MPG displays "ERR", odometer flashes "------"

Denoted MB should be under the hood.

But looking at the fuse labels would give you some added verification.

Looked in the under hood fuse box after skiing today and could not find a fuse that looks like the lay out on page 5187.

There was a fuse 8 but it was a 50amp one.

Looked in the under hood fuse box after skiing today and could not find a fuse that looks like the lay out on page 5187.

 

There was a fuse 8 but it was a 50amp one.

Was it on the '05 car or the Spec B?

Anyway I suspect that it's a ground problem primarily and a potential fuse issue is just if nothing else could be found.

FWIW, on the 150 mile drive home yesterday it worked fine. I'll see how this week goes.

I have left the dim adjust wheel down low like .1 or .2

Update from the past weekend. On the drive up to VT last Friday 20F all was fine for the first hour or so, then it began flashing and sometimes would stay on. I played with the dimming wheel, but that did nothing. A few miles south of town it began reading correctly. From work it's a 2 hour drive to the house. The drive home on Sunday is 2.5 hours.

The drive home on Sunday and so far this week it has read correctly.

Check for damaged wires as well and oxidation of wires in connectors too. Anything that doesn't look right probably is a problem to come.

If unsure - take pictures and post them.

Update from the past weekend drive to VT and back yesterday.

Pretty much the same as the previous weekend, worked fine most of the way up, except I did leave the dimmer wheel on 2, the ERR would flash once or twice just short of town, then has been fine since.

I'm getting ready to replace my carpet this afternoon hopefully and it will give me a good chance to inspect the big ground. Anything I should look for in particular or just corrosion, loose terminal, loose bolt? I plan to unbolt and clean/sand the grounding location at least before reinstalling.

Not answering your question, and off topic , but where did you get your new carpet?

Not answering your question, and off topic , but where did you get your new carpet?

Just look around, the pic I posted earlier is just giving the rough areas where it can be found, so it's possible that it's a bit higher up under the dashboard.

If you can't find it, then it may be tucked in behind something. Hard to tell without actually being there in person.

Just look around, the pic I posted earlier is just giving the rough areas where it can be found, so it's possible that it's a bit higher up under the dashboard.

 

 

If you can't find it, then it may be tucked in behind something. Hard to tell without actually being there in person.

"immediately" is the hard part. This is an intermittent problem. The real test may take day's or weeks to verify.

How hard is it to put a alligator clip on the gauge clusters ?

"immediately" is the hard part. This is an intermittent problem. The real test may take day's or weeks to verify.

 

How hard is it to put a alligator clip on the gauge clusters ?

The problem is that the casing of the clusters today may not even be electrically connected to the components inside the cluster and everything relies on the wiring that's in the connectors on the different ECUs.

This past weekends drive to VT, after getting gas, 24 miles later it began flashing. When I turned the head lights on, another 20 or miles later, I thought I noticed it flash 6:20 once. That would have been about 4:50PM It would work if I played with the dimmer wheel and sometimes the bright button nest to the display.

On the ride home this weekend it began flashing after about 40 miles of driving. It would work for a while and then flash again, then worked fine for the last half hour or so.

Today on the way to work it flashed for a few seconds and then was fine for the rest of the half hour drive. Even flashed a couple times on the drive home.

When I replaced my carpet the other day I decided to swap out the interior illumination dial with one of the spares I have. In the days leading up to the swap, I could predictably get the ERR to flash anytime the running lights were off and dial was above a "1". With the running lights on, I could get the ERR to display with anything above a "3".

With the new dial, there has been no ERR for 2 days regardless of illumination setting or running lights. Of course, now that I shared I'm sure that the ERR will pop up tomorrow.

When I replaced my carpet the other day I decided to swap out the interior illumination dial with one of the spares I have. In the days leading up to the swap, I could predictably get the ERR to flash anytime the running lights were off and dial was above a "1". With the running lights on, I could get the ERR to display with anything above a "3".

 

With the new dial, there has been no ERR for 2 days regardless of illumination setting or running lights. Of course, now that I shared I'm sure that the ERR will pop up tomorrow.

Keep us posted to see if that works. Thanks

On the drive back to VT last night, the display worked fine, first time in weeks. The dash lights have been on ILL2 all week.

Is it easy to replace the dial assembly ?

Today on the drive home...it more than made up for working on the drive up. It flashed most of the way home...