New development: The game below was played upon me 3x this afternoon and evening. In regular interval I started the engine just to check and lo and behold all needles came to life except for speed because the car did not move. Engine temparature went above 40, fuel gauge to almost full (I filled up 30 miles ago) and rmp went up when I pressed the gas pedal.
I wanted to be sure, shut down the engine and restarted ...
The dial needles are all dead again and again after another and another trials.
There might be something like loose contact, since the cluster itself works fine, but what?
Help! Help! Help! I'd appreciate all comments!

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1996 E320 since 1/16/08, 171K miles as of Feb 2011

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1989 300CE - R.I.P. Dec 29 2007
Other MBs (sold): 1992 300E-24 - 1979 350SLC - 1984 230E - 1990 300CE