Without using LEDs alot of members have said that painting the down path of the dash lights white OR using duct work tape (not dull grey but shiny stuff) does wonders.

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

It's not the bulb wattage causing problems, but rather the discoloration and dirt on the reflectors and prisms. You need to clean the prisms, and paint the reflectors white. Add new bulbs, and you ought to be able to see the numbers at night.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

i havent done mine yet. i need to. and i plan on using testors model paint. they have a opalescence reflective white.

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1980 300D

And I would highly recommend against using higher wattage bulbs! The PO did this and melted the reflectors in the instrument panel. Guess what......burnt reflectors put out even less light.

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Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

I tried to do he white reflective paint in my car, but the prisms were to far gone (melted by PO) to evern do anything. In the end I have 4 super white LEDs in the cluster and would never go back to stock.

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1981 300 SD 213k miles "Stock for now"
1999 Super Duty 7.3L 113k miles
1981 300 SD 180k miles "Heavily modified" SOLD

Do NOT use brighter bulbs!

New bulbs alone will surprise you. Paint the needles, etc.

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Light emmiting diodes LEDs put out basically no heat. They are the only sensibkle solution other than trying to restore the old system. There was someone in the last week on site that explained how he did it with leds. The problem with leds has been the light does not diffuse well. On the otherhand there are many improved variations hitting the market perhaps. One gentleman had his leds burn out. That was because his bias resistor was too low in value. Get the bias resistor right and you will probably burn out before the Leds do. With leds the rehostat or dash dimmer control may not be quite as effective as you are dealing with so small a current. I wish someone who has switched over to leds would comment. I think I will try them myself.

If people are interested I can get my dad to write down the schematics from my LED cluster. I'm not the electrical engineer of the family.

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1981 300 SD 213k miles "Stock for now"
1999 Super Duty 7.3L 113k miles
1981 300 SD 180k miles "Heavily modified" SOLD