Most of the light bulbs (cluster?) on the instrument dash of my 94 C280 are out. No outside temp reading in the dark, no odometer reading, plus others.

The shop charges $180 to replace these. Is it hard to replace the bulbs ourselves? After reading many threads related to this subject, am still have no clue.

I have the telescopic steering wheel, can I remove the cluster from the front? I need help.

Thanks

Golden

Does the instrument cluster of your car have a tripmeter/dimmer control combo switch? Have you tried jiggling that? Seems pretty odd that so many bulbs would burn out at the same time.

Len

Use the search engine on this site, you should find the technique, and how to make the tools to pull the cluster and replace the bulbs.
You'll find tricks in the previous posts

Yeah, for $180 you should replace them yourself.
Either way, with or without the telescopic wheel, the cluster pulls out from the front. It's just tougher if you don't have it is all.
You need to get a pair of removal tools, or at least I recommend buying the real MB tools, they're not expensive. i'd recommend getting the bulbs from a dealer or equally competent source like Fastlane. Let me know if you have other questions.
Yes, the ododmeter and outside temp, etc, that's all due to blown bulbs. I assume "some" of the lighting works though, ie your dimmer switch isn't just turned way down?

Gilly

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Thank you all very much.

the dimmer isn't the problem because some other bulbs are woking except the blown ones.

I was wondering that the instrument panel can be pulled out from the front toward the steering wheel. I didn't see any slot or open area around the instrument panel's clear cover that can be drawn out. Any instruction on this will be appreciated.


Golden

These tools that you need to buy or make are slipped into the side of the cluster, between the hard plastic and the padded part (the panel itself). The tools are thinnish wire with a small "L" hook on the end. The L is inserted pointed vertically, and once inserted a proper distance are rotated so the hook will catch the back of the cluster. Then the cluster can then be carefully pulled out away from the instrument panel. The boughten tools are nice because they have a nice molded plastic T handle to pull on. You need a pair of them, you do both sides at once. MB sells them as a pair though.

Gilly

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