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Should I change my oil early?

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Old 10-14-2002, 02:41 AM
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Should I change my oil early?

Dealer says do oil change at service A is fine, but my friend told me to not listen to the dealer and do oil change after first 3000 miles. What should I do??
Old 10-14-2002, 06:16 AM
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i change mine every 25000 miles.
Old 10-14-2002, 06:58 AM
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1993 MERCEDES BENZ 300TE
10K TO 12K IF FINE FOR NEW VEHICLES
Old 10-14-2002, 07:39 AM
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i had the same conflict when i bought my car, but i decided to listen to mercedes and wait until service A. why? mercedes is not going to lie to you. they would rather give you good advice and have working engines than spend much more money on replacing broken engines under warranty. what incentive does mercedes have to give you advice that would destroy your car in the long-term?
Old 10-14-2002, 09:38 AM
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2007 BMW 328xi sedan
Class Action Suits are being won

I heard on a local Boston talk radio show that specifically deals with Automobiles, where the host of the show, owns a Mercedes (E-class, I think), and he says that there are class action suits being won against both BMW and MB for the long intervals of oil changes being recommeded. It turns out that some engines are developing problems after 50k miles, which are directly attributable to owners strictly adhering to the scheduled changes with synthetic oil.

I am sure with research, we can find out more. The bottom line is that the owners who are joining the suits, are winning and having their drivetrain warranties extended to 100,000 miles. I heard this on last weeks show. I believe the problem he refers to is a condition called "gumming", which can be avoided be more frequent oil changes. I think, the host is an independent auto repair shop owner, so he has a vested interest, but I don't think he could fabricate the suit claims, without legal repercussion.
Old 10-14-2002, 10:26 AM
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Re: Class Action Suits are being won

Originally posted by dmichael
I heard on a local Boston talk radio show that specifically deals with Automobiles, where the host of the show, owns a Mercedes (E-class, I think), and he says that there are class action suits being won against both BMW and MB for the long intervals of oil changes being recommeded. It turns out that some engines are developing problems after 50k miles, which are directly attributable to owners strictly adhering to the scheduled changes with synthetic oil.

I have heard this story before. Some of this is because of morons that do adhere to the oil change schedule but then don't use a synthetic. This can likely happen if they get the oil changed at some cheapy oil change place and not at the dealer. Then they fry the engine and try to make MB accountable for their stupidity. Its no wonder they launch lawsuits. There is no benefit to MB for the long oil change schedules. If they said you needed them every 1000 miles they could increase their revenue. The long intervals are based on solid engineering evidence.
Old 10-14-2002, 10:42 AM
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VIPER ,,YOU ARE RIGH TON THE MONEY....
Old 10-14-2002, 10:45 AM
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That suit was for the FSS as I recall and it was the fact that MB was not using synthetic oil for there cars so they have extended the FSS and are using synthetics now. It was posted on this forum already so search and you can find the details. If you are unsure of the life of your oil, then do an oil change yourself and check the oil to see what it looks like. The synthetics are very good and engine quality is very good so the oil should still look pretty good as well. I change my oil in my Neon every 7-10,000 miles with regular old oil and when I drain it, the oil is still in good shape. As long as the oil is still decent and does not have any metal filings in it, and does not look like sludge, you should be doing fine.
Old 10-14-2002, 11:09 AM
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Per Patrick Bedard of Car and Driver magazine (not a quote): In a modern vehicle, there is absolutely NO reason to change the oil every 3,000 miles.
Old 10-14-2002, 11:47 AM
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Originally posted by session
i had the same conflict when i bought my car, but i decided to listen to mercedes and wait until service A. why? mercedes is not going to lie to you. they would rather give you good advice and have working engines than spend much more money on replacing broken engines under warranty. what incentive does mercedes have to give you advice that would destroy your car in the long-term?
My service advisor told me that if I intend to keep the car I should change the oil more often than FSS indicates. If I lease my car he told me not to bother. I changed the oil myself at 5300 miles at it did not look clean. The dealer in NJ wanted $100 to change the oil. I did not send the oil to be analyzed to a lab so I can’t know for sure how dirty it was. Also my FSS did not detect yet (I have 6100 miles now) that the oil is new. It indicates the Service A needs to be performed in 4600 miles. I wonder how well the FSS works.
Old 10-14-2002, 11:50 AM
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I changed mine at 3000 mile for my own peace of mind. I didn't like the thought of a new engine, which may or may not have reminants of machining, in it and that tiny oil filter. I will follow the FSS from now on.

The lawsuits are being brought by owners of the first cars with FSS when petroleum based oils were being used for 10,000 miles. MB then switched them to synthetic.
Old 10-14-2002, 11:50 AM
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1993 MERCEDES BENZ 300TE
IT HAS TO BE RESET WITH THE MULTIFUNCTION STEERING WHEEL .OR BY THE DIRECTIONS IN THE OWNERS MANUAL.
IT WILL NOT RESET ITSELF.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO CHANGE BETWEEN SERVICES AS LONG AS SYNTHTIC OIL IS USED.
YOU WILL NOT VOID WARRENTY,YOU WILL NOT EXTEND LIFE OF ENGINE IF CHANGED MORE FREQUENTLY.
JUST FOLLOW THE RECCOMENDATIONS FROM THE MERCEDES BENZ OWNERS MANUAL.
Old 10-14-2002, 04:16 PM
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Awaiting a new arrival...
Originally posted by Lynn
I changed mine at 3000 mile for my own peace of mind. I didn't like the thought of a new engine, which may or may not have reminants of machining, in it and that tiny oil filter. I will follow the FSS from now on.

The lawsuits are being brought by owners of the first cars with FSS when petroleum based oils were being used for 10,000 miles. MB then switched them to synthetic.
Lynn, what did the service cost you? So I can compare at least...
Old 10-14-2002, 04:38 PM
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I think it was $85, but I can't locate the invoice at the moment. I'm waaaay behind on my filing.
Old 10-14-2002, 04:52 PM
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to put a twist on things...

how about changing of the oil after some time breaking engine in?

Say around 1500-2000 mi? This way if there are chips and filings that were not deburred in manufacturing they'll get picked up in this first change.

Ideas?

P
Old 10-14-2002, 04:54 PM
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1993 MERCEDES BENZ 300TE
the oil that comes in the engine from europe is a sapphire grade oil ,not avaiable in states.
with the machine fitting processes that they use in todays manufacturing process,a break in period oil and iflter change is not necessary,that is why its not reccomended in owners manual
Old 10-14-2002, 05:26 PM
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I own one of those ML's that did get the warrenty extended. This was due to the fact that originally petroleum oil was used and recommended, then MB changed thier recommendation to synthetic oil. One could go as far as 20,000 miles between FSS recommended oil changes. The settlement extends the engine warrenty to 150,000 miles or ten years for engine sludge kinds of problems. I also includes a $35 MB service credit check.

On the issue of oil, note that these engines use 8 1/2 quarts, twice as much as any other car I have ever owned. This alone should extend the oil service mileage by a factor of two just to reach the same levels of impurities per quart, so 10,000 miles is very believable for these engines.

Doug W
Old 10-14-2002, 06:18 PM
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Re: Re: Class Action Suits are being won

Originally posted by viper
There is no benefit to MB for the long oil change schedules. If they said you needed them every 1000 miles they could increase their revenue. The long intervals are based on solid engineering evidence.
I guess that is true for the relatively minuscule Canadian market alone, but not here where the ~$200- ~$400 services are free for the first 4/50,000. I wonder about the integrity of the oil in MBs that are driven let's say 5000 miles annually (for arguement sake.) Will FSS account for this or could the original oil remain in the pan for 2+ years potentially? I'm not an engineer, but I certainly wouldn't be too comfortable with that.

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