120,000 mile update
11-09-2011, 06:03 PM
#152
MBWorld Fanatic!
11-10-2011, 11:16 AM
#153
You can do this for your car if you wish. I warn that once you start you can't stop or the whole effort is a waste of time. This is predictive maintenance. For one unit it gets costly & I'll bet you will get tired of it. The best you can do is develop a trend over numerous engine oil samples to establish a drain interval for your specific operating conditions. You will just have a good statistically valid trend when time comes to sell the car.
More practical to listen to Benz.
More practical to listen to Benz.
So i'm riding it out until it dies or someone hits me. Does direct injection or variable valve timing present unique challenges to oil besides possibly higher compression?
11-10-2011, 03:24 PM
#154
Super Moderator
No. - The largest challenge in a Merc gasoline engine is control of cam & tappet wear.
11-11-2011, 07:14 PM
#156
Super Moderator
Rev - there is nothing wrong with taking the odd sample to assure yourself that nothing is going wrong or as in John's case to assure no detrimental effects of running E85. I would not try to exceed 13K change intervals even in mild running conditions.
11-14-2011, 12:53 PM
#157
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
Pleased to report that I drove 600 miles over the weekend with no further issues from the transmission, and it has been 2,550 miles since the flush.
After getting back from Vegas with Trey in January, I plan to replace the flex discs and front engine mounts to see if that will quiet the drive train down some.
On Saturday night I was standing outside the car while it idled and I heard a very faint noise from under hood. I made a short video.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxex82rSBS4
still, it doesn't sound the same listening to that as it did in person.
After getting back from Vegas with Trey in January, I plan to replace the flex discs and front engine mounts to see if that will quiet the drive train down some.
On Saturday night I was standing outside the car while it idled and I heard a very faint noise from under hood. I made a short video.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxex82rSBS4
still, it doesn't sound the same listening to that as it did in person.
12-19-2011, 09:56 AM
#158
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Thread Starter
This means I have put 100,000 miles on it personally in 3.5 years. In celebration, I'm taking it to Fayetteville, GA tonight to meet up with resident Vanilla Coke addict Trey for some STAR coding.
12-19-2011, 11:22 AM
#159
Super Moderator
Warning - don't do anything I would not do - that should give you plenty of scope. 
12-20-2011, 12:57 AM
#162
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2005 C240 4MATIC, 2010 ML350
I just topped the 130,000 mile mark last week. I feel like I'm doing the high mileage journey with you guys.
I'm driving almost 1000 miles next week on a 10 year anniversary road trip with my wife to San Diego.
I'm driving almost 1000 miles next week on a 10 year anniversary road trip with my wife to San Diego.
12-20-2011, 01:19 PM
#163
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Thread Starter
Chris - good to hear of another high miler!
Trey did a great job last night on my car. At first his STAR computer wouldn't communicate with his or my car, but after persistence he got it to work. I had:
Xenon set to present (for future upgrade)
Desert mode ON
Tank content mod
Passive tire pressure monitor activated (this is tricky)
USA mode with Buzzer activated for the chirp and retained panic function
Alarm and buzzer volume increased to 70%
Trey also ran a diagnostic test that pulled up all past and present fault codes. Every time the car has had so much as a bulb out, there's a record. There were no engine faults whatsoever. The only active fault was something about a heater recirculation pump, but the information said to ignore it if it just kept coming back.
The scariest stored faults were about the transmission. There were 2 fault codes saying the transmission is slipping, both stored. No idea how old they are. But we cleared them and next time Trey is in GA with the STAR we'll see if they've been stored again. I'm hoping that those were stored during the time the transmission was overfilled.
Trey did a great job last night on my car. At first his STAR computer wouldn't communicate with his or my car, but after persistence he got it to work. I had:
Xenon set to present (for future upgrade)
Desert mode ON
Tank content mod
Passive tire pressure monitor activated (this is tricky)
USA mode with Buzzer activated for the chirp and retained panic function
Alarm and buzzer volume increased to 70%
Trey also ran a diagnostic test that pulled up all past and present fault codes. Every time the car has had so much as a bulb out, there's a record. There were no engine faults whatsoever. The only active fault was something about a heater recirculation pump, but the information said to ignore it if it just kept coming back.
The scariest stored faults were about the transmission. There were 2 fault codes saying the transmission is slipping, both stored. No idea how old they are. But we cleared them and next time Trey is in GA with the STAR we'll see if they've been stored again. I'm hoping that those were stored during the time the transmission was overfilled.
12-20-2011, 01:58 PM
#164
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
STAR hooked up!
Radio display during diagnostics
The tire pressure warning is behind the odometer on the main screen, accessed by pressing the arrow up key once. If you turn the ignition to ACC, it says "Tire pressure monitor unavailable. Switch ignition on". When you switch it on, this warning appears briefly and then it changes to simply say "Tire pressure monitor active. Reactivate with +"
The all important tank content screen!
Video of USA with Buzzer
Another interesting thing is that apparently the cars do have an oil quality monitor onboard. When Trey and I were browsing in the service area of STAR my car said I had driven 4900 miles in 65 days since the last oil change and that my oil quality was 2.26, and that the value should fall between 1.00-4.00.
Also to anyone wanting to enable tire pressure monitor, you must first code the instrument cluster to have the tire pressure screen available. Then you code chassis, ESP, tire pressure loss warner to active. If you try coding chassis, ESP first the option for the pressure loss warner won't show up as an option.
12-20-2011, 02:14 PM
#165
Out Of Control!!
It must be damn near impossible to match shoes with that bag! 
Looks like fun to see what kind of easter eggs you can enable with the STAR. I just find it really weird that MB just leaves so much in the background that could be helpful.
Looks like fun to see what kind of easter eggs you can enable with the STAR. I just find it really weird that MB just leaves so much in the background that could be helpful.
12-20-2011, 05:42 PM
#167
Super Moderator
Matt - don't worry unduly about speed sensor codes on the transmission. They do generate the odd implausible code. Only worry if they hit limp threshold.
12-20-2011, 06:19 PM
#169
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2007 C230SS; 2014 ML350 BT
On the oil quality thing. It is not an oil quality monitor, it is just a number that is multiplied by some other number to give the oil change interval. Changing that oil quality number will raise or lower your default change interval for service A and B on reset. Mine is currently set to some number (can't remember) that makes my change interval 10K miles.
Nice job Trey in getting STAR setup and figuring out how to make those changes. It is not intuitive, but it is DAMN powerful once you get it figured out. So do you speak German Trey? Translating the German in developer mode can be a *****.
12-20-2011, 06:40 PM
#170
Super Moderator
sadly i don't speak German and stay out of that part unless i know what i am looking for. Know that I think about it you are right about that number not being oil quality sorry matt no oil quality for you 
12-20-2011, 07:54 PM
#171
Out Of Control!!
01-08-2012, 08:21 PM
#173
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2005 c230k ss, 2005 Land Rover LR3, 2006 Honda S2000
Matt, good to hear things are going well with your 05. I've been super busy and haven't had time to post much. I'm up to 176,700 on mine with no problems. Trey, you need to hook my up with some STAR action!
01-09-2012, 11:18 AM
#174
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
My car gave me an ESP malfunction on Saturday night - which also caused a "Tire Pressure Monitor unavailable" message. I did the steering wheel lock-to-lock five times and rebooted three times but it kept saying "ESP Unavailable". It was raining out so I intentionally goosed it turning off my road and ESP prevented a fishtail even when the car was saying it was unavailable.. wtf.
A mile later, the errors cleared and have not returned despite several drives since.
Ack.
A mile later, the errors cleared and have not returned despite several drives since.
Ack.
01-09-2012, 03:20 PM
#175
Out Of Control!!
I'd laugh, except my BAS/ESP faults came up while driving at lunchtime today. I think they make these systems too complex. 
