260E '88 gauges dead & buzzing noise - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

rickmoore49 · #1 07-14-2012, 02:11 PM

1988 260E with 300,000+ miles. Just got in and cranked the car - started fine but heard a noticeable buzzing sound from behind the instrument cluster. Saw that the speedometer worked fine (cable driven) but the electronic gauges were not working (tach, oil pressure, fuel level, etc).

Stopped and popped the hood - the sound was up by the firewall but muffled - sounds like it is behind the instrument cluster but before the firewall. Got a quick recording of what the buzzing sounds like by turning the car off then turning the key back to run. Here's a 9 sec video of that.

Any ideas?

Rick in Raleigh

Gilly · #2 07-14-2012, 08:01 PM

Check on the back of the cluster for what looks like a red bulb holder, there is a small PCB fuse, I think when that blows you get these results.

rickmoore49 · #3 07-15-2012, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gilly

Check on the back of the cluster for what looks like a red bulb holder, there is a small PCB fuse, I think when that blows you get these results.

Gilly, thanks for the advice. I had visually checked the fuses under the hood but decided to swap them out for the newer copper style - when I removed #5 the aluminum strip just fell into two pieces! New fuses fixed everything.

Thanks again.

Gilly · #4 07-15-2012, 04:05 PM

Glad it's fixed. This other fuse I referred to not many people even know is there, never heard of a fuse in the fusebox causing the buzzing noise, glad you found the problem.