ram0201

Mine is a full digital display - left and right side. While driving the digital driver display on the left completely goes blank, including the head up display, for a while - few seconds, and completely restarts - as if the car was started, all while driving. I have noticed this happening a third time... is this due to some lose connections of the cable? battery? any help / guidance will be highly appreciated. I was at a car clean shop yesterday, and blew high speed air and vacuumed the car inside. not sure if this set something loose?

ram0201

one update.. the widescreen cockpit is completely blank now.. looks like some fuse blew?! Anyone help?

ua549

Look for blown fuses otherwise visit your MB service department. Attached is a fuse diagram I posted 5 years ago.

ram0201

Thanks.. i checked the passenger side fuse for instrument cluster - it seems to be intact.. no problem..

started the car this morning, the screen appeared after a few seconds, and then slowly it went dimmer and off, and then couple of times it came back on and then went off again - now its completely dark/blank.

i will take it to mercedes.. i dont have an warranty for this! there is a carmax warranty though - hope the merc dealer will use that?

figuwx

FYI, the MB dealership will tell you to take it to carmax and carmax will be in charge of the warranty work since it is a carmax warranty and not a MB warranty.

ram0201

Here is a video..this morning the cluster came back to life, but, it just went back to dead after rebooting a bunch of times by itself..

now its dead.. am sure tomorrow AM it will be alive.

Any suggestions?

ram0201

@BenzNinja @BenzNinja USA anything you can help with this issue?

ua549

You may have a faulty or loose connection to the variable dash lighting switch that is next to the headlight on/off switch.

ram0201

Thank you.. i thought so, but, the entire system goes off, not just the instrument cluster, but the head up display too, and some more - the backlighting of the light switches etc... so it is some sort of power failure when the engine starts to run and the components heat up... somewhere i read about IC's failing and these are fail safe ones.

ua549

Does it go off before you touch the start button, i.e, when you first enter the car and wait? The instrument cluster should be on, but not the entertainment display.

ram0201

great question... Now that it is afternoon - it is completely off/dark. The last two mornings, it showed up when I just entered before touching the start button, but I didn't see how long it was on. Do you think I should let it on if it stays on, without pressing start for a while (will that reset something?) i can try that tomorrow !

figuwx

that looks like a communication issue between the dash and the other systems since both dash and infotainment display keep disappearing. At this point, if you have a warranty with carmax, i would take it to them to have them rectify it.

A MOST failure would only impact the right panel not both.

ram0201

i did check this 2 times.. it does go off before i touch start button.. now, it goes off quicker than before.. earlier it used to stay for say 1 minute, now just a few seconds.. i also noted that the lane assistance triangles in the mirror do not light up anymore.. the head up display won't work too.. several items..

ua549

Time to visit a MB service provider.

ram0201

Yes. The problem at NJ area is they don't take cars for service easily..backed up for 3 weeks.. tells how poor is their service department and the cars!! I am still waiting..

figuwx

hopefully you scheduled yourself in the waiting list.

What has carmax said about warranty?

ram0201

I got it now to Mercedes at Union NJ... they said it will take another week for them to even look into it! (Last time I will own a Merc - service is definitely an issue) with the amount of cars that are broke down, he said about 60 waiting before mine!

Carmax was/is not much helpful. Never buy again from them. They sell warranty that is garbage (i bought a 5 year one). the process is CUMBERSOME. Everything is on us. I dont have the promised rental car. Many places do not accept this third party warratny. It is NOT even carmax, it is some third party called CNA they contract with... but when we buy a car, they say carmax maxcare - all TOTAL BS.

As a customer this is painful. I have least hope that they will cover.

I have least hope that the Merc folks will address/fix this issue. I have read many places that this is a common unfixable issue. fingers crossed on this 55k to me lemon.

read these...

https://forums.mbclub.co.uk/threads/...and-on.274794/

https://mbworld.org/forums/w213-amg/...-randomly.html

there are several 100s of these if u google them... class action will be best.

figuwx

class action is only a win for the lawyers. The plaintiffs never get anything of value out of it (either money, warranty service etc).

With that said, sorry to hear about the slowness of the dealer in the east coast. that is nation wide. Thank goodness my car is out of warranty so i take it to an indy Euro shop and they usually fit me in same day for service A or couple of days tops for Service B.

ram0201

good for you. I did ask a euro shop (very well known one), but they said these malfunctioning isn't something they can fix or point to...

now after all this drama, it feels like a software bug to me (something like you remember the old days when memory fails, the blue screen appears or hangs... or some system files are corrupted, it reboots only at times)?

ua549

In the Tampa Bay area there is no waiting for service from a MB dealer. My very busy dealer does oil change service (Service A) without an appointment while you wait. For more complex service appointments can be scheduled within a couple of days. If a loaner is requested allow a week for an appointment.

ram0201

dealer calls me today and says the entire instrument cluster screen has to be replaced!

i dont know how that will fix all the problems (screen blank (sometimes on and off during drive) is one issue, but head up display not working, blind spot monitoring sound does not work, indicator lights work but no display or sound, several backlighting doesn't work, auto start/stop does not work!!) will screen replacement fix all this at once? the dealer says they have to go one by one!!

but the thing is while driving it sometimes works, and everything works ok during that time for a few seconds..

here is a video made during delivery to the dealer

ua549

If it was my car, I'd sell/trade it because the repairs are into the thousands of dollars.

ram0201

see my other post.. trying to now work with MB USA to consider options for buyback... there are other issues too with this car that are unresolved, and they are stepping in

BeachBunny

Make sure you file a NHTSA complaint about this issue... the instrument cluster going out is considered to be a major safety issue and NHTSA will definitely investigate it.

ram0201

yes, i have done that long back.. but NHTSA is not helpful at all!