I had 1 burned out lamp in my instrument pack.
I lowered and extended my steering column.
With the key in ignition, I disconnected the Pos battery terminal.
I removed the instrument pack, replaced the 4 larger bulbs (194s).
I put it all back together, reconnected the battery.

The following conditions are repeatable
Start car. Instrument pack is totally dark, even the bulbs I did not replace. Even the odometer and all initial warning indicators.
Engine almost stalls then evens out.
AC head unit reads "Er".
I can't get the car out of park.

I've double checked that the Instrument Pack connectors are seated well and locked back in.
Everything else appears to work normally.
What the hell?

addendum:
I disconnected tried disconnecting both battery terminals, let it sit for 10minutes and reconnected. Same results.
..of course I defeated the transmission interlock so I can move it. It runs fine otherwise.
It looks like my heater isn't blowing hot and seat heaters do not appear to be working.
Could I have nuked a few fuses disconnecting and reconnecting the battery?

 

I've subscribed to your post Florida, because I'm eager to see what those who are more knowledgeable suggest.

I just changed out the same bulbs a few days ago. However, because I don't have the radio code, I didn't want to take the chance of needing it by disconnecting the battery...and because I didn't disconnect the battery, i didn't dare risk damaging the circuits by disconnecting the wiring harnesses. So, I gingerly laid the cluster forward and used an angled pair of needle-nose pliers to remove the bulbs, change and then returned. Fortunately all worked out great...i think.

Days later...this evening I noticed the background light to the LCD odometer flashing. Not really going all the way out, but flashing dim to bright. I hope it works itself out. Hopefully, as I don't want to have to pull the cluster and disconnect battery and harnesses to get to lower bulbs and risk what you are experiencing.

Good luck Florida.

 

Crosbo, all you need to do is call your nearest dealer's service department, give them the last 4 digits of your VIN and they will give you your radio code... was that easy for me a few weeks ago.

 

You may be correct Quad, but I wasn't going to take the chance. I was doing this on a Sunday, so I couldn't call first.

From my experience with dealers here in San Antonio and Austin, they don't provide the code without a $75-$100 charge...at least that is what I've found with my Mercedes, BMW and most recently my daughter's Volvo. She drove around for 2 months because being a "starving college student" she refused to pay the condescending prixs (Austin dlr) what they were asking. In fact, she even has a new "over-priced" key fob she purchased from them, that they wouldn't program without an additional charge...which remains useless. Fortunately we solved the radio problem.

Sorry, venting a bit I guess. Hard to find some good dealers in this area...although the new Mercedes dealership in Boerne Texas is top-notch.

 

That really stinks about the radio code. A key fob can be programmed without too much trouble. I'm sure there is info on that in this forum archives. When I got my car all I had was a valet key, so I bought a master key and the stinking dealer charged me ~ $110 to program the key to the car. I got a nice key fob off of ebay and programmed it myself. Needless to say, I avoid dealer like the plague, but there are a couple of things you have to have them for - but just a couple.

 

Same thing happened to me a month ago. I bet the 194 bulbs you used were not from the dealer? If not, goto the dealer to get them. Everything works fine after that, and no fuses are blown. All the bulbs will come back on, even the ones that you didnt replace but stopped working. The A/C will work too.

 

After removing the Instrument Pack again, I noticed the Left(Black) connector was not seated fully. It wasn't connecting as easy as the Right(Yellow).
With a bit of pressure (not like I used a hammer) it seated fully but my Instrument Pack was still not working, Car will not come out of park, Seat Heaters and A/C Heating not functional.
I took it to the awesome guys at ALL-Jaguar in Longwood, FL.
Apparently I damaged the black connector. It was a 1 hour repair for them.
Going to pick it up today.
Looks like a disconnected Instrument Pack locks the car into Park gear and kills the AC Hot and the seat Heaters.

FYI: I took pictures of each step to removing the Instrument Pack and changing the bulbs and will put together instructions if anyone is interested.