On my 85 300D I lost all my dsahboard and console lighting after connecting a radio and its ACC wire to the ACC wire in the radio harness. I know theres a rheostat on the back of the Cluster that controls this lighting. Does anyone know how I can restore my interior lighting now? I dont need some of the lights but I do depend on the speedo and gas guage and temp guage...

The extra draw might have been just enough to finally make the rheostat break. Its sounds reasonable as thats the commom point in the dash lighting system. I fixed my lights by just soldering a small jumper wire onto the contacts on the back of the rheostat.

__________________
Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

So I dont have to buy a new rheostat, right?

Not unless you absolutly need to dim them. I bought a new one for the 450 when it failed and the new one didn't work other then full on. The wire trick is virtuially free and much more durable then the actual rheostat.

__________________
Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

I pulled my cluster on my 85 300D and I jumped the 2 rheostat connections to make panel lights brighter.
I also noticed that someone was there before and partially cracked e the round keyed electrical connector that runs the show. Also pin 15, the ground pin is missing a lot of brown plastic material around it.
I also noted that when putting in a 1 filament vice double filament (required) bulb into the turn signal/running lamp makes the dash turn indicators screwy...

Anyway my Fuel and Temp guage max out now and my seat belt light comes on periodically. I hate electrical troubleshooting, sometimes it defies analysis................