My instrument cluster was very faded, the needles were yellow and the odometer stopped working. Everything else works perfectly. So i got a 90's model instrument cluster from a junk yard and put it in. Much brighter orange needles, no sun spots, odometer works however the ONLY problem is the gas gauge doesnt work. My mom has a 91 300E and has the exact same problem. THe needle works from full to half then at half it stays around that area and goes lower and higher intermittently. The gas light works.

My question is, is there a way to fix it. Also i have 2 other instrument clusters for parts and i tried to see if i can take out the gas gauge from one of them and its tricky. Its attached to the whole left side. It has rivets and i would have to take the needles off because they're yellowish (Which is hard apparently from reading other forums). ANy suggestions, opinions????

American 300Es received a rear gear ratio change starting with the 90 M.Y. If you are using a post 90 odometer and speedometer in a pre-90 car, it may not be accurate. I don't know what they changed to compensate for the ratio change. (Speedometer gear on the trans end of the speedometer cable or the speedometer itself?) Also, 2.6 W124s had different rear gears than what 3.0 W124s had leaving another potential for error and 93 3.2 W124s were different still! We had 2.65, 2.87, 3.07, and 3.27 ratios!

Sorry, can't help with the fuel gauge. Mine has issues too! Please post what your fix is when you find it!
Regards, Eric

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89 300E "Benzer1" 15.924 Uncorrected
93 400E "Benzer3" 14.200 U.C.
95 E420 "Benzer4"
92 300E "Benzer5" 16.299 U.C. Future turbo CNG
87 300D "Benzer7"
87 300D "Benzer8"
87 300D "Benzer9"
87 300D/70 AMC Javelin "Sidewinder-Benzer"
87 300TD "Benzer11"
06 E320 CDI "Benzer12"
05 E320 CDI "Benzer12A"
71 AMC Javelin AMX 401 "Sidewinder"
74 AMC Hornet 401 "C.K.10" 13.63 U.C.
74 Bricklin SV1 "Presto" AMC 360 pwrd.

The removal of the needles is really not a big deal, all you need is two heavy strong (i.e. no Ikea grade) spoons. Simply pry the needle off using even pressure on both spoon handles. Make sure to put down some padding on the surface of the gauge face before using the spoons so that you do not mar the surface of the gauge face.

WEAR EYE PROTECTION!

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2006 BMW M5 "Heidi" @ 109,000 miles
2005 MBZ C55 AMG "Lorelai" @ 165,000 miles
1991 MBZ 300E "Benzachino II" @ 165,000 miles
1990 MBZ 500SL "Shoshanna" @ 118,000 miles

(On the hunt for a good used M103 engine as of 6/10/23, PM me if you have one to sell!)

Get some appropriately colored lacquer paint or nail polish, paint the needles in your old (working) cluster. Put some waxed-paper or equivalent around the needle-axle so that you don't drip on the gauge face.

The later gauge housing has better lighting, I don't know the change year.

Does this odometer look fishy?

Go down the thread near the bottom for some photos.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Wow nice job painting the needles, was that paint or nail polish. Theres 2 reasons why i switched my cluster. 1 is my odometer doesnt work, it broke, both the one that counts the kilometers and teh one for gas mileage. And 2 is the needles are yellow and there are a ton of sun spots on the plastic clear part. So I'm sacrificing having a gas gauge for those two reasons. When i took apart my old cluster there was 3 parts, rpm part, speedo part, and the left side but they were all attached by wires. how did you seperate them. Because i can take my old left side (temp,oil, gas,eco) change the needles and but it with my new cluster. I didnt spend too much time trying to figure out how to seperate it because i figured takig the needles out was a pain but the spoons idea sounds good to me.

Also my car is a 1989 300e, and the dash that i got is from a 1990 300e, i noticed that my shift points changed a bit with the new speedo but i doubt the rear end change is dramatic. I wonder how accurate it is, if i find one of those signs that tell you how fast your going i'll find out and post back.

I don't know about pulling needles, seems that you'd have to be very careful to put them back in the exact same position, with pre-load against a stop pin that is a tall order. I'm happier with just painting.

I used nail poliish, am happy with the result. Will it hold up in years of UV exposure? I don't know, but the model paints that I have aren't UV/outdoor-rated paints either.

The wires un-plug, and all parts separate.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I am curious if there are any type of Glow In The Dark paints that you can buy and paint these needles with. Oh no, not those radioactive ones they used to paint aircrafts dials with back in teh 40s. Just curious. Anyone know?

By the way, can someone point me to a diagram on how to make a tool to remove the instrument cluster? I recall that it's a two piece (pair) made of coat hanger or something which you can slide in to each side of the instrument cluster in order to disengage some kind of latch in the back? Do you have to remove the steering wheel first? thanx