight is off, all the rest seems be working. I contacted a guy who advertise at eBay. He said can take I look at if I send my cluster. If cannot fix would not charge. I didn't do that yet, but if you wanna contact him, his eBay name is ezelectronics201. Let me know what you get. Thanks
When you rotate the stalk to adjust the brightness, does it change the the backlighting on other components, such as the buttons on the center console or ACC panel? If not, then the adjustment in the cluster has failed. If it does adjust other lights, then I suspect a physical break in the Mylar ribbon cable inside the cluster. Either way, it would require a skilled electronics repairman to fix.
When you rotate the stalk to adjust the brightness, does it change the the backlighting on other components, such as the buttons on the center console or ACC panel? If not, then the adjustment in the cluster has failed. If it does adjust other lights, then I suspect a physical break in the Mylar ribbon cable inside the cluster. Either way, it would require a skilled electronics repairman to fix.
Yes, brightness button is working; only the backlighting is off. It could be a bad connection, but I also removed and reinstalled the cluster and it's still the same, no backlight. I'm waiting for the opportunity to remove and send it to that guy to see if he can fix it. I assume I cannot drive or whether the car will work without it, right?
The car will work without the cluster installed, HOWEVER you should not drive it. The odometer mileage is stored both in the cluster and int he ignition switch. If these get too far out of sync (I think about 60 miles?) then it locks out the reading and there is no "official" way to fix that. Also, it will generate a hard SRS fault that will need to be cleared using an appropriate diagnostic tool, so to prevent that, son;t even switch on the ignition without the cluster installed.
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