Instrument cluster lights up but none of the gauges move

[nickb2]

Have you gotten a elm 327 yet. I think we talked about that a few whiles back. Correct me if I am wrong. I speak to so many ppl here it hard to keep up. Good to see your still here since 2006. Good on you. Great site with solid ppl.

 

[nickb2]

Ok, I am off to bed, my gf was snoring so I couldn't sleep, she is at my house, we are going up north a bit to celebrate my sons 15th b day tomorrow.

When I get back from quebec city, I will dive more into the schematics. I have mitchel, but I like the original wiring from alldata better, they have less errors, but I understand ppl that like mitchel, alot of the guy's at work refuse to use alldata cuz of that.

@ GRC auto, I already have been drinking for years now trying to figure out german wiring. So I guess you and me are not so different.

To everyone, have a safe weekend. I will be back here on sunday night.

 

[grcauto]

The pcb is pretty simple and it's easy to tell the grounds without circuit diagrams but try this. Smack the top of the dash and see if any start working. This is an easy test and doesn't hurt anything. If they work it's a positive bad area and if not does not mean it's not bad.
Just a thought.

 

[nickb2]

Smack the top of the dash and see if any start working.

Haha, this reminds me of what is written below EVERY post I post here.

When it don't work, hit it!!!

 

[Chaud]

Thank you grcauto for your help. Yes, all the gauges stopped working at the same time. All gauges are analog except the odometer ( miles driven in decimals) in a small slot in the bottom half. I think you and Nick are talking about the same thing such as ground connection or micro crack in ground metal trace on the board because all the fuses in the fuse box are good.
Another very interesting thing happened yesterday. My daughter who drives this car called and said all gauges worked fine when she started the car in the morning but when she started the car again after few hours they were all dead and not working. It looks like it could be ground or something else. Please advise where these connections are on the PC board and their locations. Any other connections to check outside? Thanks.

 

[Chaud]

The pcb is pretty simple and it's easy to tell the grounds without circuit diagrams but try this. Smack the top of the dash and see if any start working. This is an easy test and doesn't hurt anything. If they work it's a positive bad area and if not does not mean it's not bad.
Just a thought.

Ok, I will do that and let you know. Thanks

 

[Chaud]

Have you gotten a elm 327 yet. I think we talked about that a few whiles back. Correct me if I am wrong. I speak to so many ppl here it hard to keep up. Good to see your still here since 2006. Good on you. Great site with solid ppl.

I don't remember ever talking about elm 327. May be it will come back if I had a drink. What is this anyway?

 

[grcauto]

I don't remember ever talking about elm 327. May be it will come back if I had a drink. What is this anyway?

It's the chip commonly used to interface to the OBDII connector.

 

[Chaud]

The pcb is pretty simple and it's easy to tell the grounds without circuit diagrams but try this. Smack the top of the dash and see if any start working. This is an easy test and doesn't hurt anything. If they work it's a positive bad area and if not does not mean it's not bad.
Just a thought.

Well, today I tried yours and Nick's favorite fix "Hit it" but no dice. Just to summarize What I know so for ..
1. Dashboard gauges are totally dead not a single needle moves like speed, Temp, gas, Tach etc. However, odometer mileage decimal numbers work.
2. In the last 14 days, Four times dash needles start working and stayed working when car started and throughout driving. Once the engine stopped and next time start dash stays dead.
3. ETS and ABS warning lights come on all the time when engine started and stay on no matter if needles working or not. Dashboard illumination works fine at day and night.
4. It was noticed when no needle was working, cruise control worked fine. This week cruise control does not work anymore.
5. Hooked up Innova OBDII analyzer to port and this message displayed " No DTC's powertrain or freeze frame data is presently stored in vehicles computer". The same message shows up even after driving the car for 500 miles in city and on freeway. I am a newbie but to me it appears either computer is not getting power or is bad. However, if it is getting power it should be outputting data to the OBD port. I believe computer gets power 24/7 to keep it's memory intact. All the fuses in the box were good when I checked couple of weeks ago unless there is one which I have not tested yet.
6. I have not tried yet disconnecting one of the terminal of battery and connecting it back after a minute or so to reboot the computer.

This is all I know and looking forward to any solution or suggestion.
Thank you.

 

[nickb2]

I am sorry for the elm 327, I may have said that to someone else. I post here often and sometimes I get threads mixed. Not sure if an innova code reader is actually able to see ETS and ABS codes, some do, some don't, but from what I have gathered over the years, innova does not make a bi directional tool.

 

[nickb2]

https://www.outilsobdfacile.com/vehicle-list-compatible-obd2/mercedes

 

[nickb2]

I think you need a new dash, maybe I wrote that before. But now I don't want to mess this thread up, I drank brandy yesterday.

May be it will come back if I had a drink.

My guy has it down to a science, plz don't get wasted on that stuff, it is quite the adventure.

 

[nickb2]

http://www.mercedesmedic.com/w211-instrument-cluster-removal-gauges-lights-problem/

 

[nickb2]

From my experience, thus car probably has a bunch of "U" codes. Those will have to be resolved first.

 

[Chaud]

From my experience, thus car probably has a bunch of "U" codes. Those will have to be resolved first.

Thanks for your insight into this problem. I agree Innova OBD2 analyzer I have does not cover German cars but it should at least establish the link with the car computer. The reason I say this is because I have another car Mercedes E320 2002 and when I hook this up with Innova the message says link established but no freeze frame data available. But C230 we are trying to troubleshoot, it says no link established. This appears computer is not outputting any data. I think when it does, all needles on the dash start working. To confirm this I should connect Innova to the port as soon as I see dash is working. What are your thoughts? Thanks