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My CLA250 just ticked over the one year mark with about 8k miles on the odometer, so I decided to do my own oil change and document the process. This is not intended to be an exhaustive description - more of an overview for those who are already familiar with how to do oil changes and are interested in taking a look at the CLA 250's particulars. My car is a US-spec C118 CLA with the 221HP M260 engine. These directions should be similar to all C118 and W177 vehicles with the M260 engine.
Oil: The M260 takes 5.8 quarts (5.5 liters) of oil. Instead of specifying oil weight, MB provides their own oil specification: 229.51, 229.52, 229.61 229.71*. Of these, 229.51 and 229.52 are the easiest to find and I already had several 5-qt jugs of Valvoline oil that conform to this specification. I believe the different oil specifications have to do with emissions control primarily, such as particulate emissions for prolonged cat/particulate-filter life, but I don't know the exact details.
Filter: I buy Mann filters and there are two of them that fit the M260 engine: HU 711/6 z and HU 7044 z. Mann claims that both are identically in application and performance, just different construction. The HU 7044 z appears to be a newer design and I already had one of these on hand so that's what I used. The car came with a HU 711/6 z from the factory, for what it's worth. The new filters come with new O-rings.
Tools: You need an 8mm socket for removing the front floor tray, a 12mm socket for the oil plug, and a 27mm socket for the oil filter cap.
Preparation: Put the car up on a lift of some sort or jack stands. The CLA 250 has one of the lowest ground clearances I have ever dealt with and it actually scraped the low profile drive-on ramps I own going up and down. The electronic throttle also gets turned off if the brake is depressed, I'm guessing to protect the clutch system in the DCT transmission. But this means there is no way to do a slow controlled crawl up the ramp. As soon as you touch the brakes the throttle goes to zero. It took several tries but I finally safely got it onto the ramp, but next time I'm going to use jack stands instead.
1. Remove Front Floor Tray:
I didn't take any pictures, but it's easy to explain in words. There are 8 self-tapping screws with 8mm hex heads, four along the front edge and four on the back edge. Remove these and set them aside. There are two center-pop pins on the sides of the floor tray - remove these. The floor tray will not fall off onto your face at this point. To remove the floor tray, slide it towards the rear of the car to unhook it.
2. Oil Drain Bolt:
The oil drain bolt is actually really easy to reach once the floor tray is removed. I wish there was a small removable flap/door/window/panel of some sort so that we can access the drain bolt without removing the whole tray. It's a 12mm bolt. C118 M260 Oil Drain Bolt
3. Oil Filter:
The oil filter sits between the engine and the firewall. There's a piece of heat shield that is in the way but you can easily bend it out of the way during the filter change and bend it back when finished. The filter cap needs a 27mm hex socket. Be sure to place some rags or paper towels in the area below the filter housing to catch and oil drips - there will be drips. The filter fits snugly into the filter housing cap and needs a good tug to be removed. I found it the easiest to grab the housing with both hands and push the filter up with my thumbs, kind of like uncorking a champagne bottle. The torque spec is stamped on the filter housing cap, about 20ft-lb, but I got lazy and just torqued it until it was snug and "felt right". C118 M260 Oil Filter
4. Everything else:
Reinstall oil drain plug, wipe away drips, reinstall floor tray, fill the engine with new oil, wipe down plastic parts, safely dispose of used oil and filter. Resetting the service light in the C118 CLA 250: close all hood and doors, keep your feet away from pedals, press the start button twice. Using steering wheel controls, press "back" and then choose "trip", now press and hold the back and touch button together at the same time for 5 seconds. Now press the back button again, scroll all the way to the left and there is now a new "Workshop" item. Select that, then "Assyst Plus", then "Full Service", then "Confirm Service", then select the oil grade you used, I chose 229.52, then select "Yes" to finally confirm. Turn off the ignition.
Thanks for the write up. My wifes 2023 has only 5k but thought I look in to it now. Glad to see the filter is still accessable from the top of the engine bay. I actually evacuate the oil with a pump through the deep stick so no concerns with getting the car up.
PFL205.064 with M276.823 (Oil pump solenoid defeated)
Originally Posted by dariusf
Thanks for the write up. My wifes 2023 has only 5k but thought I look in to it now. Glad to see the filter is still accessable from the top of the engine bay. I actually evacuate the oil with a pump through the deep stick so no concerns with getting the car up.
Just make sure to get the engine oil temperature to a warm state, not hot as if you use Mityvac 7201 I believe it has a temperature limit, and you don't want cold oil either as it will be more difficult to get it out.
Definitely, been doing it for maybe 15 years. With good suction I'm able to get pretty much everything out. Some dont like this method but thats what dealers do as well.
PFL205.064 with M276.823 (Oil pump solenoid defeated)
Originally Posted by dariusf
Definitely, been doing it for maybe 15 years. With good suction I'm able to get pretty much everything out. Some dont like this method but thats what dealers do as well.
05-03-2022, 11:08 AM
