Dash lights
 

Hi Guys, Have a question, just recently bought a 240D and NONE of the dash lights light up??? Is there a fader swith for them? If so where is it located? Not? What do I look for? (fuses?) Where are they located? Rather be working on my stingrays.

They could just be burned out too.

The rheostat is there, on the left I believe.

there are two shafts coming thru at the lower edge of the instrument cluster, the L one when rotated changes the illumination from DIM to NOT ON ;)
The dimmer is a constant issue with owners of these cars, they get flaky and quit. Also thers usually only one place they work and its easily bumped and the lights go out.
There are some solutions besides replacing the rheostat at a cost of $36 http://catalog.eautopartscatalog.com/mercedesshop/sophio/wizard.jsp?partner=mercedesshop&clientid=catalog.mercedesshop&baseurl=http://catalog.peachparts.com/&cookieid=1OQ0UIR7U1OQ0UJ9DW&year=1982&make=MB&model=240-D-002&category=All&part=Dash+Light+Rheostat
search using the button on the Shopforum web site, you'll find one person developed a way to put LED's in place of the small lamps, a good way to increase illumination without melting the housing (do not try larger bulbs!)
I always jumper a wire across the rheostat to make it always at the max on position, regardless of where the knob is set, thats where the factory SHOULD have designed the fool thing :D

reostat, rebuild, replace or jumper... Mine on the 76 only worked specific spots... which changed everytime i went over a bump... To the point where it stopped working (or i could no longer find the spot)

Turns out the spring fell out of the holder, and I sho goo'd it back... and since i was in there, I sanded the knob clean

~Nate

With my 76 300d I sat and twisted the resostat back and forth for about two minutes to rub off the oxidized metal on the inside and it worked a lot better after that. You might have some luck with that.

I had the same problem on my 240D and replaced all the lights and rheostat. If possible, I would recommend jumping the contacts on the rheostat (as suggested above.) It's not worth buying a new rheostat because the lights (even with new bulbs) are so dim that you will never have them set any lower than high. Try jumping it and see if any of the lights work. If some do, then just replace the non-functional ones and save the $36 for a rheostat.