Speedo cluster (all of it) stopped working, ASR / ABS lights on, car drives normally..?

[Dbreid]

All,
I am posting this before I have a chance to dig into it fully, but here's the scenario:

I was out running an errand today, and in the middle of driving (cruising along at 60 or so, nothing special) the ASR and ABS lights come on on the dash. I look quickly and I notice that EVERYTHING on the dash is dead. Speedo reads 0, All needles (fuel, Oil, all of em) go "off".

The turn signals work fine, but I notice a "clicking" (like a relay) from the area in front of the drivers side speaker.

So I get to the place I needed to go to, and pop the trunk for a little investigation.

THe clicking is coming from the "screw in" relay box behind the fuse panel. The offending "click" (rapid clicking like a relay that isn't flipping all the way to ON) is coming from the "Combination" relay.

I pulled it out to look (P/N 201 821 02 47) and it looks like the Combination relay that was installed to handle the Towing setup (Car has the Oris Tow Hitch installed)

Car started right back up and drives perfectly fine, except for no Dash.

I need to go connect the Box to read the codes, but Any immediate guesses?

-Dan

 

[MercedesBabyBenz]

There is a fuse on the back of the cluster. It's very likely it's bad.

 

[Dbreid]

How do I access that? Pull the cluster?

 

[gsxr]

Dan, relay # 201 821 02 47 is the main combo relay for the blinkers, hazard lights, rear defogger, and wipers. This relay is a semi-common failure point, I just had to replace it on my wife's E420 because the intermittent wiper function no workee. I popped in a spare one and that fixed it. However, I'm not sure if the relay clicking is the cause of the failure, instead it could be the result of something else.

There is a twist-in fuse on the back of the cluster, and yes you need to pull the cluster to check it. However I'm not sure if that's it either.

Anyway - what you describe sounds either like a fuse problem (did you check all of them?), or less likely, the alternator isn't charging. See if you're getting 14v at the battery with the engine running. If it's under 13v, the voltage regulator might be an issue. I did a quick look at the records and I don't see anything related to the alternator, and I can't remember if I ever opened it up to check! D'oh!!!

 

[mistermiata]

I had a similar problem (all instruments died), it was fuse #5 in the engine compartment fuse box. However, I didn't have any clicking noises, and my car would not restart until I replaced the fuse, so your problem may be different....

 

[Egreaves20]

I had the same issue, which lead to me pulling the cluster fuse under the hood (fuse #5 I believe). I looked fine visually, but when I remove it, it basically crumbled. Replace that fuse and see what happens.

 

[Dbreid]

Update:

I decided to hand check each of the fuses, and sure enough, even though Fuse 5 LOOKED perfect, it crumbled when I touched it. I pulled the fuse from the fog lights to test it, and it works perfectly. I grabbed a set of crappy plastic fuses from AutoZone just to have on hand, and ordered some of the good copper ones. I actually had some of the good copper ones in inventory, but only in bluw and red... no white (8)'s

But the problem is fixed!

 

[Glen]

Love those easy fixes!

 

[gerryvz]

Congrats on the fix !

Yep ... replace ALL of the fuses in your fuse panel, as well as the 30A strip fuse for the blower motor. If one fuse is bad ... chances are that others are on their way out too !!

 

[gsxr]

Whew! Glad it was an easy fix...

 

[Dbreid]

It is funny, because after dealing with redoing the entire rear end around the knuckles, I just assumed that it would be something major. That shows me!

 

[Egreaves20]

Awesome. Glad you found the issue!

 

[gerryvz]

What I have always found with electrical items on cars, is that usually the most simple point of failure is the culprit. My problem is that when something bad electrical happens, I freak and start thinking it's some major issue, bad computer, or some $pendy fix. For example the issue I was having with the CAN communication and all types of gnarly codes. And it turned out to be a loose connection of the CAN power lead at the + battery terminal. Stumped me for weeks until I had a whim about it one morning in the garage, getting ready to leave for work. Boy that really made my day!!

 

[Maui]

I hate electrical problems and I also generally freak out when they occur. About a week after purchasing my SL the passenger low beam would intermittently be out. I would start the car and receive a message that the low beam was out. I knew it was not the bulb because every other time I started the car it was working just fine. I opened up the electrical box behind the passenger seat and one by one I disconnected the wires, cleaned them and reinserted them. Wahla...the issue went away and all the lights have worked fine every since. I honestly don't know which wire it was but a routine cleaning of electrical connections can save a lot heartaches later.

Saturday I replaced all the fuses on my 500E with copper fuses.

 

[gerryvz]

I had an issue on my Honda motorcycle last year by where the instrument lights were occasionally going out, though the instruments themselves worked fine. Headlight/bright light/turn signals: fine. Was a real PITA at night or on early-morning rides to catch a plane at the Houston airport, which is where I quite often ride so that I can park for free in the motorcycle area of the parking garage !! Finally after a period of some months of intermittent lights, they went out for good.

Anyhoo, I was prepared for some major crud to deal with to try to diagnose and fix the issue. And well, turned out that the connector that supplied power to the instrument lights had vibrated loose, and once I reconnected it firmly, was just fine. And I just HAPPENED to discover this when I had removed part of the front of the fairing to clean underneath it. Whew....that was a bullet dodged.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[Dbreid]

As a follow up, I found (Through a Volvo 240 site, of all places) the GOOD Copper/ceramic fuses, and replaced ALL my fuses, and some of those fuses were pretty darn crusty. I replaced ALL the fuses, and I have a nice batch of backups.

 

[8899]

Is this the kit you got:

http://www.ipdusa.com/products/5010/105869-30-piece-fuse-kit-for-240-260

 

[Dbreid]

Yes. I bought three of them, and they shipped them promptly, and they worked perfectly.

 

[Dbreid]

One more thing... One kit was enough to replace ALL my fuses. I just wanted spares.

 

[szvook]

I had the same symptoms last night as Dan did and fuse #5 was the culprit. This was the first fuse I had to replace since buying the car, a new fuses kit had been ordered and my tech has given me 4 additional fuses in the meantime.

Many thanks for listing the issue and solution here.