Re: instrument cluster fire

Dear guys - I know very little about cars. We own a 1982 mercedes 240 diesel with 212k on it. Runs great, and things obviously break here and there and we take it to a great guy who's never given us any reason to doubt his honesty. Recently, we noticed a bit of oil gathering by the accelerator. We took it in, and our guy told us the oil meter was leaking from the gauge cluster and that we'd either need a new cluster or he'd have to cap the oil meter. Before he told us this, he took the panel out, reviewed it, whatever - he spent a day with the car before giving us his recommendations. We know he took it out and played with it because a) he told us, and b) there were smudges all over it. No matter - that was two weeks ago. I took the car home, and then had to leave town for 3 days unexpectedly, and then again for 9 days. The entire time the car sat in front of the house. During the latter trip, my wife made a 1 mile trip to the grocery store and back. I arrived yesterday (Saturday), and my wife again made a 1 mile trip from the house in the car and back. Later that night, we drove about 10 miles to our friends house for an evening function. On the way home from there, we both smelled a very strong odor, like burnt rubber. By the time we were about 2 miles from home, we noticed sparks, and then fire coming from the instrument gauge cluster. We had to call the fire department, who disconnected the battery, put out the fire, and helped us tow it back to our guy's garage. The fireman - after the hearing the story I outlined for you above - was convinced we are owed free repair work, that clusters just don't spark and catch on fire if wired correctly. The entire panel is now fried and we will need a new gauge cluster and presumably new wiring. I really do not feel I should have to pay for this work as in my head our car guy clearly did something wrong when he reattached the gauge cluster. What do you guys think? And thanks! - Jeff