2002 C230 K, W203 chassis--digital display is fine and bright (with no missing pixels even!!) for the first 45 to 60 minutes of driving, then begins to fade from the top and bottom toward the center, jsut about disappears after 2 hours of driving. Once the vehicle sits for an hour--display is vibrant again. My guess is that it's heat related--would be interesting to see what happens when we're running AC in the warm month (or 5 weeks) of the year.

Is it possible to just swap the display unit out of the cluster? From the threads i've seen on here, sounds almost like the digital display may be where the memory (odometer, service, etc) may be stored and so if a swap is made a dealer would need to document it. If that's the case--seems like it would have made more sense to house the memory elsewhere so the display could be treated more like a computer monitor--just a visualization of the brain.

If not an easy swap, and if my guess on heat build-up is right--anybody have any thoughts on a way to mount and power a small (very small) cooling fan on the back of the cluster??

Good to be back on the Forums--and out in my garage!!

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Earl McLain
'02 C230 Kompressor
'89 560 SEL "Frau BlueCar" (retired April 2004)