140 Chassis Instrument Lamps - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

rchase · #1 07-03-2006, 01:31 PM

I have an idea how to change the lamps behind the main instrument cluster and know it involves removing a vent, swearing and some voodoo curses. Several of my lights for vent settings on the upper dash have gone out. Has anyone replaced any of these?

Additionally has anyone tried yellow LED's for the lighting behind the main instrument cluster on a 140? I have heard of people doing it on the 220 to replace the defective cold cathode lamps. For the hassle and risk of damaging wood parts I would rather just replace a few bulbs with LED's that will never burn out.

rchase · #2 07-04-2006, 10:59 PM

Anyone?

SteveUrban · #3 07-09-2006, 04:50 PM

Robert,
First: Get the dash tools, there cheap and will not deplete your supply of cuss words or damage your dash.
Second: Get a subscription to AllData. It will tell yuo everything you need to know.
I changed the lamps on the parktronic and one in the spedometer. I got them from O'Rilleys.

Cheers,
Steve

pcmaher · #4 07-11-2006, 08:27 AM

This should help....

http://v12uberalles.com/instrument_cluster_removal.htm

rchase · #5 07-21-2006, 01:51 AM

Thanks for the link! I went ahead and ordered some LED's for the instrument cluster. Its my main problem at the moment. They just arrived today and I may try this weekend to replace the bulbs. If the LED's don't work out I can always drive one of my other cars to the parts store and pick up some bulbs before putting the cluster back in.

I found a place online that has drop in replacements for most automotive bulbs. I ordered some that have an inverted conical tip for even light distrubution.....

here's a link

http://www.superbrightleds.com/

pcmaher · #6 07-21-2006, 08:14 AM

Can you take some before/after photos? I'd like to see the difference LED's might make.

rchase · #7 07-21-2006, 02:04 PM

Hmmmm,

Not sure if they would be a fair comparison. The center two bulbs have burned out near my spedometer so even putting in regular bulbs would be a vast improvement. I will take some photos though.

I bought 4 white LED's and 8 amber ones for use in other places within the car. They were remarkably cheap. I got them all for $17.00 including the shipping charges.

My plan is to try both the amber and the white. Im afraid that the white might be "too white" because LED's tend to be more blueish than traditional filament bulbs. And Im not sure that the amber would be right either since the bulbs behind the dash are white. In a worst case scenerio Im sure my other cars could use the bulbs if I decide to go back with regular filiment bulbs. One or the other will look factory. I notice my 126 has amber LED's behind the power window controls. It also has fibre optics behind the center panel switches. Thats pretty high tech for a 1982 model car!

Im still trying to figure out how to get to the bulbs behind the vent selector wheels as those have burned out as well. The instrument cluster is the most annoying thing though.

pcmaher · #8 07-21-2006, 02:40 PM

Those vent bulbs are difficult to get to...lots of stuff has to come out.

rchase · #9 07-21-2006, 05:09 PM

The center two bulbs in my cluster have blown. One was blown already and barely noticable and when the second one went you really noticed. Based on the link above it looks like there are only 4 bulbs that illumate the cluster. The needles are illuminated by the light coming from the 4 bulbs. They are made of lucite and have that "fibre optic" effect when they are backlit.

Im not really worried about dimming as I usually run my instrument lamps full bright anyway. In our highly light polluted world dimming instrument clusters are really a concept of the past. Most of the newer cars like the 220 chassis and most Lexus's have superbright clusters that are about twice as bright as an older Amber MB cluster.

Im planning on diving into this during the weekend and will probably post some photos. If the center bulbs are a major pain I may call my independant and find out how much they would charge and replace the bulbs with LED's as well. The instrument cluster is somewhat of an immediate need however. Since I always leave my vents open I have no need to find the controls at night. I do however like to know how fast I am going.

One of the cool things about the way the cluster is designed is as long as one of the 4 bulbs is good you still will have some illumination granted it would be dim but you would still be able to see the instruments. Even with the two bulbs burned out on either side of the spedo its still quite readable even if its dimmer than the other instruments.

rchase · #10 07-22-2006, 08:12 PM

My cluster came out with no problems at all. It was a rather easy task and not as much of a pain as I had thought. I always enjoyed working on my 126 because of its high quality construction and the 140 shows this quality even more and is even more of a joy to work on.

I ended up going with just regular bulbs. I tried both the white and the amber LED's with not a very good result. The amber ones were not bright enough to illumate the faces of the guages and did not illuminate the needles at all. The white ones did some strange things. They were not the brightest either but they had a blueish purple tint to them that was not good. I was going to take some photos and had my camera ready but the LED's were such a pain that I did not take any photos. Since they are directional you have to get them in the holder at the correct polarity otherwise they won't light up.

The bulbs are brighter and the correct color and I think this will be the last time I will ever question the engineers at Mercedes Benz.

If your going to replace "a bulb" I would reccommend just replacing them all since it is a bit of a pain to get into the cluster.

My Vent bulbs are still out and I may bring the car to my mechanic for that job when I need some bigger service done to the car.

Robert Chase