Temperature dial works when weighed down - SFGate
The temperature and clock dials on the dashboard stopped working after the warranty expired. I went to the Mercedes dealer, and he said it was very costly to fix it. So for the past nine or 10 years, I had no temperature or clock dials. But when I shipped my car from Florida to New York and loaded my car with clothes and stuff, I noticed that the temperature dial started to work after I picked up the car, and there was some indication of time. But when I unloaded the car, the temperature dial worked for a few days, then stopped. Then when I shipped the car back to Florida three months later, the temperature dial again worked when the car was loaded, but when unloaded it stopped. Please give me some reasoning for why these things would work only when the car is loaded. Gee, I don’t remember exactly what your instrument cluster looks like. I know it has an engine temperature gauge, but I can’t remember the clock. In any case, I think what’s happening is that when you put a lot of weight in the car, it’s changing the geometry and reconnecting a wire that’s broken. Most likely, it’s a tiny broken connection in the circuit board on the back of the instrument cluster. Unfortunately, if your engine temperature gauge isn’t working, you won’t know if your car is overheating, and if you continue to drive it when it’s overheating, you could turn a $20 hose-clamp problem into a $6,000 melted engine. Source: www.sfgate.com
