Intro and Questions (already) :)

[warren128]

Hi,

I just wanted to do a short intro here as my first post to the SL forum. I recently purchased a 1990 500SL from a friend. The car has low miles, 53k, and has been kept in excellent condition. Aside from needing new tires, everything seemed to be functioning fine, that is, until yesterday.

After I filled it up for the first time, I reset the trip odometer. After that, both the trip and regular odometers stopped functioning. I've researched the problem here, and I discovered that this is a common problem for which there is a known fix.

I'm a bit qeasy about pulling things apart so soon after we bought this car .

To be able to perform the fix on the odometer, I need to pull the instrument cluster, correct? How difficult is it to do this on my car?

Would I be better off bringing it to a speedo shop in the area? And how much should that cost?

Here's a picture of my car that I took in between rainy days in San Francisco...



Thanks,

Warren

[Gilly]

I'm not familiar with the fix you want to do, can you post a link to the thread?

Yes, you can assume to do a reapir on the instrument cluster that the cluster will need to be removed. It isn't to hard to do, it's easier with a warm dash though, as the cluster is pressed into the dash, so the warmer vinyl will be a little more pliable. You need a pair of instrument cluster removal hooks to remove the cluster, it's easier that way rather than any other method, IMHO.

Since I'm not familair with the repair, it's hard for me to comment on if it's a DIY job.

Gilly

[c4791p]

Suggest you visit www.alldatadiy.com. For an annual subscription fee of $24.95 ($14.95 renewal) you can register your car by VIN and get detailed instructions including pictures, part numbers, recall data, etc.

Biggest thing is you need a couple of small hook tools that should be available on ebay if nowhere else, and the detailed instructions you'll find at alldatadiy. From what they say there, you don't even have to remove your steering wheel. Let me know how you make out, I need to change a burnt out light bulb in my dash and have been waiting to get up enough nerve to tackle the job myself

Chuck

[warren128]

Thanks for the replies.

For Gilly:

Thread on odo fix...

86 300E odometer broken


Another one...

Odometer broke



Warren

[Gilly]

Your SL has an electronic speedometer and thus also the odometer, those posts refer to cars that still had mechanical odometers, I don't think the info pertains to your car.

Gilly

[warren128]

I'm glad I asked.

I guess I'll need to take it to the speedometer repair shop then.

Regards,

Warren

[warren128]

Originally posted by c4791p
Suggest you visit www.alldatadiy.com. For an annual subscription fee of $24.95 ($14.95 renewal) you can register your car by VIN and get detailed instructions including pictures, part numbers, recall data, etc.

Chuck

Chuck,

Thanks, for the suggestion. I just subscribed and already found a lot of useful stuff. However, I didn't have to register by VIN. Is there a service that requires registering by VIN that I missed?


Warren