Mike,

Thanks for the image inclusion tip.

Jeff

__________________
- Jeff

1957 W121 190 (history)
1966 W108 250S
1967 W108 250S (parts)
1982 W123 240D (history)
1989 W124 260E

Mike,

>#2 - the reason behind disconnecting the speedo cable
>to twofold. It creates more slack, allowing the cluster
>to come out further for disconnecting the cable and
>wire connections. Secondly, if you over stress or
>stretch the cable, the speedo needle may begin jumping
>at low speeds or may not work at all.

I was planning on disconnecting the cable at the
transmission this coming weekend until I talked to the
technician at the dealer today. He has worked on my
car and removed its cluster recently. He said that on
this particular year and model, there was enough slack
in the cable to disconnect the cable from behind the
cluster. That is how he said he did it. If the needle
starts doing what you say, I'll know where I messed up.
Thanks for the advice.

Jeff

__________________
- Jeff

1957 W121 190 (history)
1966 W108 250S
1967 W108 250S (parts)
1982 W123 240D (history)
1989 W124 260E

Just testing the imaging feature!



Jeff

__________________
- Jeff

1957 W121 190 (history)
1966 W108 250S
1967 W108 250S (parts)
1982 W123 240D (history)
1989 W124 260E

On a more frustrating note, the rattle came back today
briefly.

Jeff

__________________
- Jeff

1957 W121 190 (history)
1966 W108 250S
1967 W108 250S (parts)
1982 W123 240D (history)
1989 W124 260E

I'm back again. I posted the original question
on instrument cluster removal. I am now an
expert at removing the cluster. I am still
trying to kill that rattle. I've gone so far
as to disconnect the speedo cable at BOTH ends
and the rattle persists. The only thing I know
for sure is that if I drive without the cluster
in the dash at all, there is no rattle. I
just replaced the dimmer switch potentiometer
because I thought that was the source of this
noise.

The rattle is seemingly random. Not dependant
on anything (speed, temperature) it just does
it when it feels like it.

So here's a question for you speedometer experts.
If the speedo cable is disconnected from the
speedometer, could there still be a rattle in
the speedometer?

When the cluster is removed, I gently jiggle it
and I can not hear the noise then either.

Another question: Are the speedometers designed
to be replaced without a new odometer? If I
replace my speedometer I'd prefer to keep the
odometer.

Can the speedometer be repaired? Has anyone
had this rattle?

Thanks a lot for the help...

Jeff

__________________
- Jeff

1957 W121 190 (history)
1966 W108 250S
1967 W108 250S (parts)
1982 W123 240D (history)
1989 W124 260E

I got my set from Baum Tools for about $45.

http://www.baumtools.com/

Jeff

__________________
- Jeff

1957 W121 190 (history)
1966 W108 250S
1967 W108 250S (parts)
1982 W123 240D (history)
1989 W124 260E

Just to point out how different these panels are.I pulled the panel on my 81 280SE and it has no speedo cable,no tac cable and no oil pressure line.Everything is electronic.I had been wanting to pull this panel out for many years because the dash lights were very very dim and the reostat was blown.I have a 74 280 also and the same thing happened to it, however that instrument cluster came out very easily.I bypassed the reostat and my dash lights are full bright,which is where I like them anyhow.Many times I tried to get the cluster out of my 81 but it was stuck so bad that I was afraid I would break something if I pulled too hard.It was all the fine folks posting here that finally got me to get out there and pull that panel out,so thanks to all.