ok... further bad news. The check engine light went away today... completely. It doesn't even light up with the key in ignition. Took the car to smog check station again because with the check engine light completely gone after the car has started, i thought i might get a low flight by below the radar of smog test stations.

Alas, it was not so. The smog station found that the check engine light doesn't even light up during ignition. So i got a failed receipt. Replaced the gas cap and took the car to the dealership today. The service advisor wants 3 hours just to diagnose the check engine problem. And then whatever needed to be done to repair the light will then be added on. This really pissed me off. I mean, the car passed emissions, the only thing i had to do was replace the gas cap and get this light fixed. And now the service wants another 5~600 bucks to look at the darn light? Plus on top of the light i still had the egr tubing problem to fix.

One thing i did notice with the instrument cluster was that the speedometer and the rpm meter stays at 0 when the car first started. The needles doesn't start working until i've driven the car for at least 5 to 10 minutes. The bad bulb light also has come on, and then the light on the outside temperature indicator has become dim.

Not sure if these are tell-tale signs of a bad cluster board of whatnots. But thought i'd post it to see if any m-benz gurus might've encountered it before.

TIA!

Mars