Dash display idiosyncracy
 

On my E320 (yr 2000) the dash indicator showing the tran. gear has begun to show an extra line, sometimes two. This comes and goes. Sometimes the display is perfect - other times shows these extra dots or lines that do not change if gear is shifted. The car's performance is not affected. Any clues?

Tranny fluid level is my guess. Modern MB's even did away with the engine oil dipstick by adding an LED readout guage instead.

Fluid should be red not brown and at bottom level line when stone cold. Top level line when hot, the fluid exands. And
check tranny fluid level with the engine running.

It sounds like you have a few missing pixels.

I agree, I don't think the gear selected indicator has any relation to tranny fluid level or anything like that.

Hi,

I agree too. It is just a display fault. there are moisture in the display connection. Use the hair dryer and blow that area. I believe it will clear. But...you will see it again on rainy days.:D

Liquid Crystal displays
 

Its your liquid crystal display. This is a common problem these days and I would leave well enough alone until the problem becomes bigger. A liquid crystal display is usually made of multiple panes of glass with fluid suspended between them. They use an electrical signal to polarize the crystals and a polarizing filter to change this into a visual effect.

Since the displays are made of glass its always a challenge connecting a printed circuit to them most LCD's use a pressure type connection with a conductive rubber strip that takes the signal from the printed circuit board to the glass. When this conductive rubber slips or shrinks from age some funky things happen with the display. Most of the time putting pressure on the LCD panel will make the issues go away for a whille. The real solution is to go inside and fix the problem with the connection. In an instrument cluster this is not really possible since their is an outer polycarbonate cover over the entire cluster.

I used to have a very expensive Nokia 8890 phone that had similar problems like this. I paid over $600 for the phone and was taking it apart and using "shims" underneath the LCD so that I could see it when making calls. Needless to say I was not happy :)

Chaulk it up to owning a European car. The electronics tend to go a bit nutty once in awhile, comes with the territoy.