One problem related to instrument panel has been reported for the 1998 Mercedes Benz ML320. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Instrument lights do not light up. Instruments cannot be seen at night including speedometer and gas gage. Potential consequences are running out of fuel or exceeding the safe speed limits because speedometer is not visible. The problem has gotten worst with time. This has been a problem since the car was new and dealers blame the problem on light bulb problems. Sometime rapping the instrument cluster cause the lights to come back on indicating that this is a problem with the connection and not the bulbs. This appears to be a defect with the bulb connections as the problem is recurring and the dealers are not truly fixing the source of the problem.