dead instrument panel
 

I have a 1987 300E. My gas,oil,heat and RPM gauges quit. There is a clicking sound coming from under the dash. What do I do?
Also, my headlights(lowbeam) do not come on.

Re: dead instrument panel
 

It may sound obvious, but check the fuses carefully.

Had the same problem with my E320T (except for the low beam lights) and it turned out to be an "almost" burnt fuse. At first glance it looked O.K., but decided to change it anyway. Afterwards, the problem was solved.

A very small gap (not visible to the eye) in the fuse wire will trigger a problem.

A. Rosich
S320, 1998
E320T, 1995

DrJohn:

It is almost certainly a marginal fuse. Check the archives, "fuse" " JCE" there are about 18 threads there on this topic. If I recall when it happened to me it was a white fuse , #5? that looked perfect but fell into 2 parts when removed. The clicking is the rapid switching of current on and off to the instroments. If it gets bad enough, it will sound like a buzzer.