I recently bought an elderly (1988) 480ES.  I've known the car for years,
drove it occasionally when new.  It's a short term purchase to see me
through the winter.

The problem is that the suddenly the info centre display has gone so dim
as to be unreadable.  You can JUST see that the display is there but not
in any usable way.  someone slammed the passenger door the other day and
the display came on at normal brightness during that trip, but nothing
since.

Sounds like a loose connection - but how does one get behind the
instrument panel to poke around?

Any ideas/help suggestions, please?

While I'm in help-seeking mode, there is an annoying clunking noise from
behind when driving on rough roads.  I noticed it as I drove the car to
its annual MOT test (for non-UK readers, that's the roadworthiness test)
just before Christmas.  I thought it was just something loose rolling
around the tool compartment I've checked since and it wasn't).  The car
got throught the test (at a trusted garage) so it shouldn't be a
suspension or structural problem - but the noise is still there.  

I'll probably go back to the garage eventually - but they are quite a
distance away and any ideas or suggestions would be helpful.

RogerH