Studboy

Hi,
I have a 2005 C320 and it is showing that I have to do the B service soon but I have driven the car around 8000 miles only. So I was wondering what to do?

I was going through my service booklet and here it is mentioned that maintaince in the first 13000 miles is A service. where as B service is for 26000 miles. Apart from the initial 1000-3000 service I havent had any other service done. Is the car showing the wrong service type i.e. it should show A and not B?

The dealer is expensive for this service and outside service centers are 1/3rd the cost. Will servicing it from centers other than the dealer void my waranty. Or should I even go for the service now.

Any advice will be helpful.

Thanks

bnzct

How long you had your car?
Maybe you missed service A?
Service A is 13000 miles OR 1 year "whichever come first"!
Are you at the 2nd year already?

Studboy

I have had the car for about 15 months now.
No I did not miss out any service. I had my tires rotated 1.5 months back and that time they said that no service was requried.

mbz4810

The service cluster is not accurate as it supposed to be....


Maybe it's a Servie A that it wants.

Just take it to the dealer, and if you have to, do the B.

The advisor don't even check my cluster when I brought mine in, he just said that i need A/B service and it's free under warranty so I say YES

bnzct

I don't think the indicator keeps track of time. Only mileage.
At 12 months, whatever the mileage, you were supposed to get the A service...
Do service A as soon as possible. And do the B at 24 months (9 months from now or earlier if you reach 26000 miles) to get back on schedule. You don't want them to find out you were late...for warranty issues.

patrick_y

Actually, the service indicator does keep track of the time. It will ask you to go in for service every year even if you didn't drive at all taht year.

Sometimes the Mercedes-Benz dealership resets the computer incorrectly. Follow what your manual says.

MBTech21

Simple explaination- the car starts counting when it is built. Car sits on dealer lot/VPC/customs/boat ride etc. When dealer delivers car, the counter is supposed to be reset- HOWEVER..the procedure to reset back to 0 is a pain, so most just tell the car a service has been done, and it starts counting again..with the next service being a B!!
Amazingly, since free service went away, the counters are faster now, so 15 months is about right. You need an A service, then reset the counter again right after you get it back- it will get you back on track.

Alan B

To answer your question: "Will servicing it from centers other than the dealer void my waranty. Or should I even go for the service now?" The short answer is no, providing you go to an authorized MB type of garage. In other words, go to a mechanic that has been properly trained to work on MB's and has a certificate or such to prove it.

The B Service is a suped-up oil change with some other replacements: Cabin filters (both underhood and underdash types - the underdash is $85 and is an activated charcoal type, underhood is paper element $15), air filter replacements ($35), wiper insert replacements, tire rotation, and adjustments as needed. I am definitely not a mechanic...but, as a first time MB owner, I was able to change all the above (except oil & filter) in less than 1 hour for about $150. The oil & filter change were about $90 at a garage. Total, about $240 instead of paying the dealer $400 +.

Some of the C's under factory warranty have all maintanence covered at no cost. What is your situation? Some good dealers will tell you how to change the air & cabin filters if you ask.

Good luck!

patrick_y

My car was built in late November of 2004. I acquired the car in early January of 2005. The car was giving me the "Service A Due In 30 days" towards the end of October. The car had 8000 miles on it at the time.

This tells us two things:
1. The car will always want a servicing every 12 months, even if you put 0 miles on it.
2. If this system is supposed to be reset by the dealer, it is possible that they can reset by accident to display that Service B is required. Since when they perform the complex reset feature, the system first goes from A to B, but since it needs to be back on A again, they have to perform the reset twice (supposedly) and this is where they may forget to do it a second time.

jan ken po

Just called my dealer to ask how much for service B....six f-ckin ninety-nine!! $699. Good gawd!