Hi all,
I have 12000 miles on my E500 and the system is saying I need to get the service done in 1000 miles. That will put me at about 13000 miles before the first scheduled service. What's everyone else experienced?

By the way, I paid myself to get the oil and filter changed at 5000 miles. Would the system be able to note that? Or does it calculate how my driving style is? If it can monitor the "quality" of the oil in it, how does it do it? Does it track viscosity or what?

 

They say not to tell the system that you had the change. So they may not have done that.

I have 12,000 km and have had the car for a year and it tell me I don't need service for 10,000km.. Who knows when that will be. I thought at 1 year I was supposed to get a request from the car for service.

 

If you've had the car for a full year since delivery, and it still isn't telling you to get a service, then your car's FSS must be different from mine. Mine started counting down the days to one year exactly eleven months after delivery, even though we had less than 16,000 km/10,000 miles at the time. I supposed that M-B could rationally conclude that cars in Canada need less frequent oil changes than cars in the U.S. - but wouldn't a colder climate call for more frequent oil changes, because the oil has less opportunity to get warmed up and circulate through the filter? Anyway, a car in Minnesota will have a much colder existence than one in Vancouver.

 

This is interesting. I only drive about 4,000 or 5,000 miles a year. After one year and 4,738 miles, Mercedes was willing to give me a free one-year checkup. They replaced my windshield wipers, emergency brake pedal cushion, and cargo net hooks. They said my oil was fine--check back with them at a year and a half. I called them at a year and a half, and they said the car would tell me when it needed service. Then at about 8,500 miles, it started counting down the days till service was due. That was at one year and nine months. I've never gone more then 4 months for an oil change before with my last Mercedes. They said it was fine to rely on the car's notification system. We'll see. I bought the extended warranty! I hope it's not too good to be true, but I admit it's really a convenience not to be changing oil all of the time!

 

I didn't have them reset the FSS when i had the oil changed at 5000miles. I was just wondering if the system could actually tell when it needed it by the way that we drive or by checking the actual condition of the oil?

Either way, synthetics definitely last longer than the old organics, but I'm willing to pay to have it done more often if it is best in the long run. I have always kept my Benzes for about a minimal of 150000 miles before trading them in, so I have always been pretty diligent about the oil. Sometimes its worth paying a couple hundred bucks just to have the dealer give the car a once over from time to time.

 

E320 CDI BUILD JULY 2003.
I collected my car late July 2003.
The mileage now reads 19,200 miles and says that I have 2,300 miles to go before SERVICE "D".
The car s been driven 50% freeway at around 70/85 M.P.H.The rest of the time it as been driven round town in what I would say average speeds.
I have put one quart of oil in at 13.000 miles as stated on the warning display that came up in RED.
Only one problem with the car was the A/C failed.
This was put right with a new sensor which took one hour to fix at the workshop.
I love the car.

Les ...Chesterfield U.K.

 

I also had my oil changed at 5,000 miles without resetting the FSS computer. After the oil change, the FSS gave me about 800 or 1,000 miles more of oil life. The system is measuring many things in the oil. Among the many measurements is oil conductivity etc, etc, etc. What does NOT change regardless of how often you change the oil is the days of life remaining.

I have gone in the menu where you can measure voltage, turn of the ESP, ABS and 4 ETS and change the service information. In that menu, the car tells you the mileage remaining and the number of days left on the oil. My car was produced in March of 2004 and the display still said 440 days of life were left on the oil in November of 2004. I believe that this long period of time is only when the car comes from the factory, but from then on it will be between 1 year and 1.5 years before it wants the oil changed regardless of miles driven.

So I would advise that you keep an eye on the sticky thread about service. I will be posting my next oil sample results when I get the oil changed again. I am at 7,600 miles now and I think I will need the oil changed sometime this summer due to the days passed. I am of the impression that the FSS is going to be something worth going by.

Steve

 

Hi there

It is great that your dealership treated you that way --- providing all those work for free when you brought your car in after 1 year. If you don't mind, which dealership gave you such excellent TLC? Did you buy your car from them?

Mind just turned 15 months old with 5090 miles and the dealership where I bought my car never indicated or asked me to bring it in for all these work. In fact just yesterday I took my car into another dealership (closer to my work place) for my 5000 mile oil chg and this other dealership just did the oil change and nothing else ..


Thanks in advance

 

Hmmm, sound interesting. I didn't know the FSS was so intricate. By the way, how do you guys get the number of days left in the oil's life? I only get the notice about how many miles are left before service is needed.
Thanks for the info and I will keep watching the sticky thread.

 

I bought my car from Mercedes Benz of Long Beach, and that was where I've taken my car for everything. They've been great. It's a half hour's drive there for me, but I'm happy with them. I had nothing but trouble trying to buy my car from my local dealer--Simonson in Santa Monica--and I really don't want to go there. Long Beach didn't call me for the service or anything like that. I called them and reviewed the fact that a lot of items go out of warranty at the end of one year and also that I'm used to getting my car serviced (oil change and lube) every four months. I asked what they suggested and what they could do for me. So they gave it a thorough check right before the one year was up, and I got the results of that inspection in writing. I just think it's a good business practice. I went in with a list of a few things I particularly wanted them to check because others on this board had experienced problems. I think they get reimbursed from Mercedes. It shouldn't be a big deal to get great service from any Mercedes dealer. Good luck, and, as usual, thanks to everyone here. This board is extremely helpful!

GearHead, I'll also add that when you took your car in, they probably should have done the recall campaigns regarding the brakes and the water drain grommet. Do you know about those? Also, isn't there anything about your car that you have questions about or that is annoying to you? For instance, I complained that my trunk lid when open would blow down and hit my head on a windy day (I use my trunk a lot), and it was a simple adjustment for them to fix that. If there is anything at all that is annoying, they will probably be happy to fix it for free. Oh, and they also fixed a musty smell that was coming from my air conditioner. Simple adjustment. I really think they want us to be happy, but they have to be told what is bothering us.

 

Thanks for the insight.

I bought my car from FJ and have not gone back there for service. They messed up my car a few times and more importantly, I find their service department extremely arrogant ... maybe because they think they are in a higher class area

I currently bring mine to SouthBay and though I have run into challenges with their quality, their folks are more down to earth.

Interesting point you made regarding warranty expiring end of 1st year. As far as I know, I thought the car is covered bumper to bumper for the duration of 4yrs/50K miles with certain components with longer warranty. If you don't mind, what items do you know supposedly has warranty expires after 12 months of ownership?

TIA

 

Hi Steve

That's interesting that you get more miles of oil life after your oil change at 5Kmiles.

I had mine changed this past thursday 3/24 and after the change to now, 1 day later, I have yet to be able to measure the oil level from my MFD.

I looked at the FSS display and it still shows 55xx miles to Service C and whenever I tried to measure the oil level, I see the message "Observing Waiting Period"

I am confused. Makes me feel like I just went in to purchase a firearm and needed to observe waiting period while I had an oil change .... any ideas ???

 

You need to ensure that the engine is at normal operating temperature, sitting on a flat surface and has been switched off for about 3 - 5 minutes before you attempt to measure the oil. Sounds as if you're not waiting long enough after switching the engine off.

 

What I recall is that there were things like tires, tire balancing, and wheel alignment that expired at one year. There may have been other things. I reread the paperwork at about 11 months so I would know what to ask. But I don't remember any better than that now. You could just ask your service manager what expires at one year if you're not paperwork oriented and are kind of trusting. There may have been other things like trim and certain electronic stuff, but I don't remember for sure now.