I was just remarking to my dad earlier tonight how I haven't really had to do much with the 300D lately, and sure enough, on the way home, when I got in it outside the grocery store, all the gauges were kaput (everything but speedo and odo). After recovering from the minor coronary after not seeing the oil gauge rise, I drove it home (it was pouring rain and I had no flashlight) to the garage and found Fuse 5 blown ... didn't look like a break from it being an old fuse, but from too much draw ... had a burn mark on the plastic part of the fuse.
This explains the lack of gauges, and replacing the fuse brought them back. I'm inclined to think I should sort out the reason the fuse blew though, rather than have it blow again at an inconvenient time/place. I was fiddling with the dimmer last night, and it's very squirrely ... lights go out when I turn it all the way up, and I have to turn it up and down to find a spot where the lights come back on. Would a bad rheostat blow the fuse? Most accounts on the forum of bad rheostats involve the lights just dying. Tonight all the lights stayed on the whole time. I did see the lamp control is listed as being on Fuse 5, so I'm thinking this could be the cause of the blown fuse. Just wondering. Going to replace the rheostat anyway, because I want it to work, but I want to know if I still need to look elsewhere for the cause of the fuse blowing (i.e., brake lights, etc.).

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)