DIY oil change, step by step, with pictures
 

First of all, Happy New Year to everybody, I wish all of us safe and pleasant rides and no dealership visits.
Last weekend I decided to do first oil change on my 08 C300. For all the people interested in doing it yourself or just curious what it takes to do it I’m posting illustrated process.
My car is 6 months old and from the day one I knew that I’m not going to wait 10K miles to do first oil change and I knew that I’ll be doing it myself.
I was planning do oil change at 6-6.5K but Michigan cold weather kept me for doing it until last weekend.
On the first picture (“what’s needed”) you’ll see 9 quarts of Mobil 1- 0W40 motor oil, K&N HP7004 oil filter, small oil extractor and couple of other accessories.
Picture “7K oil change” is showing engine temperature around 55°C.
Picture “Engine cover” shows engine cover removal instruction.
After removing engine cover, remove oil dipstick and insert suction hose until hit the bottom of the oil pan. Other end of the hose insert in draining container.
Remove old oil filter, I was able to do it by hand and start oil extraction.
It took quite a while for electrical oil extractor to pull all of the oil out. I was even thinking what to do if that small pump gives up (it was really hot) right in the middle of process…
While extraction is in the progress, it’s time to change oil filter. Its very simple process: pull old filter straight out, remove two smaller O rings from the bottom of the assembly and one large around the cap and replace them with new ones (filter does come with new rings included in the box).Slide new filter back in to the cap and you are all set. Old (OEM) filter was MANN HU 718/5.
When the oil extraction is complete pull out hose, slide the dipstick back, put the new oil filter in place and start adding engine oil (8.5 quarts). When finished screw filler cap back and return engine cover.
Start the engine, let it run for a few minutes then turn it off and let it rest for 10-15 minutes, then check the engine oil level on the dipstick. Add some, if necessary.

Now couple of comments:
This is the first time that I was doing oil change by using oil extraction method. I decided to try small electrical suction pump (see pictures) that I found on e-bay (but you can buy the same one on Amazon), but I’m not impressed. It took long time and as I said, pump was getting really hot, to the point that I was afraid is it going to last long enough to finish the job. Maybe is nothing, but I just have no confidence in it. I will try to attach larger insertion hose, because original one has ID of about 3mm or 1/8” and see is that helps.
Like most of us, I was asking myself question: “How much oil I’ll be pulling out? Is it going to be some “leftovers”?” and just for the record: I did put all of the old oil in the empty bottles, that I had from the other oil changes, filling the bottles to 28oz…… and… (see the last picture) I end up having 9 (nine) 28oz. bottles and 1(one) 26oz. bottle… so all together 278oz of used motor oil, or 8 quarts and 22 oz. Slightly more then 8.5 recommended, but I was satisfied, because my dipstick was showing oil level on the upper limit.
Seams that dipstick tube is pointing to the lowest oil pan location, by design, but is going to take a few more oil changes before I start draining oil out in the big draining pan, without checking quantity (Am I weird or what?).
On the end everything went well, it took about 1.5 hours to finish everything including cleaning up and putting everything away. Actual work: about 15 minutes.
I’m open for comments and questions.
Regards

PS. I do have more photos. If somebody is interested I will upload them later.

Haha I just drain all the oil from the oil pan

but nice diy

Yea, wouldn't draining the oil from the bottom of the car get most of the contaniments out better ?

I thought with the W204 you can't drain the oil normally but need an extractor? :nix:

Nah the oil drain is just painted black so it is hard to find

I wanted to try this method and compare it to “more traditional” draining. This is the method that dealerships are using and it is “recommended one”. Both of the methods have “pros” and “cons” and I needed to do it by myself to check it out.
I did check bottom of my car (couple of months ago) and remove plastic under covers, but as far as I remember there is no classic drain plug on the engine oil pan. There is plug on one side but it’s not at the lowest position and mine had “loctite” compound around it.
Anyway, who knows in what “kind a mood” I’m going to be when next oil change times comes around.

thang you telling us there is a bolt underneath our car so we can rain the oil?

If that motorized extractor got too hot, consider a topsider or a mityvac. Why didn't you use an OEM filter, it might be less risky if there was ever a warranty issue, never give the dealer an opportunity to say that DIY work wasn't done properly.

I just liked small extractor idea because of taking almost no storage space vs. mityvac.
K&N is direct replacement for OEM filter. It's even made in Germany. Why I didn't buy OEM? One of the reasons, dealer's parts department (I'm guessing because of low sales) is not open on Saturday and they are open only until 5:30PM other days. Not convenient at all. So I just decided to go with K&N.

[QUOTE=milanlj;3248323]First of all, Happy New Year to everybody, I wish all of us safe and pleasant rides and no dealership visits.
Last weekend I decided to do first oil change on my 08 C300. For all the people interested in doing it yourself or just curious what it takes to do it I’m posting illustrated process.
QUOTE]

I find it cheaper to buy the oil in larger containers eg 20 litres or 4 imperial gallons from a Mobil depot. You would then have enough for 3 changes.

Knowledge
 

it has already been proven that the suction method removes more oil than the drain plug.

And if you can't correctly identify components, leave them alone. I'm inclined to think that locktited plug you saw is the oil level sensor. A crankcase drain plug would never be locktited but would have a metal gasket.

I have been doing oil changes with my Topsider for about ten years, now. It's a $50 marine item available at West Marine, a national chain.

It is almost useless to try to convince that siphoning oil works on an MB. I can just support the comment above by referring to the fact that MB workshops do it almost exclusively this way and the workshop instructions suggest this too (although the traditional way of draining from the plug is allowed too).

Actually the dipstick tube design goes further than allowing a pipe entered to the bottom. You can use a big tube connected to the top of the dipstick tube. If you have your engine at normal temperature, you would get oil out literally in a few seconds (of course the pump needs to be good too).

I still often use a small tube to the bottom of the oil pan (from the dipstick tube) after siphoning from the top, there is nothing more to suction but the oil that takes time to drain to the bottom.

The idea of getting slush out from the bottom of the pan by draining is pretty old fashioned. Modern oil would not allow such appearing in the first place and secondly the oil flow really is the same from the big pipe if there was anything at the bottom that the oil flow should bring with it.

Draining is not worse than siphoning, except that you have to take the bottom panels out and the drain plug. It is always a bit of wear and tear but the main thing is that you don't have to get your hands or your car dirty when siphoning oil. Even the oil filter is designed for this, once you remove the filter, the valve opens and allows the oil to drain to the oil pan. On most other cars you cannot avoid getting oil everywhere when removing the oil filter.

Glad to see another do it yourselfer at work.

Something else to consider is that you don't really know what the dealership is pumping into your car. At least by doing it yourself, you have a better sense that the correct oil is being used.

I'm with you Jim...I always have visions of the guys in the back saying oh crap we only have 4 qts of oil left...oh well, just replace 4 qts, he'll never know the difference...:confused:
Maybe a little paranoid but I also find it fun working on the car whenever I have the tools and the time.

Thanks for info, I just wait for MB to confirm if I can change the oil before actual service, cause the dealer told me it is not possible on my model. The service indicator will step on with new oil, so I miss out all other sections of a real service ?? MB SA say this is not true, but they will investigate and inform dealers, have not heard from them yet.

Draining by the sump plug as we know necessitates removing the plastic covers. What I like about this is that a more through examination of the underside of the vehicle can take place and also is a learning experience of the location of various components which cannot be seen from above eg exhaust particulate filters, cat. converter ect. I just enjoy learning more about the mechanicals of my first MB & don't find it a hassle at all.:)

I have used a System called a Liquid-Vac which you can purchase from TSC or other equipment companies. It holds 2.5 gallons of oil, and will siphon anything from gearlube to transfluid. It may not be very fast when the fluid is cold but it is still a clean hands operation and they only cost about 30 dollars.

Remember if you use a "Mity-Vac" that you must not allow oil to enter the pump or it will become non functional. The Liquid-Vac will use a little oil to keep the pump lubricated.

Admittedly, it has been a while since I have changed my own oil, but I always warmed my car up before changing the oil. The premise behind this is that the warm, freshly circulated oil would flow easier and have just picked up and suspended more particles, gunk, etc.
Of course, our oil flows better when cold and the suction system apparently pulls from the very bottow of the pan so would warming the car prior to the oil change actually be counter productive??

I'd speculate that getting the gunk in suspension to be drained/sucked out is very important and something you can't do with the engine cold.

Could you post photos of the oil filter removal and the hose insertion into the dipstick tube?

Completed my second oil change on my 2009 C3004M today. I returned the MityVac I used last time and am now using this:

http://jabsco.com/products/marine/di..._143/index.htm

It's sold predominantly as a marine unit, amazon sells it. But its a nice compact one piece setup with the integrated capture tank. The electric pump remains cool during operation. I also bought a cheap 12V lawn mower battery to power it instead of using the car.

However, I still worry that I am not able to suck everything out using the vacuum method. The pump slurps out the "easy" 6+ quarts in under 10 minutes, then you have to work the insertion point a little to get it to scavenge more from the pan until finally it sucks mostly air - or at least what I think was the bottom of the pan with respect to my insertion of the suction hose. Somewhere I am a quart short (accounting for the filter). Now I will admit, the one mistake I made was that I did not check the oil level in the car immediately before the change, I might have been a quart down before starting the job. That was a mistake on my part.

For change #3, I think I am going to expose the drain plug and see what remains after the suction operation. That seems like the only 100% accurate test of this whole suction method.

A question for others - is it best to operate the extractor with the oil filter still installed and the oil cap tightened down? In other words, is it better to allow air into the motor during extraction, or better to keep those inlets (filter, cap) sealed up to create a better vacuum?

I think you're suppose to remove the filler cap so that you're not causing resistance to the oil being sucked out. You'll get air either way once the oil level drops below the suction tube.

For good measure, I also remove the oil filter.

So we could change our own oil without taking it into MB? I thought we had to have MB do it so they could stamp our service log book.

Does it void any warranty if we changed the oil ourselves?

Just make sure you keep accurate receipts for filters and oil, and a log book of when the work is performed. Of course, if you are not comfortable performing a particular DIY task, don't take a chance.

Few things to keep in mind:
Drain Plug -
If you choose to drain from bottom on MB cars do NOT reuse the drain plug and washer. Purchase new. The bolt is an "a" bolt it actually stretches a little when installed. Usually will develop small leak if reused. Better off replacing. only a few $

Filter -
The filter, The oem is designed to last at least 13k miles and is usually made of fleece. When using any other brands like K&N and so on
even though direct replacement they are not all designed to be replaced at those high miles. Make sure to verify you are purchasing one designed for that type of milage