designergrey

So here is the deal:

At about 5,000 miles on my 2005 230k I ran through a large puddle of water and the insurance company and the dealership decided that the best course of action was to replace my engine with a new one. So now I am at 6,500 miles and my car is saying I am 3 days away from needing a Service A. But I have a brand new engine.

I called the dealer and asked if I really need this service A since essentially, all the fluids and filters were replaces just 1,500 miles ago. What do you all think about all this? I told him that I would be fine with an oil change and checking my brakes. I haven't had any problems with my new engine so what is the deal with getting a Service A right now.

Do I really need service A at this point? And does the $195 he is telling me it is going to cost sound right?

Just in case any of you were wondering...it cost $7,500 to replace the engine and my insurance rates went up $48 a year. So all in all things could have been worse. Although having that Saturn Ion as a loaner for 2 weeks was torture.

rrpnow

48 a year? thats not bad at all for the expense they had to pay

Kenzmbz

So was it considered your fault? How big was the puddle? The size of the pacific ocean? That must have been a big puddle to screw up your engine.

jan ken po

Are you at 6,500 miles on the care or the new engine?? If the engine only has 1500 miles, I would neither the service A nor an oil change at this point. You don't need service A technically until 13,000 and all it is then is glorified oil change. I took mine in at about 11,500, ask for an oil change and told them to reset the service reminder. Walk out the door at ~95 bucks.

designergrey

It was about an inch from the bottom of my door. It really wasn't the puddle that messed things up it was the fact that the car that was in the lane next to me decided to speed on up and their splash off went up into the front grille and that was that. Me and another car were stuck on theside of the road. Apparently, it was the worst rainstorm they have had here in a while, but I'm fron San Diego so I don't really know much about what to expect around these parts.

I really don't know much about how the insurance company classified it...I called, they said they would send somone to look at it and less than a week there was a check for the entire repair minus my $250 deductible and then I got my new policy a few weeks ago expecting the worst and it was only $48 more than last year's policy.

The car has 6,500 miles total. I have had it since March of 2005, I don't drive all that much. The new engine has 1,500 miles on it. I think they should have reset the service clock when they put the new engine in. The new engine is smoother and generally runs better than the old one did and I haven't had one issue to really be concerned about service at this point.

I think they are crazy as a coconut.

HoustonC230

I know on regular oil changes, they recommend both a time and mileage interval. Not sure how it works on the FSS, but my guess would be it's got a time interval too.

If that's the case, they probably didn't reset it when they replaced the engine, so it thinks you haven't had in oil change since it was built. I would say no, you don't need it until you hit at least 10k miles on the new engine... but it never hurts to change the oil early.

TA-9FF

Hey Jan, will any dealer allow you to do this if you ask them to? Or will they just try to con you into saying that it's necessary to do Service A, which will be around $200-$300?

This is the first MB I've ever owned and all these maintenance charges seem way too high. $95 ain't bad for an oil change, considering it being a Benz; I'm thinking about doing what you did and just asking for the oil change and telling them to reset the service reminder when the times comes.......

livestrongONe

I have never seen a puddle that big before. I am soooo glad I got a scuba tank and gear set when I bought my car. Sorry I had to go there no hard feelings

jan ken po

Well ANY dealer should only do the service you request and notify that you are willing to pay for. So short answer, yes. So if they start hassling you, A) say "do whatever hell you want, but I'm only paying for an oil change & service reset." B) Go to another dealer.

My service advisor made no fuss, said ok and wrote the service order.

revstriker

Service A really only consists of an oil and filter change, a check & refill of fluids and tires, and a check on the brakes. Other than the oil change, the other things are minor. I doubt that one would get any kind of a price break on just an oil change.

mkmojay: It sounds like the dealer did not reset your FSS when they changed the engine. I'm not sure if this is SOP or not, but either way, you do not need an oil change after only 1,500 miles. I would call them back and say that you want the FSS reset to the correct settings, and that this should have been included in the engine swap, and therefore should cost you $0. After some calls to Service, GM, and if necessary, MBUSA, if they are unwilling to reset this, then I would just live with the warning until the engine has more miles on it.

jan ken po

Well my dealer wanted ~200 bucks for Service A, and only 95 for oil change & service reset. Price break enough for me.

mkmojay: See the other thread about how to reset the reminder yourself and see if it works. Gonna try mine right now b4 I head home.

sdsilverm3

Tell them to reset the light. Refusing to do so would be obvious stupidity on the service advisor's part. You got a new motor that has 1,500 miles and it would obviously be less than a year old. If he still insists on making you do the oil change then he is trying to milk you. Take your car elsewhere.

revstriker

Wow! Stupid question, but I hope that includes a filter!

So that's $105 to check tire pressure, check and fill fluids, and visually check the brakes.

jan ken po

Directly from my service write-up:
Customer request oil & filter change: 38.50
(1) 271-180-00-09 Filter: 12.00
(8) Q-1-09-0015 Mobil One 10W40 44.00
(1) 007603-014106 Ring 0.50

Cust request reset of service reminder 38.50

1st oil change cust appreciation discount -38.50


It appearantly seems so. Now i want to go out & try the service reminder reset on my own to see if 38.50 was for nuttin.

Edit: O well, guess what I get for not reading manual thoroughly, you can reset the service advisor on your own.

Buellwinkle

I hate it when they check my brakes as part of the A/B service and prefer just an oil change. Unless they are absolutely brand new they seem to tell you you need brakes. My daughter comes home with a $900 estimate to do brakes at the Ford (or is that Fraud) dealer. I look at the outside pads through the wheel and they look fine to me, about 1/8" left so I figure maybe it's the inside pads so I take the tire and caliper off and they are fine but I replaced them anyway since I had everything apart with genuine Ford parts at full retail, $89. The Honda dealer was even more brazen, I just put brand new rotors on the day before because it was warped by the tire shop overtightening the lug nuts and the pads had about 1/4" left on them, I know because I had to remove them to put the rotor on, they told my wife she had 1mm left. What's the deal with brakes, it's like a cash cow to them, they give you the oil change cheap just to lure you in and then WAM! So If I can get the oil change only for half the price, do it, check your own brakes and fluids, takes 5 minutes, besides, there's a brake pad wear light that comes when you need pads.

designergrey

I decided to go ahead and just keep with the original service schedule. As I have been told before, sometimes you have to pick your battles and this one just isn't all that important right this minute. Really, I'n not sure what the hell they did, but if it was covered under the A schedule then I don't want to hear anything about it for another 13,000 miles. It ended up costing $167. The car Gods owe me one.

A side note...I noticed that the dealer had 5 new CLS sedans in the showroom all sold. Are they really that popular?

BTW...Merry Christmas everyone!

Outland

Well duh...of course it runs better...this one hasn't been drowned.

I'd dump the car unless its a lease...any car that's had its engine replaced for whatever reason is worth substantially less, and there's always the collateral damage...chips, dents, things not hooked up right, etc. My friend had his engine on his Toyota Celica replaced after 8K because of an oil consumption problem...car was never the same, one system after another kept failing. If you gotta do a heart transplant, its time to dump it.

designergrey

What are you talking about? I was talking about the fact that the new engine runs smoother than the old engine BEFORE I went through the water. Once I went through the water the car shutdown, I had it towed to the dealer and that was that.

My car doesn't have one chip or dent in it and if problems come up it is well under warranty. I'm sorry, but there isn't ALWAYS collateral damage. That is a half ***, jum to a conclusion, assumption. I didn't drive the car after I went throught the water so I don't know what you are trying to say. What would be the logic of selling it now to lose even more first year value in it? To me it makes more sense to get some miles out of it, build a history with the new engine and be able to document its repair history. I like this car just fine and arbitrarily buying and selling cars isn't something I do. What you are saying doesn't even make sense. I haven't had one problem with my car since I got it back so I think I will wait and see what happens in the next 6,000 miles to see if there is a problem. Really though, the circumstances involved in your friends Celica are isolated to his replacement so how does that even relate to my repairs since it wasn't the same car, the same engine, the same installer and under the same situation? Sometimes people on this forum make some of the most ill-thought out suggestions. It is just a car, it is paid for, it gets me from point a to point b and when those things stop happening I'll get it fixed.

c class 279

To get to Service B.