tilolite

I recently had the local Benz dealership replace for free the original instrument cluster in my 01 S500 after it went dark. The new cluster does not work exactly as the original. THe half circle of the speedo is darker that the other lights. The worst thing is that my mpg went from around 20 to about 12MPG instantly. Manual calculation shows that nothing has changed (really 20mpg). Has any one else seen these issues with the replacement cluster?

rccmerc

This is not uncommon, the IC has not been coded properly. Take if back and have them fix it. The Dealer will attempt to recode it or Replace the IC again and recode. It is shocking how pathetic/indifferent Dealer work can be.

tilolite

Just called MB dealer to check cluster/reprogram IC. Appointment set for next week. I will provide update next week.

newton22

Exact same thing happened to me. I sent it back again and they got the mileage right, but the new cluster (2nd one) still has a dark speedometer circle. Maybe MB has a bad batch of these?

Whatever, I'll settle.

whoover

The circle indicates (with light intensity) the current cruise control setting. Is that working? Maybe that feature needs version coding too.

newton22

Yes, I know about the cruise control feature. It works fine. It's just that the speedometer ring is SLIGHTLY darker than the other gauge rings.

tilolite

this is the same thing that I have. Hopefully they will be able to fix it. What I am worried about more is the MPG. If it stays at 10MPG, I won't ever be able to resell this car unless I throw in a few Exxon shares.

Frank_S500

The the dealer used the copy seetings feature and forgot to code the proper engine & tank size

Cheers, Frank

Ansonnn

I just had my IC replaced before the weekend. I noticed 2 things. The first being the speedometer ring is slightly darker than my original IC. Can the dealer fix this or is this the way the new ICs are to reduce failure? The numbers are brighter than the speedo ring which is rather odd. Any one else experiencing the same after replacing the speedometer? I can't be only one experiencing this??

Second is that the Telephone and Navi intro screens are aligned to the far left and when the speedometer needle is at rest, it blocks the readout. Why on earth does this new IC not center the messages? All the other messages are centered except for the Telephone Ready and Navi Ready. The word "Ready" when blocked by the speedo needle at 0mph reads "Peady." Kind of annoying. Is this fixable??

Frank_S500

(RTFM)Have you tried to adjust the brightness with the knob ? This is certainly a matter of coding of the IC.

Cheers, Frank

Ansonnn

Of course I have tried adjusting the brightness knob. The brightness knob does not work during the day as the brightness is controlled automatically by the light sensor. The knob works well at night to ONLY DIM the brightness and not brighten it. It is turned to max brightness and the speedometer ring is still is significantly dimmer than the other parts.

Hopefully the IC center display mis-alignment is in fact due to dealer programmability. I will ask the dealer sometime this week.