I'm going to change my oil at 3000
 

I know the car wants me to wait till 12,000 or so but the first oil change is important after break in. So I'm going to change oil & filter now myself.

Anyone else doing this?

not going to hurt the car doing an oil change early, but it's not going to do anything for your car. This isn't the old days of crap oil cycles. Synthetics last much longer.

It's all those very small little pieces of metal that get into the oil in early break in that do long term damage.

I have had magnetic oil pan drain bolts in other cars and saw that in the oil.

Yes, I have a diesel & changed the oil & filter myself @ 5000 KM. Cost A$100 . A small price for the piece of mind. In my opinion you are correct in saying that there is a lot more fine metal material in the oil system during run in which is to be expected as the engine loosens up & wears off the high spots on the moving surfaces . I keep my cars for 15 years so intend doing an oil & filter change myself every 10,000 km which works out to nearly 12 months anyway.

Dealer said no
 

I wanted to change oil at dealer around 5 000Km. THe dealer said no, they cannot, it will step on the Service Indicator, that way other factors regarding services will be implemented incorrectly.

I asked the headoffice in SA. They said yes, I can, dealer incorrectly informed.

Dealer replied back, SA headoffice wrong, I can only change oil if indicated by Service Indicator..W204 models.

SA headoffice did not reply back.

Car has now 10 000Km done.

Are you assuming that any small metal pieces keep on circulating with the oil at the engine, if there are any? How do those pass the filter?

If it gives you peace of mind, the oil change serves a purpose but otherwise it is waste of limited natural resources.

Oil moves from its reservoir, is pressurized by an oil pump, and is pumped through the oil filter to remove grit. So filter takes care of the metal parts in the oil if there are any. The oil is then squirted into the crankshaft and connecting rod bearings and onto the cylinder walls, and eventually drips off into the bottom of the crankcase

The dealer seems a little simple minded. You can change your oil as often as you like as well as reset your service indicatior as often as you want. What did this dealership do before service indicators?? Did they actually have to think back then?

i would have liked to have heard the conversations between the dealer and headoffice, must have been funny.

since when is a stealer saying no to taking money for unnessarary yet simple procedures? seems like with this economy they would love you if you came in asking to get an oil change early.

Sounds like at least the SA dealer isn't begging to take their money as you say. Maybe we should move there.

That is "old school" thinking. The Me/Be plant where your motor was assembled is likely much cleaner then your driveway. QC on parts and precision machining basically remove all break in requirements. Chances are the oil that is in there will be cleaner then what you put in at 3K. I waited untill 10k to change. JMO
Rick

The oil filter does not pick up the minute particles other wise the oil would stay honey coloured & clear. My diesel oil was black as a witches tit at 5000km, mostly carbon I admit but there would be minute metal material there as well..

totally wate of time and money...:smash:

Black
 

Oil in a diesel turns black almost immediately and it's harmless and normal. This discussion is about gas engines.

I'm trying to picture an MB dealer in South Africa. That's not New Jersey.

AN interesting test :-"Notice how each time we change the oil, there is still an initial spike of wear metals, but the spike is smaller at each phase. We are working on a hypothesis: that the true break-in of an engine is at least 20,000 miles, and that, perhaps, during the first year of an engine's use it would be wise to change more frequently, and only start moving toward extended oil changes once the engine is older. "
Source :-http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/oil-life.html