It seems this is a very common problem in Mercedes...Ive owned three...and as of yesterday...now all three have the same problem. I havent had a chance to go in and look to see if it was indeed the illumination bulbs...but Im pretty sure its not the LCD display itself on any of these.

The first was my C220, all the digital readabouts were dim....the rest of the readouts were fine...its not the dimming switch....

The second is my S320, the mileage and temp readouts are out...they arent out completely, I can still strain and see the readouts, they are just very dim...

And now, yesterday, my wifes ML got the bug...the clock readout went dim....

Looks like I will be taking out the cluster on all of these...why couldnt they have used the same bulbs that they used for the other controls???

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1994 S320
131K miles

1998 ML 320
126K miles

1994 Blue C220
122K miles

Im going to Grad School @ the University of Iowa
Go Hawkeyes!!!