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  #1  
Old 03-14-2016, 05:42 PM
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Weird issue with '07 E320 instrument cluster after jump starting it.

My friend has an '07 E320 Diesel, and something was left on and killed the battery. It was jump started, and now much of the instrument cluster does not work. It was taken to the local Euro auto repair, and they want $2,000+ to replace the instrument cluster. I can't imagine that is necessary. Is there a fuse somewhere? Is there a test that I can perform to diagnose if the cluster is in fact bad and needs to be replaced? Thanks in advance, Rich


Last edited by ROLLGUY; 03-16-2016 at 07:57 PM.
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  #2  
Old 03-14-2016, 07:59 PM
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May be a fuse and maybe not. Had a look in the fuse box? The garage could have been ethical or maybe not. One would have assumed they looked there.

The only reason I posted this was that this has not been a sore point and with a little luck it has just lost its voltage feed. Maybe a member can look up a wiring schematic for your model and have a look.

I have been very touchy about boosting for a very long time. You can get real damage. Better to just let the feeder car take some time and bring the battery voltage back up.

Actually even safer with only one battery cable left connected. Also an adapter pack to apply twelve volts into the cigarette type liter socket can reduce loss of radio codes etc. if you take one cable off.

I think it is safe to say the newer the car the greater the possibilities. There are similarities in life.

One early spring day for example a woman out at the cottage drove off the road. The car sank in the mud right up to past the rockers. She wanted me to pull her new car out.

I explained that I would not mind doing it other than I cannot damage your car. You need a tow truck. I do not think she was happy with me but it was the truth. What I had was powerful enough to break any suction.

At the same time it also could do serious damage in the process. There is almost nothing structurally to some of newer cars.

Also an option is a used cluster from a wrecker. Still unless the garage did some real diagnosis there is no absolute guarantee that is what it is. It is strange they did not offer that option as well. You almost have to be a believer to trust car repair places now anyways. If you are lucky enough to find an honest one keep them.

Last edited by barry12345; 03-14-2016 at 08:10 PM.
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Old 03-14-2016, 08:15 PM
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I have heard of this from quite a few people now who have experienced this when jumping 07 and newer mercedes. I checked the recommended boosting procedure and was surprised to read both cars must be off while connecting cables, then start the good car wait 10 minutes then try starting vechile. I really don't understand the significance of both engines being off though..
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Old 03-14-2016, 08:57 PM
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Originally Posted by dieselbenz1 View Post
I really don't understand the significance of both engines being off though..
Alts not running, systems not drawing power? Must be one of those two, or both.
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Old 03-15-2016, 09:56 AM
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It's not looking good. All the fuses check out good, but still no instrument cluster (no tach, fuel gauge, speedometer, odometer, clock or other gauges), or turn signals. I will be looking for a local (So. Cal.)cluster repair facility, and will NOT be taking it to the Stealership for repair.
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Old 03-15-2016, 10:04 AM
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Originally Posted by dieselbenz1 View Post
I have heard of this from quite a few people now who have experienced this when jumping 07 and newer mercedes. I checked the recommended boosting procedure and was surprised to read both cars must be off while connecting cables, then start the good car wait 10 minutes then try starting vechile. I really don't understand the significance of both engines being off though..
With the newer vehicles, all you need is a slight voltage spike, and serious damage will occur. Almost all of the new electronics are circuit boards that can be fried in an instant.
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Old 03-15-2016, 10:38 AM
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Lost communications - probably when the battery went dead. Even replacing the battery you need to supply power through the OBD port so the ECM doesn't power off. I would definitely try a battery disconnect and reboot/Flash before I through $$ at a new cluster.

If replacement is necessary Google ACTRONICS - they reman W211 clusters.
Plan #2 Pound on your MB Dealer for a "goodwill" repair. They should antae up 50% as a cluster should last the life of the car.
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Old 03-15-2016, 10:46 AM
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I haven't seen a credible case where polarity proper jump starting has damaged electronics.

Trying to start a car with a weak battery could cause a problem. A few things occur here, when the starter solenoid / starter windings rapidly cycle in and out of the circuit due to a weak battery, this is what impresses high voltage spikes on the system. Think how an ignition coil works.

Electronics can be affected by this and any microprocessor is constantly being reset possible causing it to hang or have corrupted data. ( Any system like DAS chip in a key where data it read from the key and a new bit of data written back to the key, interrupt this process and the data is lost. )

Cluster does not work as in needles don't move or LCD / LED sections don't light up?
Does this dash have incandescent back lighting? It is possible the bulbs have failed.

Do we know for sure that something was left on or was that a guess? If the dash was failing and stayed on ( as in when you open the door some dashes wake up ) it may have drained the battery or the battery may have failed on it's own.

Hooking the dash to a diagnostic tool wold allow one to put in into test mode to sweep the dials / view what readings should be.
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Old 03-15-2016, 01:16 PM
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Originally Posted by 97 SL320 View Post
I haven't seen a credible case where polarity proper jump starting has damaged electronics.

Trying to start a car with a weak battery could cause a problem. A few things occur here, when the starter solenoid / starter windings rapidly cycle in and out of the circuit due to a weak battery, this is what impresses high voltage spikes on the system. Think how an ignition coil works.

Electronics can be affected by this and any microprocessor is constantly being reset possible causing it to hang or have corrupted data. ( Any system like DAS chip in a key where data it read from the key and a new bit of data written back to the key, interrupt this process and the data is lost. )

Cluster does not work as in needles don't move or LCD / LED sections don't light up?
Does this dash have incandescent back lighting? It is possible the bulbs have failed.

Do we know for sure that something was left on or was that a guess? If the dash was failing and stayed on ( as in when you open the door some dashes wake up ) it may have drained the battery or the battery may have failed on it's own.

Hooking the dash to a diagnostic tool wold allow one to put in into test mode to sweep the dials / view what readings should be.
Boost enough cars and odds are you will get some damage. That one case can make you wish you had taken precautions. With the latest cars a few years old it may mean scrapping the car. Or a really high expense repairing on occasion is my current suspicion.

Anyways my self adopted approach years ago is fundamentally the same as Mercedes now recommends according to a poster on this thread. People can of course do as they wish and will normally get away with it. I did not.

The time you do not will live on in your memory and your ways probably will change forever. Also the damage can occur in the vehicle providing the boost.

I could try to figure out the sequence of events that occur. There is just no point as I have not used the old conventional boosting approach since our first casualty. I try to keep an open mind but it was not a coincidental issue.
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  #10  
Old 03-15-2016, 09:34 PM
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Originally Posted by TX76513 View Post
If replacement is necessary Google ACTRONICS - they reman W211 clusters.
Plan #2 Pound on your MB Dealer for a "goodwill" repair. They should antae up 50% as a cluster should last the life of the car.
On a nearly 10 year old car? I'm sure MB will tell you what to pound.

If a cluster should last the life of the car, why are there so many companies that repair clusters across all makes?

How are cluster electronics any different than any other system in the car that should make them last longer?
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Old 03-15-2016, 10:14 PM
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Barry12345 you are correct thinking back the 5 or so 07 and newer Mercedes that were damaged were in need of a boost or was providing the boost that never occurred to me from what I recall they were both.
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  #12  
Old 03-16-2016, 04:15 PM
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check grounds and secondary grounds any lose ground or secondary causes weird dash gauge behavior
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  #13  
Old 03-16-2016, 04:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 97 SL320 View Post
On a nearly 10 year old car? I'm sure MB will tell you what to pound.

If a cluster should last the life of the car, why are there so many companies that repair clusters across all makes?

How are cluster electronics any different than any other system in the car that should make them last longer?
I have had personal good luck with goodwill repairs -but I also have a good relationship with dealers. A good attitude helps too, and you never know unless you ask.

Complete failure - I still have working electronics in 30 year old cars. Reasonable expectations its one thing to replace a radio another a $2K cluster.
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  #14  
Old 03-16-2016, 07:44 PM
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I have had personal good luck with goodwill repairs

Examples? Please cite year / model of car , miles , date / type of repair.
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  #15  
Old 03-17-2016, 01:50 AM
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When the car was at the repair shop, a complete diagnostic was done that showed all the fault codes. There were 4 pages of codes, and most were stored, but some were current. The majority were from under voltage. Several were related to systems that display on the instrument cluster. Unless I am missing something obvious, it appears that the cluster does in fact need to be replaced or repaired. I hope a trip to the dealer to request a goodwill repair is fruitful. If not, the cluster will get removed and sent for repair. Could there be some test that I can do that will reveal an easy fix? If not, a repaired instrument cluster is in this cars future......Rich

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