abenco

I was delivering an 1998 SLK 230 from Las Vegas to Wyoming to my dad. About 3/4 of the way the check engine light turned on. We stopped and checked the gas cover since I'd just gotten gas but it was nice and tight. Waited about 15 minutes then checked the oil and everything seemed fine so I finished the trip. When I got it home my dad decided to unplug the negative cable from the battery because this works with other cars to reset the check engine light when there is no problem. What ended up happening when he reconnected and turned the car on was that the fuel gauge dropped to empty yet it has gas, the temperature gauge went all the way to red even though the car hasn't been driven today, and the ASR light is on as well as what looks like a radiator light. He turned it off and on a few times and nothing changed, he turned it off and came inside. About half an hour later he went and checked it again and noticed that the dash lights were still on even without the key in the ignition. The clock, the miles and the temp were all on. The mile gauge shows all dashes instead of the miles. It's crazy.
We don't have the owner's manual, it's in the mail.

Does anyone have any ideas?

amcfall

The electronics can be finicky and several people have blown the instrument cluster by reconnecting the battery. It's been discussed a number of times on the benzworld forum. I believe there is a shop than will remanufacture them. Many people fit an anti zapper for this reason.

Avery

bazzle

[QUOTE=amcfall;2835562]The electronics can be finicky and several people have blown the instrument cluster by reconnecting the battery. It's been discussed a number of times on the benzworld forum. I believe there is a shop than will remanufacture them. Many people fit an anti zapper for this reason.

Avery[/QUOTE

X2

Look for Matson Anti zap for next time. Most modern computer cars are sensitive to voltage spikes.
Sorry about your int cluster mate

Buellwinkle

This is not an ordinary car, it's a Mercedes. If it was realiable it would not wear the Mercedes badge. Next time, don't play with the battery, especially if you don't know your radio code as you'll need that to make the radio work again. Use an OBD2 scanner as you'll soon find out is very important in MB ownership.