ekimpay

my car is up for "Service A" since it's 6-months old, although with less than 1,300 miles. should i go in for "Service A"?

tried searching, but was not succesful in getting the desired results.

06C230

you don't need service A after only six months. It's after a year or 13k miles whichever comes first. I think you're talking about the first check up on the car that is supposed to be done between 1000-3000 miles and yes you should do it, it doesn't cost anything.

Arn560

Don't you drive it? Bring it here let me put some miles on it for you. I only use mine at weekends and I have 20k miles on it even though it is a 2004.5

patrick_y

It is also possible that the car is already one year old (from date of manufacture). When it is a year old, it will ask for this regardless.

You should ignore it. Go in at around 2500 miles for the Owner's Diagnostic and Vehicle Introduction. At around 3500 get the oil changed (since the first oil change should occur a bit earlier).

Check inside your door sill on the driver's side. There should be a production month and year on it. Should say something like this 04/05. This is an example for April, year 2005.

If it's coming close to a year, then that's why the computer is already requesting an oil change.

06C230

the car doesn't ask for that first check up. He also said he's only had the car for six months. Either way it's not time for service A, it's time for it's check up and it's free to might as well let them check it out.

patrick_y

It is possible that for some odd reason the car sat on the lot for another 3 months before he acquired it. It takes about a month for the car to get from Germany to the US on the boat.

My car was produced in November of 2004. I acquired it in January of 2005. I got it just two or three days after it got off the truck (picked up my order). In October of 2005, it started telling me that it needed its service A already. So I called my service manager and he told me that it's also time dependent, every year. It had only about 8k miles on it at that time (I barely needed a car, since I lived so close to my high school that I walked and then I went off to college in August without the car).

I ended up doing the A service at around 9k miles. I meant to do an oil change at around 3000 (to get the "break-in" oil out) but I forgot. I'll bring the car back in at around 21, 22, or 23k miles (depending when I'm accessible) for that lovely service B. Besides, now that the car is coming with me to college, I think it will see even more highway mileage (assuming I go back home often).

sdsilverm3

Listen to Patrick. The clock starts from the manufacture date. I had the same thing happen to me. My car was produced 11/04 and acquired in 06/05. It was sitting around for that long!

ekimpay

thanks for all the input. well, it definitely sat somewhere. although it's MY06 the production date is 06/05. hence, it's already a year old .

patrick_y

Now that I think about it. If I were to acquire a C55, I would also consider white. Since everybody here's got silver or black. I have honestly not seen a white one. And I'm not saying that I dislike the silvers or blacks.

A good way to know if a car's been sitting on the lot and whether you can get a good deal on it (since if it were sitting on the lot for a long time, the dealership might be more inclined to move it) is to look at the door sill where it has a production number. If it's more than a few months, go hard on the price.

Still, C55s, they were going over sticker at one time (my local dealership tried to charge me $7k? if I remember correctly? Still have the paperwork around here somewhere when I ordered the car). In the end, I didn't take delivery and then I placed an order for a C230 and voila, I got one just the way I liked it at a decent price. Today, I'm very happy that I ended up with a C (almost got the E46 BMW or Infiniti G35 sedan).

patrick_y

Well, that makes sense then.

Yup, you need to drive it a bit more. I thought I was under mileage, but you're way undermileage. Oh well, I'll soon be racking up the miles.

EV0LVE

I had the exact same thing happened to me when my car was just 2 months old. It actually said Service A, and not the free visual inspection BS. Anyway, service tech just reset the service timer. Now don't forget to that you'd need to get service at at 13000 miles not at whatever miles you have now and add 13000 miles. So to sum it all up, no service A needed yet, have them reset it. Or you do it, (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't have this all screwed on my head)

1. With the car off, insert key, do not start but put the key to ON position.
2. Browse thru the messages til you get to Odometer reading.
3. Toggle on the volume button on the steering wheel to get to "Service A required"
4. Press and hold the reset button, that should do it.

I can do this if I'm on my car, but I'm lazy to get off the chair, but it's somewheres long those line.

Goodluck.

jan ken po

Yes, please do not fall for the BS job of 12k 'tween oil changes. Change your oil
max every 5k.

Gilgorm

In Canada, the readings are for an oil change every 15000 km(+-9000 miles). I was picking up my car one day at the dealership. When I turned off the car I know it said I had 8000km to go. An hour later, the readout read that I needed an oil change immediately. It turned out I had run out of TIME, in my case 15000km or one year. The FSS reads km and days. I drove another 6000km and 475 days before I had the oil change done.
Having said that I would do an oil change at this early age simply because the first oil change should be done early to get rid of all the metal filings etc that are washed out of a new engine.

patrick_y

Yea, when getting a new car, I normally try to get an oil change done a bit sooner. Forgot a bit with this car, it had its first oil change at around 9000 miles. Normally I like to have one at around 2000 ish.

I believe that I will continue changing the oil every 10-13k miles. Depending on what fits in my schedule and how I drive. Since I assume that I plan to drive a lot of highway miles, I'm willing to go this long. However, if there was a greater city emphasis, I would think I would change the oil closer to every 5000 miles. Besides, it's just oil.

Gilgorm: I don't know why your computer says to change it every 15,000 km when ours is 12,000-13,000 miles usually. Could it be because of the temperature difference in Canada?

jan ken po

Its just oil??? You've gotta be kidding right? Regardless of driving habits, don't go past 5k 'tween changes. Get an oil extractor pump for about 60 bucks and change the oil yourself, very easy. That extended oil change interval BS by MB is only "recommended" if you use the 229.5 spec oil AND a fleece filter. A fleece filter is which is not available yet for the '05 M271 engine.

Gilgorm

Patrick,
I doubt that tempature has anything to do with it--unless cars in northern US are set the same.My car is an 02 so I decided to check my manual--it says "10,000 miles (15,000 km in Canada)" so the factory has decided to use an incorrect conversion since 10,000 miles=16,200km. However, on the two MBs I have owned that had FSS I once exceeded the setting i.e. I got 16000km after the car was set for 15000 and twice I got 14000km. As the name implies FSS is Flexible and is meant only as a guideline. Your individual driving habits and conditions will affect the final outcome. I have found the car runs better in cold weather since the A/C is off and the air intake seems to like cold air (its also cleaner). My BMW has a re-set of 25,000 km (15,500 miles).

patrick_y

Wait a minute. Our cars don't come with a high performance "fleece filter"??? I thought all modern day Mercedes came with one.

Yikes, I'm going to have to change that oil more often if the filter isn't as good as it's supposed to be.

Why haven't they made one for the M271 engine yet? And why is my dealer still telling me that 5 quarts of oil will last me 10k miles (besides, 5 quarts is really small, my 300 series engine has almost double that).

ekimpay

once again, thanks for the info. i've done the reset (now says Service B in 13,000 miles).

i'll probably be taking it in for the free diagnostic check & the seatbelt recall (after i read all the posts about it).

patrick_y

On the cars in the family with the FSS, we normally average about 12k miles. Theoretically, I should've brought it in to the dealership every 10k miles and thus I could've possibly gotten an extra oil change. Nonetheless.

I wonder why yours varies so much, we've always gotten about exactly 12k miles.

jan ken po

Nope they don't. Check your last service receipt. I'm willing to bet the farm that they use 10w-40 oil with a PAPER filter part # 271-180-00-09. Hopefully they didn't charge you for 8qts like they did me.

To get the extended oil change interval, you needs to use Mobil 1 SuperSyn Euro formlua 0w-40 with a fleece filter. Here is where it gets tricky. The Factory Approve Service Parts booklet you get with your car lists the fleece filter as having a part # 000 180 26 09. And trust me when I say this, it will NOT fit in the '05 M271 engine.

I went round & round with the parts dept. and search tirelessly on the net.
Never a fleece filter found.

Gilgorm

Patrick,
Our current 02 coupe usually only drives 14km(8.6m in total) to AND from work three times a week in heavy, heavy downtown traffic. Of its current 27,000 km(16,700miles) it has probably only been on the highway for a few thousand. As you know, city driving is worse than any other type of driving when it comes to wear and tear on a vehicle and, as a result, oil contamination. Interestingly it has never consumed oil and uses 0W40 Mobil 1.
As well, as a result of the extensive city driving, the gas mileage has always been very poor(18 mpg). Once, on a rare extended highway drive, it got 33 mpg. My wife also enjoys "driving" the car but thats the fun of having the coupe.