I have a 2014 C 350 Sedan on order and in looking through the W204 site found this thread. I read the entire thread and found it very interesting.

A few years ago, I had a Passat diesel and always changed my own oil by sucking it out through the dip stick. After 50,000 miles no problems.

In 2011 I purchased an E350 W212S 4matic wagon. It now has 48,000 miles on it. Here in Minneapolis we have three MB dealers and they always have oil service specials, $69-$89 for Mobil 1 5W40, so I have them do it.
When I bring the car in they always tell me "they DRAIN" the oil out. I just confirmed with each dealer's service manager if they do that for just the E Class or for both the C Class and E Class. Each said they do it for both. I asked about Evacuating the oil using the dip stick and only one said they used to do it that way but stopped three years ago. he did not know why.

In the thread, it was mentioned that Mercedes engineered the engine to have the oil changed using only the dip stick to save time during routine maintenance.
I wonder why the local dealers here have not adopted that procedure?

I seems members are able to evacuate 7.5 or 8.5 qts. depending on model through the dip stick.

What pump do you guys recommend for changing the oil? Any long term experiences with the pump, I would like to buy something that lasts preferably forever.

I use this one: It's also called Pela PL 6000.

The pump does not come into contact with oil => no seal deterioration like is possible with some MityVacs (AFAIK)

It only holds 6 liters though. I guess you have to empty it out half way through the extraction before continuing on?

That's definitely a big plus. My next extractor will be like that, too. I've already killed one MityVac 7400 and one Pela 14K because the seal failed.

Mityvac 7201 has the pump on the outside as well.

Not really - M271 holds less than 6 liters of oil.
Carlos.33193's C250 also has M271 engine.

I just changed my oil yesterday using the John Dow evacuator. Sucked the oil out in under 3 mins. I bought it because it includes the MB adapter and probes for the various cars out there. and it is also has a 6gallon capacity. Changing oil has never been so quick and clean.

How did you guys remove the oil filter? I tried using hands but it was too tight.

You need to get a special adapter. Or try a rubber strap wrench.

Posted previously in this thread:
http://www.handsontools.com/Assenmac...ch_p_2720.html

Got it working, thanks guys!

What's the part number for the rubber adaptor? I couldn't find it on the website. Looks like it woulbe be a easier to use than the metal adaptor.

As a first time "sucker" I thought I would add some thoughts on my experience with my '09 C350.
With the great advice from this thread, I purchased the dipstick tube adapter and oil filter removal tool. I already had the Motive Model 1708 fluid extractor.
I used Mobil 1 0/40 European blend and an OEM filter.

This is by far the cleanest oil change ever for me. No matter how hard I try, I typically manage to make a huge mess when draining the oil from the sump!

Things I learned.

#1. Make sure the oil is fully warmed up!
There must be some restriction where the bottom of the dipstick tube sits in the sump. I didn't get the oil warm enough and only got 4 quarts out initially. Of course, this meant that there was too little oil left in the engine to start it and warm everything up properly. After a little pondering, I figured out that I could suck it up a little at a time. In other words, wait 10 minutes, pump the extractor, wait for the "sputtering" to stop, wait 10 minutes, pump the extractor, wait for the "sputtering" to stop, wait 10 minutes, pump the extractor, wait for the "sputtering" to stop...
I had all day to complete the job, so it was no big deal. Had I warmed the oil up properly, I'm sure it would have been a pretty quick job!

#2. Don't get too much vacuum in the extractor. In my enthusiasm, I thought "more is better" so pumped the vacuum up a lot. All this did was pull a tiny bit of oil, then suck air past the (cold) oil in the extractor tube. Took me a while to figure out what was going on, contributing to my full day getting the oil out. Once I had figured out that 8-10psi of vacuum was sufficient, I was able to pull the cold oil out of the engine at about 1/8 qt per "suck".

All in all easy DIY. Clean, effective (if you warm the oil up properly). I have never enjoyed changing oil, mainly because of the mess I always end up making, but his time it was actually quite fun!

I am not sure which website you are talking about... The rubber adapters I use, the ones I mentioned in my post came WITH the MityVac7201 Fluid Evacuator when I bought it. (From my post:

I doubt you can get the adapters by themselves although you can buy the adapters with the hoses in a kit from a variety of sources... That kit is shown on the
MVA6006 Extended Tube Kit (scroll down to about midpage)... You can find it on Amazon for approximately $25 which is not cheap..... (simply Google "MVA6006 Extended Tube Kit")

Anyone try a device like this to change your own oil?

I think something like that has been mentioned once or maybe 280 times in this thread...

Why do you ask?

Mercedes Approved Oil Evacuation EquipmentMB DIY Techs, I am the owner of the Scavenger oil evacuation equipment from BDM engineering. I plan on releasing the product again after several years of relaxation. We have techs in Mercedes Benz dealers that have bein using the system since 1997. They are solid units made of stainless steel. Please visite the internet port called wayback machine and findwww.oilsucker.com*1998 to get a better view. You can contact me at 18583817923 David. The price is 349.00 pluse 16.00 shipping. They are 4.9 gallon units. Using 2.2 cfm of air with an included regulator you can use a tire air compressor. The system will suck cold diff fluid and will suck your engine oil in about 2-3 minutes faster than you can change the filter. I personally have 16 years as a diognostic tech for MB USA and this system was built for the abuse of a line tech. The first unit I still own put 7500 gallons of oil threw it every month for 6 months. You can not find a better unit almost 17 years later. This unit was made the correct way.*

I use Motul Syntec Oil in my 08 c350 benz. 10x better than Mobil 1! Check it out!

Great tip on the oil.

Brilliant.

How did u determine that its 10x better?

Also, There is no such thing as motul syntec. Syntec is a Castrol brand name.

Lol... i had the same thought.

Can't find the website. Why as it made with stainless steel?

Metal canisters allowed removal of fully warmed oil, that may damage the plastic extractors. There are lots of steel canistor extractors out there for commerical garages. I'm just a home DIY.

My INDY is doing the MBZ OFL with a car wash for $90 on my car using M1 ESP 229.51 approved oil, so it's no longer worth it do do OFL myself.

For my old 84 300D, I may need to do it myself, since I already have the oil and filter.

Most of the US "synthetics" are group III base (highly refined or IsoSyn(r) type manufacturing with a little bit of group IV and/or group V. I don't know if the newer euro oil may have taken this path after the group IV shortage.

It's really hard to know what is really in synthetic oil with all the hype and what they can call synthetic.

Except in the extremes, I would rather have an excellent formulated reasonalble priced dino/isosyn oil than a similar priced group IV oil.

But what does that have to do with my question?

Also, focus more on the mfg performance specs that an oil meets rather than on what group its made of.

Pete, I am essentially agree with you. The formulation of the oil will be a big factor in the quality of the oil. Even a great quality oil may not be good for a particular enginee. MB 229.51 spec has 5W30 is a very thick 30 SAE oil and the 229.51 is a very thin 40 SAE oil - both with very low SAPS and zinc. Old engines that have an old 15W-45 spec. would not likely like the 229.51 5W-40 oil (even though this oil is about 3x the price of 15W-45 and the low SAPS and zinc. Also the claim of better than M1 is very general. M1 makes about a dozen different sub-brands with very different specs on actual viscosities and SAPS level.

Sorry, you lost me there. But in general, yes, all MB approved oils will be on the thicker side as they require to have HT/HS of at least 3.5 cP.


Also, 15w-45? Never heard of such a thing.