Please...

Use the correct bulbs in your instrument cluster.

Burned and melted prisms will result from incorrect bulbs.

I am contacted by one person every three to five days, asking for new or used prism units...

Salvage yards will not break up a good used instrument cluster = you must buy the unit...



Have a great day.

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1985 300SD
1983 300D
2003 Volvo V70

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Listen closely to this....brighter bulbs will only make your cluster brighter for a while. then they will melt the light paths, turn them yellow or brown, block the light and give less light than before. if you want more light, go white face for the light to reflect off of, try LED bulbs that are brighter but dont have quite so much heat, or deal with the outdated lighting technique and enjoy your car for what it is. Most of even the fancy hi output LED 194 base bulbs have troubles giving more light since most of the usable light they give off is directed in the wrong direction for the plastic light paths to utilize due to the way the MB lighting design works.

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Christopher Henkel
1990 190E 2.6 - Arctic white SOLD
1986 190E-16v - Blauswartze
1993 300CE - SOLD
2003 W208 CLK 320 Cabriolet - Magma Red

to more threads on this topic.

Instrument cluster, Odometer, Speedometer links
Instrument cluster, Odometer, Speedometer, Tachometer links

nine owners in one day with melted prisms.

Wow....looks like Bosch will have to re-start production!

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

What the heck, I wonder what that's about? Maybe some aftermarket
manufacturer just started marketing a new, really-hot line of lights at Benz owners somewhere, or some similar thing. That seems like a lot of people for one day.

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'88 300SE | Midnight Blue | 237k
'09 Subaru Impreza | red | 0k

All where first time MB owners, and admitted installing brighter watt bulbs.

I can not shout this warning loud enough to reach everyone.

Please help spread the warning.

I fixed the dim lights in the instrument cluster with 4 LEDs, that replaced the std bulbs. Search the forum on instrument cluster lighting. There are a lot of DIY solutions using LEDs. Just remember your Ohm's Law math on resistance when using LEDs, you must reduce the std 12V going to the LED with the proper resistance. A nice weekend project for a EE major.

Does this warning apply also to the w116 clusters? In my SD I switched to LED simply for a color change. tried red and it worked pretty good. There aren't any prisms in these clusters. I eventually went back to the incandescent bulbs because they do infact give a fuller light, kept the LEDS in the indicators. Do NOT put an LED in the battery or alternator socket. it shuts the alternator off for some reason, probably because it's a diode.
and the high beam indicator because LED is just too bright to have glaring in your face, especially in blue.

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2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
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anyone know which LED will work in this application? I might be motivated to change all the lights to LED to keep temps down