I get in my car and start it up, turn the lights on and I'm like.. why isnt the gear selector lit up.. or the spedo, or the switches...

I drove home with my cellphone's backlight illuminating the guages...

I wonder if the radio going out the other day has anything to do with it..It happened during the day so the interior lights wouldnt have been noticed..

Today I went to work with the wires for the radio and left some undone( and covered).. Doubt that would have anything to do.. The fuses look fine..

I need to fix this before friday night

Twist your dimmer switch. The potentiometer is probably going. It's a common issue.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

I had a similiar problem with my dimmer switch being intermittent. I eventually cut the two wires going to the dimmer potentiometer and soldered them together. This way I could bask in a whopping 0.000001 lumens coming from the dash all the time.

TimK

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EPA 609 & 608 HVAC Certified
_________________________________________
83' 300D Turbo - 300K + Miles
00' 1.9L TDI Beetle
85' 6.5L Turbo, GV-OD, GMC Suburban,
67' 2.5L Diesel NA - Land Rover Series IIA

Here's what you do if it's so cold your diesel fuel gels. Smear some on some toast and stay inside until it warms up outside.

The dimmer dims the gear selector and switch lights too??

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1985 300TD-euro 352,000 mi
1974 240D (1?)52,000 mi - has a new home now

On mine it does.

It dims all the int lights. No one has ever found a reason not to hard wire it.

__________________
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

except of course for the ability to "stealth mode" on demand...
John

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

whats funny is I checked the fuses and the fuses were the incorrect ones(red).. So I put white ones in where they belonged... Still nothing..

But when I use the rear defrost and push the button it lights up.. nothing else does.. wtf...

Time to pull the clusert and bypass it

The potentiometer is very suseptable to corrosion and breakage coincident with extended presence of moisture in the passenger compartment. Plus they are just prone to break, even if your window seals do not leak...the solder connections are sooo tiny.
However they are also fixable and easily replaceable if you had rather R&R with an OEM new part. Patience is the key here, not a speedy repair but probably plan to take a couple hours or three...relax, listen to some tunes, replace the bulbs while you're inside...

There are several threads thru search about Potentiometer repair and work-around fixes...

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Bama1


2008 SLK 280, Firemist Red - "Hurricane"
2001 F150 Lariat 4x4, Black on Black - "Badboy"
1982 240D 4 speed survivor -"Pearl" - Donated to Vietnam Veterans
1962 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 -"Gertrude"

1954 model original owner - ~2.5M
Gray softtop/solid exterior/modified chassis

With all that chrome I don't think he will be running dark anytime soon. LOL

__________________
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

That term reminded me of "true" stealth mode when I was a teenager and would come home after curfew. I'd drive around the block so I was uphill from my house. I'd kill the engine, the lights, the radio, anything that would make noise other than the key in the ignition so I could turn the wheel. Then I'd coast downhill into the driveway.

I'd check your solder connections on the board, while you have the cluster pulled. I've repaired 3 W123's with bad solder connections on the left cluster, usually causing the lights to go out in the center console, shifter, and instrument panel. Look closely for a broken solder connection, and repair it with a piece of wire and solder, if you find any. If it looks fine, your rheostat is probably to blame. A three hour job? Nah. Pull the cluster, put a new one in, and stick the cluster back into the hole. If you don't have a spare I can see it taking 2 1/2 hours, depending on your soldering skills.

As for the defroster light? There's a light inside of the switch (along with the standard fiber-optic light that goes to it. When it's off, the fiber optics light it up, along with all the other switches. When it's on, it kicks on the switches' internal light which is much brighter.

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(Oo{=|=}oO) 1983 MB 300D USA, 212,000mi. 80's yellow/white. "Gunther"
(Oo{=|=}oO) 1984 MB 300D Euro, Turbo Added in Germany, 186,000mi [SOLD] Missing her dearly.
(Oo{=|=}oO) 1984 MB 300D USA Turbodiesel, 269,000mi. [SOLD]

First of all... the lights are in the list of things to kill so as to be quieter?!?

I can relate to that one too... never had to sneak in the driveway (diesel, good luck...) but I use the dimmer stealth mode whenever my mom's riding with me... keeps her from staring at the speedo the whole time we're driving

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

cant sneak in with a diesel.. and I live on top of a hill...


I fixed it... I had mentioned my radio stopped working so perhaps one of the exposed wires grouned and did something and blew the fuse for the interior lights...

I pulled the wires and capped them and no more blown fuses...