I have 10,000 Miles, Car will be sitting idle 50% of time for now on-Service A Early?
 

So I have just over 10K miles that I put on in the last 9 months...

I got a new job to where my commute is now only 4 miles on city streets, no highways...

My level of driving has been drastically reduced, so now, I don't think I will get to the 13,000 miles required for service until at least some time in early 2009.

Based off my change in level of driving activity from the norm, and closeness to the 13,000 mark, should I/can I get it serviced early??

I just am worried that I am damaging the car since in my entire life I have never waited to change the oil longer than 3,000 miles, but for this car they reccomend 13,000.... and now I am driving less so it might be a good year and a few months of driving before I get even my first oil change!

what do you all think? think change of driving activity plays any factor in the timing of the change in my case?

thanks for any advice

-ryan

Intervals are 13k miles or 1 year; whichever comes first.

Dont worry cus your car willl tell you when you need to service it. On the cluster it will read service A in XXX miles. In some cases the service isnt due even after one full yr, due to low mileage. However it is recommended to get it serviced no later then 1 1/2 yrs at the longest. Again your car will tell you when its time.

^+1
Do not spend any $$$$ if you don't have to, your car will be OK

From my understanding this car is equipped with sensors to monitor the oil on if it's good or not. Then again the service writer of my dealership could be talking out his ass. Today's cars are not so black and white as of yet compared to our old standard of 3month/3,000 miles. Us general public still don't know what to believe on how good the current oil and motors are and what is safe.

If you want piece of mind and feel like you have gotten enough miles out of the oil go ahead and change it. If we were talking 5,000 miles I would agree with the above posters but at 10,000 miles do what makes you feel more comfortable.

No more FSS
 

....From my understanding this car is equipped with sensors to monitor the oil on if it's good or not. Then again the service writer of my dealership could be talking out his ass......

Which he is because the FSS system was abandoned several years ago. All we have is the dipstick and an oil level light.

He may have been thinking about the former C-Class which supposedly had such a system. I had one and I ran a countdown mileage test after an oil change on the Flexible Service System vs odometer mileage and for 5000 miles they were never more than 100 miles apart.

I did the first oil change in my C300 at 5000 miles because I do a lot of under five mile trips and I'll do another around 10000 miles when I'll reset the service indicator.

Doing it yourself (why not?) gets the cost waaay down.

13K service get it done:y

I doubt our cars are sophisticated enough to actually monitor the physical condition of the oil ... they can't even put in memory for the seats so why would they do something that advanced?

I'm sure all it's doing is watching the onboard computer for avg mileage and doing some math to predict the conditions you're driving in. Low avg speed, low avg mpg = stop and go. High avg speed, steady avg mpg = hwy miles. And then modifying the service interval accordingly.

If you leased, wait. If you bought and actually thing this thing might last past 50k miles, my personal preference with past synth oil cars has been 7500 max between oil changes.

i would atleast change the oil since you won't be driving much. i agree with above that our car probably don't detect the physical condition of the oil, if any it would just be a mileage countdown. at 10k, the condition of the oil must have broken down somewhat and your filter must be cluttered, so why store your car with dirty oil?

if not a service, atleast do an oil change, like another member suggested, DIY, much cheaper.

+1

what is the best link to DIY oil change for a c350?

I have never changed the oil in any car in my life :crazy:

I have no idea what the best oil for this car is either...

any links to Mercedes c350 DIY oil changes with pictures?

I searched and could not find any,,,,

defintely sounds like a good idea to DIY right now...

but what about resetting the service thing in the computer if i DIY?

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w204/252315-engine-cover-removal-procedure-w-pictures.html
http://www.mercedesshop.com/Wikka/OilFilter2
https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w204/242233-does-anyone-know-how-reset-service-indicator-2008-c300.html

i was told by my salesman to get the oil changed at 10k or every year, whichever comes first. is 10k right? or is it 13k?:nix:

+1 thanks!

I forgot one:

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...796&highlight=

Thank you but no way no how will i be doing my own oil change :eek: some of you guys already know how much i cherish my nails :rolleyes: sooo with me being right around to corner from 11000 miles i should be expecting to see that ?Warning" message on my cluster soon to get the A service done ...correct me if wrong ??? TIA :)

When mine turned just over 12K miles I looked at the service menu to see what it thought about how soon I needed service. It thought 1100 miles to go. Hmm. 12K + 1100 = over 13K. How interesting.

Yeah, it'll get scheduled before it turns 13K ....

hey check your dealers website for specials i only paid $199