Hi all, I got a 98 E320 and around a year and a half ago I was experiencing a defective display error with no picture in the middle of the display. I have read a lot of threads about this but they all point to the washer fluid level or the radiator with a picture in the middle of the display. When I used to get this error my ESP and ABS light used to come on, the speedometer wouldn’t move, the tranny shifted hard into 1st and wouldn’t go past 2nd gear. I would just restart the car and it would go away.

After a while the computer behind the dome light went out and I never saw the Display Defective message again however I went for a year without using my sunroof, rear view mirror wouldn’t dim, no signal on the phone, I had to point the key to the door handle to lock and unlock the doors, garage door opener didn’t work, no dome light in the front of course and the rain sensor didn’t work; basically everything that had a #4 next to it in the fuse box under the back seat.

I just purchased a new dome light from ebay and was happy about everything working again until the second time I started the car and there it was… the stupid Display Defective message was starring at me once again . Has anyone experienced a similar situation?

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98 E320 175,600m
99 ML320 175,500m
as of 12/2012