Can we FIX this Classic Mercedes Cluster? (No Odometer Display)
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- Опубліковано 13 лип 2024
- The owner of this mint 1998 Mercedes Benz C230 says she can't read the ODOMETER, trip meter, or clock on the instrument cluster.
Most of the digital display pixels are not showing up!
Let's see if we can restore the display functionality by following this DIY repair guide:
www.benzworld.org/threads/diy...
This repair turns out to be a bit more time-consuming than expected, but the results were worth it :)
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Enjoy!
Ivan - Авто та транспорт
Use a hairdryer to heat up the plastic clips first, to avoid snapping them off. Thanks for showing us how it is done
We worked with Honeywell control computers that were the operator interface to our processes. When we had faulty data exchange we disconnected the ribbon cables and used an old school pencil eraser to erase both sides of theribbon cable male fitting. Plugged them back in and the proper data exchange was restored. It is like invisible green crusties
We used a "Pink Pearl" eraser to clean the ribbon cables on Radio Shack Model I.🙂
I drive my young co-workers crazy when I do that old trick. 😄
Yeah the Mercedes uses the same technology as my $1.49 desk clock.
Mercedes durability is a shadow of what it was….such a waste of money these days.
@@kentbetts 😂😂
Ivan, I think it's pretty sweet that people are looking towards you for fixes on top quality and collector cars. Shows a great amount of trust and respect for your ability and work. I've come to feel that way about you as well. Thanks for Sharing!
Thanks Craig, I have a soft spot for keeping the old reliable cars on the road :) They are like time machines to a simpler era and deserve to be cared for!
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics Yeah, like a '96 Mercury.
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics wow, that's deep...
I have a pen designed exactly for this stuff, it has gentle fibreglass bristles that you can wind in and out of the end of the tip and very handy for contacts polishing.
I reaaaally enjoy your content man. Especially when we see 1 or 2 of these clusters a month at the MB dealer. We always end up send them away for repair, but this gives so much insight on the repair process. Also. I wanted to say in regards to your E63 ECU diag videos - You handled the repair and diagnosis just like Tech who's actually using all the proper tools and knowledge at their disposal. You diag'd it 1000x better than most Techs I work with and with such ease! Please keep the Mercedes coming!!
Thank you for the kind words! Euro cars definitely keep things interesting 😉
Credit too you for being honest even though you work for MB
This clip reminds me of my FLuke 87 multimeter display vanishing over time. Found a great repair video of oxide forming on ribbon cable to display screen. Thought my meter was slowly dying for sure. Now it's like new again
You do know, right, that you are an endless stream of classes? You are training THE WORLD! 🤯
A N D your forum becomes an exchange for top technicians to add their experiences.
I have fixed hundreds of electronic problems with just cleaning with DeoxIt 5. As a professional, the only cleaner I would recommend.
You may still be missing 2 segments on the trip odometer, I think it should be a "0" Too bad there is not an 8888 segment test available. Maybe in the cluster under special functions on one of your scan tools. I am supposed to be putting up Christmas lights on my house but when I saw the notification that you have a new video.... well, I will get to the lights in due time. Thanks Ivan. Great content as always.
this is a band-aid fix at best. The real cure is to remove the needles, separate the cluster halves and resolder the contacts where the ribbon cables meet the board(s). Take it from a former cluster repairman! It's almost always a failed solder issue, and the same problems can be found on many makes and models of clusters.
I'm impressed Ivan nice repair!
I just watched your video, it was totally awesome I would love to work alongside of you and do what you do on the daily!!
That's the kind of troubleshooting and solutions that I love. Your skills are awesome.
Not many people can do what you do and understand the way you do anymore.
Nicely done.
I reeally like the way you work . For someone like me who retired for health reasons back in the OBD 1 era, I have learned a LOT by watching your videos.
Thank you very much Ivan. You are a great teacher.
Yeah buddy, NPR!! Awesome fix Ivan!!
Amazing what you can find on the internet for repairing almost anything. 😉👍
I thought it was holidays season but it looks ivan have European repair season 🙂.customer should really be happy with this repair.great job bro.cheers
That was a pretty cool fix Ivan. I've never actually fixed one of those clusters before. Always sent them out for rebuild. But had an older Jeep radio that the display failed because of a ribbon cable that came loose.
One of my favorite Benz body styles.
Dude keeps that old girl clean too, love to see it.
Successful surgery! I was sweating bullets because of the possibility of the plastic being brittle, but you came thru like always!
Wow nice to see it all work like new again 👍, Nowadays when your 2022 digital dash goes out you'll need a new one probably 😁.
never doubted you would nail it
Nice work Ivan.
Wow the first customer ever to bring you are car with more than 3 gallons of gas in it!!!! Her service should be free :)
Nice work Ivan. 👍
Amazing work thank for the videos
@Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics, hi Ivan! It was puzzling when you said "Why did it go to 7 miles?" at first it was "068.5" and then when you reinstalled it, it displayed "067.5" suggesting that 4 of the pixels on the trip-meter to form the "8" might've went back out. BUT later after you reset the airbag light, I noticed the trip-meter read "004.8" so it was a different number as if you'd taken it for a test drive and if it could display a "4" it should've had enough pixels for the "8" to form more of the "0"... Weird.
Anyway, very nice fix! I wondered why they didn't use pluggable connections for that. I mean they used pluggable connections to connect the cluster with the vehicle's electrical system. It allows for easy replacement/disassembly of cables/wiring etc., and helps eliminate those "contact" issues that soldered cables can experience especially with expansion/contraction and vibrations. My old beater which was a 90's GM vehicle was said to suffer engine performance issues due to the spray coating used on the ECM PCB where it would expand/contract and cause conductive issues with some soldered components/traces.
You saved this customer a ton of money! I can't even imagine what Mercedes would have charged! Thanks for posting!
They wanted to charge me $1000 to do the repair which took me 30 minutes to do on my kitchen table. Same exact problem
@@walibran yikes! I believe it! And if a person didn't know what was involved, it could seem like a reasonable price. I am glad you saved the $1000! Better in your pocket.
Wow, nice fix on 98 banger lol I had similer problem with my cluster with gm 98 blazer. Them motors need oil to get them to work nicely lol. Awesome video!! Many thumbs up 👍 👌
I have been working on computers since the early 80's. Many times just unplugging a connector and wigging it back in will fix a "problem" event thou the connections look good ( IE, Reseating memory sticks or CPU"s etc.). Contact cleaner and lubricant does help too. Oxidation is hard to detect sometimes, and electronic component's are very sensitive as you know.
Very cool repair! I once had a communication code with the 4WD module in my 06 Nissan. The 4WD switched worked. The info in the diag tester switched when the 4WD switch was turned, so communication is good. HHMMMMM!
Removed the ribbon cable from the module, cleaned the module side male contacts with a pencil eraser. No communication codes since then. Ribbon cables do NOT like vibration or anything that falls on or coats the male side of the board surface. Engineers obviously didn't think about covering the connector and male side.
@17:08 Ivan look out that Hawk is monitoring your driving....lol
Bloody Well Done " No Parts Required " just some patience...hahaha
Ivan enjoyable and informative
You magic, i watch every video, thank you for sharing
The magic of the internet and some magical fingers and is all back together.
Late 90s golden era of automobiles. Who would have thought.
Prying on plastic, not knowing if it will break or not is always so much fun on modern cars.
Dude the fix isn't bad it's keeping everything clean for the end result
Thanks for sharing Ivan. Trust me you don't want to have to recalibrate those needles. PITA.
Excellent fix 👍🇺🇸
Nice fix!
Nice job I had a 2000 S class with the fluorescent tubes that fail so I swapped them all for leds with a Pwm controller for brightness control that was a fun one lol
The 90's had some sick cars. Toyota, Hondas, Lexus, Acrua, a few Nissans, even BMW and Mercedes. They had the best technology, but in it's simplest form. If you find a 90's car with low miles, you found a gem.
90s design but built in the 2000s is best :P
BMWs and Mercedes of the 90s were the best cars. All downhill from there.
@@rkan2 I can't argue with that. I have a 2002 Acura MDX that's AWD, 3 rows of heated leather seats that lay down, moon roof, dual climate AC, 3.5L Honda Vtec engine. It's so awesome. Zero rust, zero dents, and NO leaks anywhere under this thing, only 155k miles, and I got it for $1700. bwahhaah.. I freaking stole this thing.. It's such a great car. and I still have my 2002 F350 7.3L 6spd 4x4, manual transfer case, manual locking hubs, manual everything.. manual seats, manual locks and windows, manual mirrors. It doesn't even have tilt or cruise, but it's such a great truck. I have over 340k miles on it now, and it's still going strong. It's more like a tractor than a truck. 9ft flat bed; I've pulled a lot of heavy trailers with it over the years.. So I have to agree that early 2000's vehicles were awesome, and still are...
Before that I drove a 95 F150 with 302. 5spd 4x4. I drove it to 330k miles and it finally spun a bearing. It never gave me any trouble whatsoever; Even when it spun a bearing I still drove it home, with the engine HAMMERING like crazy. lol.. and during those years I also drove a 97 Isuzu Rodeo 5spd 4x4-- great little SUV that's a sleeper off road. It has almost 320k miles and it finally threw the timing belt.. I ran it hard on the trails and at the dunes, and it never broke anything the entire time I had it.. I still have that thing, and the entire timing belt kit online is only $90- including water pump and pullies, etc, and I could get it going again. lol......... These 4 cars are all that I've driven for that past 20 years, and they were literally flawlessly reliable until the end. Pretty wild. I love 90's cars (and early 2000's)...
I know the year right after my 2002 7.3L Diesel was the last year that they made the 7.3L Powerstroke -- and then they made the 6.0L in the second half of 2003... and it was all down hill from there, because it had a lot of problems with blown engines. That only lasted like 4 years, and then they just threw away that design because it was costing Ford so much money from all the problems it was having, while still being under warranty. Then they made a 6.4L or 6.7L diesels, and they were terrible and had lots of issues. smh.. and now Diesels have some silly "exhaust particulate filter" system now; smh. insane. I would never buy a modern diesel now. I think I got lucky, and got one of the best trucks Ford ever made, which is the final years of the 7.3L... Granted, mine is very basic and not a King Ranch or anything-- but at 340k miles, it's still a strong truck and runs great-- and since it's a manual, I don't have to worry about an automatic transmission dying (because they always do). People stop and ask me to sell it all the time, so I guess it's pretty well known to be a good truck. Cheers. Long live the 90's/2000's vehicles. lol
Use zipties for snap connections. Just open the snaps enough to push a ziptie through it and move on to the next one until they're all free.
Of course any piece of slim, thin and stiff enough material could be used, but everyone has zipties. ;-)
Thank you for the idea
Great work thanks, i didnt know the link of the program
That acceleration run is very impressive for 1984 four cylinder I'm really impressed with the quality of that car overall
One of the best ,202 chassis , don't forget the AMG versions C36 and my fav the C43 AMG V-8 beast! Yes they put a v8 in these too.
Awesome, did it in less than 3 videos too! :D
I have a neighbor that has a 1967 Mercedes-Benz 250S. He brought that car over the other day and we racked it up and looked underneath it. While the front suspension is Short-long-arm it has kingpins instead of balljoints. The rear has a swing-axle that originally had a device called a pneumatic compensator in the center near the differential. He has since replaced that with a spring. We lowered it to the ground and raised the hood. That 2.5 liter in-line 6 has 2 Zenith carburetors; I could see you under there synchronizing those carburetors. He asked me if I wanted to drive it, so to be polite I said I would. It is a 4 speed and, no, I didn't "give it the beans." The dashboard is Burled Walnut and those gauges are a work of art! That's my idea of a classic M-B. Great video!
That's awesome! Same year as my neighbors '67 Austin Healey...also with carbs and Kingpins ;)
Mechanical gauges seem to be the best
One thing to be careful of with Caig Deoxit D series... it is NOT good for plastic surfaced potentiometers. its OK on ceramic and wire wound pots but the ones with plastic resistive elements, it will melt them down. D series is really just meant for contacts, like switches and jacks and such. Sure, its fine on this ribbon cable application. They have an F series for faders that often have conductive/resistive plastic elements..
Classic and quality used in the same sentence on a 1998 Mercedes. Hahaha. Now that was funny Ivan. 👍
I'll take it over the 2010 model any day of the week 😅
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics hahaha, we'll see if you are still making these types of repairs, in say 2032 you just might say the very same thing about the 2010.
My point is when this amount of planned obsolescence and high speed production started quality disappeared.
@Les Reeves
Hahaha Les, it came for me years ago. It's all part of a learning curve. Some learn and sadly, some don't. 👍
Merci pour tes vidéos 👍
Now that’s a Mercedes’ worth keeping
On the Fluke meters made in the 90s, when we found missing segments on the LCDs just a matter of removing the conductive silicon bars/strios from under the glass display and wiping them gently with alcohol sparingly, reassemble and all good
Good job.
To get things like that apart i use shims. I took 10 thou shim stock and cut various width and length pieces. I had a Mercedes-Benz board in a plastic box with 12 snaps, piece o' cake. Just slip shims under the various snaps, bigo bango done.
I like that almost no parts fix ..... The elastic band lol.
I have an old radio shack micronta digital multimeter with number fade/vanish.
The display had a really thin ribbon that was stuck down to the pcb tracks (Bad design).
I made a flat bar from aluminium and drilled holes at the ends, also drilled holes in the pcb where the ribbon connected to the pcb tracks.
Yep i put the screws in place and tightened the little nuts (compressed ribbon and pcb together).
That stopped it's little game lol.
It's an ancient multimeter but i like it.
Sorry long waffle.
Cluster repair has a great market.
I had the same problem with my 2000 E320 ( temp, clock and gear selector readout) and did the same thing 4 years ago and the problems are returning. Might have to break down and but new ribbon cables and do a proper repair. Nice job though!
I cringed every time I heard the plastic squeak. Old plastic is brittle and easily breaks. You did a good job being gentle with this cluster.
Another happy PHAD customer
If the ribbon cable is a sandwich style connection to the PCB, you can undo the latch clean the ribbon and the PCB traces, reinstall and latch. What is needed is to scrub the PCB and ribbon cable contacts clean with Deoxit D5, then apply Deoxit D100 before reconnecting. You would have to remove the needles to gain full access to the board. You have to protect the readout face with a thin cloth on both sides of the needle base, then use tow curved tools to lift up simultaneously on both sides. If you want to practice get a junk boneyard cluster of older vintage, disassemble and lift the needles. I use two old curved chip pullers (DIP socketed device pullers) which work very well.
17:15 The clock display doesn't look centered in its window. Excellent video yet again, sir!!!
Common problem on L322 Range Rovers, also the radio displays. Fixed several like this.
Snap-On can do DTC and live-data on 1992 Rover's. I have to see any other modern scan tool do that. Purpose-specific scan tools from that era obviously go much further with bidirectional controls, but for a universal modern scanner I think it's quite impressive.
Thanks for the video Ivan not as complex as the other Mercedes.
Well 16 modules on a 1998 was pretty fancy at the time ;)
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics Yes, and in a C class, too.
Wow I would hate to see how much the dealer would charge for that if they would even do all that or try to get a replacement dash if that's even unavailable part love the video thank you
Thanks for this video. My son has a 2002 e4matic that he bought off my parents. He’s been modifying the car lights and took the instrument cluster out to change those lights to blue. Now none of the cluster works. No speedometer or gas gage or lights. We checked that the fuse is fine. I’m going to try these fixes tomorrow on his car.
Erasers work best cleaning ribbon cable contacts, also slicing off a tiny edge with a sharp blade works great.
But they are glued to the circuit board lol
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics I hate those glued ones, packing is great but rubberband does deteriorate and break in time.
Had non-functional digital clock in a ‘92 Maxima that drove me crazy. Resoldered internal connections and good as new. Old solder was contaminated, thanks to mass production process and was a common failure. That car otherwise was a blast.
Nice job, we had the same deal in my girlfriend's 08 Acura center display unit. It's an led screen with a speaker on top of it It would flicker on and off. I took it out, reflowed the solder with the help of a UA-cam video, and boom good as new, no parts required.
excellent work on those ribbon cables - the cluster display issue is endemic on millennial-era Benz models with the split digital dash displays (as opposed to the ones that have all the digital readouts only in the center, those never go bad). those cables are indeed very fiddly to sort out and it takes a fine hand. surprised to see you had to remove the steering wheel on the W202 C-class to extract the cluster - on the W210 E-class you can just adjust the wheel to its maximum out & down setting and then pop the cluster right out. also I think most tablet scanners will work on the StarTec (38-pin) proprietary OBD-II connector in the underhood fusebox, I use an Autel DS-808 and it works very well.
good thing I wasn't working on it - I might have been tempted to remediate that steering wheel cover disaster. yikes 😱
Yeah steering wheel is not adjustable on the C class 😁
Nice NPR work Ivan!
I have a Renault Laguna about the same age, but I'm not that that lucky - there is a ribbon cable to the odometer that does not make proper contact, but it's the thin foil glued type and I just can't make all contacts work - always one or two that fail after applying heat. Been waiting for a cheap used cluster, but it's hard to find or too expensive. Glad it wasn't the case here :-)
Use the high strength De-Oxit spray to remove the corrosion in your Renault.
@@Anonymous-it5jw Thanks, but it's the thin ribbon foil that is degraded. Can't do much about it - it's the exact same problem as in calculators and the method shown in this bad video does not work because there is not enough length to trim the bad part out: ua-cam.com/video/0h4Kw6C1kjI/v-deo.html
Winner winner 🏆 🥇
I long for the days of the pre computer cars. I know they are less fuel efficient and produce more emissions. However, old dudes like me can work on them. I'm trying my best to preserve my 2007 Toyota Matrix which I can repair with the help of a scanner. Yes, old guys like me are trying to learn.
'70s hand full of wrenches and $20 you could fix almost anything.
I can see Mercedes now providing a TSB stating the factory repair as being:
Service Clerk to quote customer 8 hours Labour plus Mercedes Part number: Rip-Off-666 @ $298.00 each - 3 kits required (1 x rubber band 4mm wide x 2mm thick per kit)
R&R procedure:
1) Watch PHAD video
2) Remove instrument cluster (refer Instrument cluster section of the manual)
3) Separate display from electronic board (refer Instrument cluster section of the manual)
4) Spray Deoxit on ribbon contact area and leave for 7 hours
5) Cut rubber band into lengths as wide as the ribbon cable connector
6) Carefully slide the rubber band above the existing foam in the ribbon cable connector
7) Reassemble the instrument cluster & reinstall into the vehicle
8) Verify repair
9) Clear trouble codes
10) Write report and close out job
11) Service Clerk to issue invoice to customer for quoted amount
Nice work!
Are you running a 3D printer in the background?
That’s cool
Hi Ivan Love your work. Would love a video on how you remove old files or perform updates in ThinktoolProS. I got one but missed. the sales.
Nice work Ivan. I've found those ribbon cables to be problematic anywhere they are used. I think I would have replaced all the dash lights while I was in there but I'm kinda OCD that way.
Same with me, but when you are paid x amount for problem #1, you shouldn't do problem #2 even "while you're in there". He did the right thing. I have to remind myself to not to extra work when asked to do only 1 task.
FUNNY saw you last set of videos and bought the scan tool and yes that wasnt a deal its a steal and now this the same car as mine with the same problem
Come on Ivan the title said a muscle car a muscle car is a GTO and Chevelle Impala Nova Malibu SS those are muscle cars love the channel God bless
Definitely not much muscle in this 4-banger...but probably decent on gas! :)
I know regular rubber bands don't last very long any more. Maybe silicone rubber would be the way to go. Cant tell by looking if those are silicone or not. Silicone being the kind used to hold food together for cooking like the rotisserie chicken from Costco.
The ones they use to tie asparagus vegetables together last a long time. They are usually purple in color and 2 or 3 times wider than most rubber bands.
Yep, they'll slowly disintegrate, O ring material might be the go or slice up so gasket material, a little bit of McGyvering required to achieve a permanent fix.
@@jo300hn Neoprene
Personally, I use old bicycle tubes made of butyl. I'm sure they won't turn into sticky slime.
Lol... First! Love the content Ivan!
what do you use for deoxys you're talking about great job there ivan
What's the parts cost on a medium thick rubber band. 🤣🤣🤣 Great job my friend.
Dang Ivan. What made you think of the rubber band fix? Love that MacGyver stuff!
Russian repair.
Ivan,
Have you ever tried the Craig Deoxit R100 & B100. Those versions are 100% strength & come in nail polish bottles.
Good stuff !!
Caig not "Craig" 🤬
I have found the 5 red is the most common for most 99% applications. The Gold, Green, and Blue have their place.
I have the bottles...but always reach for the quick spray haha
I wonder if the deoxit would have solved it on it's own?
Guessing it will be a while before Ivan gets another one in to try it on....
Does cars were built very very well
You're not supposed to say, "ooh", when you're doing surgery. You say, "there you go."
I miss the days when Quality was a thing.
@Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics so, after that you could look at my 1992 audi 80 b4 (8c2) 2.0L 66kW pre-OBD cluster? :D :D
Gosh, I wouldn't use rubber bands next time. Have you noticed how it only takes a year or three before they become dry and crumbly? There has to be some material you can use that is more long-lived than that :(
I have an assortment pack from like 5 years ago. Some of them age and crumble, while other ones look mint ant stretchy. Wonder if the material composition is different?
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnosticsA thin film of glycerin on them will help but they'll rot in there.
I make wire fasteners for Boeing aircraft. It's all nylon (boiled after injection molding)
I was also a little leery about the rubber bands, in Florida these things dry up in no time due to heat & moisture. I'm thinking sections of vacuum tubing might do well here. Still a great video on how to potentially fix inst. clusters. DeoxIT for the win.
The small cloth-covered hair bands that women use to hold their ponytails, have a long life and they don't melt with age.
@@KennyNica that would be too thick and uncompliant for this application. However a small slice of bicycle inner tube might last longer than a rubber band 🤔
A lot of modules for a 90's car. Not short of zip either. "Tip toe through the plastic with me"
Why did you cut out placing the rubber bands into the cluster? How should we know how to do it?
Ivan you said obd 1 it's a 1998 shouldn't it be obd 2??? Nice fix....
Yeah it's OBD2 emissions but you need the special adapter under the hood to talk to all the other modules 😁
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics I thought 1996 was the first year for OBD II.
When he said "another cluster repair on a Mercedes" I wasn't immediately guided towards the gauge set.
Ivan,
Very nice repair to a terribly-engineered design. I for one will not own a German car (as if US cars are any better...)
These types of connections are notorious within the entire electrical design environment.
Have you ever used or checked out the XTOOL D7, D8 or D9 scanners. The D7 is supposed to be more for DIYers and the D% and D( for pros.
I have...not that impressed. Autel and Launch is a better investment :)
Ok. Thank you.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🌷
👋👍
Hey Ivan.... Have your ever fixed the needle gauges, in like a 2004 F150? Battery indicator never goes to the right place. All other gauges work fine.
Any fix for that?
hmmm I've replaced needle stepper motors on the GM trucks, but not Fords. Who needs the battery indicator anyways ;)
@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics more of an irk, however, my truck currently needs way more than that! 🥴