K-A

I bought my car in July, it's a CPO car and when I bought it, it had about 12K miles or so remaining until the Service G was due. I've only put about 3K miles on it to date, and all of a sudden it says "Service G Due In 30 Days".

What gives? Also, what is all involved in the Service G and what is a standard/reasonable cost for it?

Thanks.

Polar Bear

1 year or 12k miles. I would assume it was reset April 1 or so of last year. SDS can tell when it was reset, or you can go into the service menu as stated in the sticky and it will give you more info.

K-A

Ah, I'll check out that sticky. So I can see when it was Reset myself?

What is involved in the "G+" Service?

xr650rguy

06's are a little odd sometimes with the factory program. My neighbor and I both have 06 E class models. His is a 350 and mine is a 500.

A few months ago, he went from 1500 miles to service D to 10 days overdue on service G.... overnight! My car was saying Service G also at when I had 28k miles on it. I wasn't looking forward to that bill!

The dealers (his and mine, we get serviced at different areas due to our work locations) both did some re-programming per a service bulletin. There was apparently some anomaly in the service/miles program for late 06 models. Both of ours appear to be working properly now with logical service times and codes.

Sorry if it seems a little vague, but I'm not a techie, just relaying what happened to our cars....06's like yours.

Hope this helps.

gaazmon

They did a Service G+ when they certified the car before I bought it, don't know what they did. The plus sign means brake pads and sensors need to be replaced.

K-A

Oh f**k, that's what it means? 3K miles and I gotta get new Brakes.

Thanks for the Reply, so did you have to get the Service done? I'm gonna try going in there and saying what the deal is, I mean there's NO way I should have to pay for new Brakes, or hopefully even the G Service if I just bought the car 3K miles ago (although it is about 7+ months now).

I guess we'll see.

gaazmon

WTF?!?! The brakes should be fine. I've had mine since Aug 07 and they have been fine. Mine should be due in the next few thousand miles.

Maybe the sensors are off. I was following my friend last night and he pulled into a gas station cause the tire pressure warning went off. All the tires had over 30 psi. Most tire pressure monitors suck cause they don't tell you which tire it is. I know Benzes with this feature tell you which tire and the exact number.

K-A

They probably didn't change the Brakes when I bought it I'm betting, as apparently the CPO rule is they only have to change it if it is worn more than a certain percentage (50%?).

I don't think my car has a Tire Pressure Monitor, which is ludicrous.

Polar Bear

Your car is what dealers refer to as "well equipped" instead of "loaded!"

K-A

Yeah right, to Dealers everything is "Fully Loaded".

Tire Pressure monitoring wasn't available on the 211 until '07, am I correct?

Polar Bear

There are two versions, and I am not sure if the the "high line" version was available after 2005 - I think 2003-2005 - some others may chime in that know for sure. It has antennas next to each wheel and sensors inside each wheel. This displays the actual tire pressure on all four corners in the IC in the basic display menu.

The "low cost" version can typically be enabled in SDS and only uses the existing sensors that the car has for ESP/ABS, etc to determine if a tire has lost pressure, but has no idea of the actual pressure. It can only tell if a delta occurs by the rotation speed of the wheel differing compared to other data.

gnma

What is the mileage on your car? AS you may know from reading on this forum, the letters denote the type of service required. Serv. A is a basic oil/filter change and various inspections. A = 1 hr. of labor, B = 2 hrs. etc. So, G = 7 hrs!!

Last year, I had the "SERV F" required at only 32K miles. You need to look into your FSS, and find out what items your car is calling for. These items combined make for the serv."G" you are seeing. BUT, depending on your mileage you may not need "G".

For instance, I had the F, and looking into my FSS items, the computer claimed I need new spark plugs, new charcoal filter, and a list of other items which all toted up to 6 hrs. of labor, or serv. F. I told the dealer based on my maint. book, spark plugs are not need until 5 yrs. or 90K miles, (IIRC). My '05 E500 only has 36K on it. Surprisinlgy, they agreed with me, and performed a serv. B.

Summary:, ck. which items your FSS is calling for. Cross-reference them with your maint. manual, and follow your maint. manual based on your mileage/age of car. Your dealer should agree with that, and chances are you do not really need a "G", but an "A" or "B".

And if I understand correctly, the "+" means to inspect the pads. A seasoned DIY'er on this forum, stated from his exp. that even after the "+" sign comes on, there is still plenty of pad life remaining. Take that for what its worth, (I'd take that owners view over any MB dealer anyday, plus he's changed pads himself). I highly recommend you change them yourselves. The $$$ a dealer charges for pads is astronomical, but that's MB I suppose. And if you can do the pads, you can do the oil change, etc... Unless you want the car dealer serviced until warranty expires, which is what I will do.

Good luck.

xr650rguy

Got a service when it said it was due, yes.
My service at about 28k included an oil change and brake fluid flush. I had them change my wipers, too.

It now says B service in 8k miles (31k on the clock now).

Polar Bear

The Service C through G technique has been replaced by just an A and B service according to my MB dealer, and they no longer go by that. As posted above, I think most of the items depend on the maintenance schedule in the book (spark plugs, etc.).

K-A

The car has 33,xxx on it now and I bought it with 29,xxx. That would be F'ed if I have to do a hugely extensive Service on my dime when I bought a CPO car assuming it had all the previous required work done? Same goes for the Brakes, I think 4K miles shouldn't justify newly needed Brakes if they made sure they had plenty of life on them when I bought the car.

I guess I have to call the Dealer and sort everything out.

Polar Bear, so are you saying there are only two Services now, A, and B? No more G? So would that mean the display might be innacurate in what kind of Service the car needs?

konigstiger

As Polar Bear mentioned A, and B service is alternated every 13000 miles or one year whichever comes first and additional work is dependant on time elapsed and mileage. In addition, DTB S-B-00.20/88 JUN08 documents differing maintenance items being displayed in IC calculated from ASSYST as compared to the service sheet are to be disregarded.

https://mbworld.org/forums/3294991-post83.html

russianczar

I bought a CPO car a year ago, and just like youre saying, 3k miles later I had to change brakes and rotors. Unless you have a lot of money dont go to the dealer, either look at DIY or just brakes, they do the same work for 1/5 the price. As far as maintenance codes, you can reset them yourself, and I trained my SA that if I need maintenance it usually involves only OIL CHANGE, everything else not included in extended warranty you should be able to do yourself.

vettdvr

Note: When I had the + on brakes the first time I had the dealer do it. $450 for just front pads. Then next time I pulled out the calipers and started measuring. What I found for my driving style is that the + will come on when about 40% of the pad is worn to the sensor (front). The dealer will want to change pads when the + is on with the service. However I found that for me it took 25000 or more miles for the + to show up and I could drive another 25,000 to 35000 (my estimate) miles to get to the MERCEDES SPEC WEAR LIMIT IN THE MANUAL.

For my driving the dealer was changing way too soon for my wallet. Now to the rotors. At 65,000 miles I bought new rotors for the front so I could do the pads myself as the dealer did the first change. I paid about $225 for new Pads and ROTORS. But before I changed the rotors I decided to measure again thickness to compare to spec. What I found was that 65,000 miles I had only worn about 30% of the rotor thickness so my estimate was at least another 65,000 miles on the factory origional rotors. So I still have 2 new rotors in the box. What does this mean. For me it means rotors that are not warped will easily run 100000 miles. Pads will easily run 60000 miles which I would consider normal. But this is what I have learned by doing service myself using the Mercedes shop manual. (Your mileage may vary.)

Now if you don't want to do the maintenance yourself you can let the dealer do it and pay the price. You will certainly be driving safe although a might expensive. I realize there are people who will not do their maintenance and have the dealer do it. But given my 401K is taking a beating and I am retired I will save the $$ anytime I can.

K-A

Hey guys, so a quick update:

So yeah, it looks like the last simple (just Oil Change or whatever) service was done on the car on 4/08 at 28K Miles and the last comprehensive Service was done 2 years ago (4/07) at 21K Miles. I have under 33K Miles now btw.

With all the Fluid flushes (excluding Transmission Fluid which isn't required), Oil Changes, Air Filter, Etc., I was quoted $958 at the Dealer. They need to keep the car for a day or so and I got a Loaner.

Am I getting **** raped big time or not really?

vettdvr

I just pulled service on My E500

I do use my dealer for service I chose not to do but I have to drive 200 miles for service.

cabin filter
oil/and fleece filter
plugs
tires rotate
brake inspection
fan belt (new and idle pulley) Note the idle pulley fail frequently and cost
$20 and change
Inspect the flex disc

My total estimate cost was Plugs $70 (OEM) Oil & Filter $65, cabin air filter $20 (bought from site member who sold car) Fan belt $25 Pulley $20

Total about $225

At $110/hr what do you think the dealer would have charged?

Plugs 4 hrs,, oil/filter 1 hr,, cabin filter 1 hr fan belt 2hr pulley 1/2 hr About 8 to 9 hrs work not counting inspections. Inspections 2 hrs

Total time about 11 hrs at $110/hr = $1210 Labor
Parts my cost $225 Dealer about ??= 500 parts

Total $1710 parts and labor.

So if you do the work yourself you can save a bundle. I use only OEM parts.

K-A

Holy crap!!

vettdvr

Welcome to the world of Mercedes.

You get the special Mercedes Tax.
That is the tax that is added to the normal cost because it IS a Mercedes.

Still a nice car.