Amp rating of red instrument cluster fuse
 

Does anyone know the amp rating of the small red fuse in the back of the instrument cluster. I am not sure whether the red color is just to make it stand out or if, like the other fuses, the red color means 16 amp.

Thanks

If it is a bullet shaped ceramic or plastic fuse it will be 16 amp.

16 amps seems like alot for a instrament cluster . . . to me anyways . . . could be that it was a 16 that someone else stuck in there, but not sure what it should be, my instinct tells me about 5 amp . . .

If it's a 123, under the fuse cover is a color coding if it's not gone. IIRC, white is 8, red is 16, and blue is 25. They put like circles, squares and colored circles for ratings on the cover too.

Thanks for the answers. I know the color codes but I am with Shawn in saying that 16 amps on the back of the cluster seems a bit much. Which is why I am asking the question because I can find nothing that references the amps for that fuse.

Frank

What car is it? On my 126 I don't remember seeing any fuse on the back of the instrument cluster.

My w123 does nt have any fuses on it either.

It is an 87 300TD, W124 although someone commented that their 87 W124 did not have it but later models did for sure. My W126 does not have one either.

Cluster fuse (be careful spelling that!)
 

Here is a picture for comparison. I put the section from the '89 gasser in my '87 300D and hooked the "economy" gauge into the transmission vacuum line so it works just like it does on the gasser cars. I had to swap in the faceplate from an older W126 because the '89 says "Unleaded fuel only" where the older 126 has only a fuel symbol.


http://i323.photobucket.com/albums/n...0300D/Back.jpg


Here is a view from the front.


http://i323.photobucket.com/albums/n.../150K_6547.jpg


By the looks of it, the fuse can't be more than 5 amps regardless of the color.

Jeremy

Thanks Jeremy!

The unit in this 87 TD....my son's car by the way.....looks like the 87 picture but with the red fuse and NO vacuum connection. I have tried to find a date on the backing plate but nada so far. My son has all the service records from the original owner and no mention of changing the dash cluster.

Frank

Sorry, I misread your post.

The W124 FSM (CD-ROM version) ETM (page 130/3) shows a "red fuse" in the instrument cluster "as of MY87" but does not give a value for the fuse. This page of ETM is marked "supplement 10" so you have to have at least that revision to show the fuse. My earlier paper version of the ETM does not have that fuse and my '87 300D (build date: July '86) did not have this fuse in the cluster that the car came with. Maybe wagons got the fuse before sedans, I don't know. The way the fuse is wired, it protects all of the interior switch and console illumination except for the two bulbs in the instrument cluster. If the fuse blows, you will be left with the cluster illumination only; all other interior lamps will go dark.

Jeremy

Well I found the date. July 1987. So based on that information, it has the red fuse as part of its original equipment.

Frank

Good information, thanks. Your "1987" car is a year newer than my "1987" car. Interesting. The red fuse is thus one of the mid-year changes that Mercedes (which doesn't make mid-year changes) made in the '87 300D Turbo.

My cluster has the red fuse holder, but there is no fuse in it?

Any ideas if anything would not function w/o the fuse?