Instrument Cluster Pinouts and Needle Calibration
 

Hi...

Can any one tell me the pinouts of each of the two plugs on the back of the instrument cluster for a W210 post facelift (2000+)? I would like to power up the instrument cluster on my work bench (not in the car) by applying +12V to the instrument cluster.

Also, can anyone tell me how to run a calibration of the instrument needles? I've replaced my guage faces by popping out the needles and I would need to recalibrate them.

Thanks in advance.

Man, that's a tough one. I wondered about doing this myself for a W126, because I obtained an instrument cluster wiring harness from the junkyard.

I personally wouldn't worry too much that the calibration has changed. You just need to make sure the needles go back on the shafts in the correct position. If they weren't put back on the same as they came off, I'm not sure how accurate re-calibrating the various gauges would be.

As far as speed goes, you could go and find one of those annoying radar enabled street signs to see if you're in the ball park. If it were my 300SE, I'd just match my tach to my speed since on that car in fourth gear 3000 RPM = 60 MPH.

The ability to bench test it might be very limited. Who knows what kind of signals the cluster is getting (I don't) and from where. If it's getting analog signals, then you might have luck but if it's getting encoded signals you'd take less time doing it by trial and error than by setting up a test jig.


I could be wrong, never opened a w210 cluster.


-tp

Thanks for your reply. All I really wanted is to power up the cluster and see that everything looks ok - the displays, etc...

I figured that if I know which pins are the power and which pins are the grounds, then I can try to hook it up to a 12V power source and power up the cluster.

So...does anyone know the pinouts for a W210 (2000+) cluster? Thanks!

Aside from lighting, you are not going to get any gauges to work b/c they require input signals from the mating sensor.....

How about things like the clock, and the outside temperature display? Doesn't the display show some crazy temperature (very hot or very cold) if there's no signal from the outside temperature sensor? I would imagine the clock will show at the very least, correct?

Thanks.

ANY part on that cluster that requires a sensor on the other end of the circuit is not going to work , so how would you expect to Calibrate it???
Seeing a guage at full OFF is not a Calibration reference , for sure...

Think about it..

At this stage, I would just like to power it up and see whether the clock, the center display, and the temperature display will work/light up. I'll leave calibration for now.

Thanks.