There is a delay in ALL of the gauges
 

There is a delay in ALL of the gauges - tachometer, speedomoeter, temp and fuel gauge when I startup the car - like 5 seconds where they're all ZERO and then it comes on.

outside temp, clock are fine as is the back light....

Any ideas?

Gauge Delay
 

did you ever resolve your problem or find the cause?

Well anyone?
 

226,000 o my ML430. My instrument cluster just started doing this on Saturday.

I took out and disconnected it hoping that something would reset when I reconnected it but nothing. I did notice that the tach needle vibrates wildly once I turn the key to on and continues this until all the needles begin to work.

Any clues as to what may be going on?

1 O A th

?
 

I think I missed you there Matt. What do you mean by "1 O A th?"

Mine has the same problem, except that mine has the speedometer needle vibrating for a few seconds (rather than the tach). No cure found. I've even tried opening the cluster and repositioning the speedo needle. It just ran down to zero and finished the needle dance again. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te5-81dnjLY

That's exactly what my instrument cluster does. Just that different needles do the vibration. I have not found a reason or cure yet.

I did a bit of research on the problem. It appears that the electronics that drive the needles are not properly detecting that the needle has stalled against the pin. VDO has a few patents covering their version of stall detection. I'll have to take apart a cluster to determine which stall detection design is used and what might be wrong.

Anyone have a dead cluster for a 1998-1999 W210 they want to donate to the cause? I'll pay shipping.

You could send the cluster for repair.

Call and ask to talk with Robert or one of his tech's. They are very good at what they do and have just fixed a customers e320 cluster that was draining the battery. I have used them for 15 years for all my Mercedes electronics .

http://www.beckmanntechnologies.com/