I've never been baptized into The Church of the Oil Change Every xxxxx Miles (or Every x Months) Most guys inherit that faith from their fathers; mine was what you might call an atheist on the subject of car maintenance and so I skip the lubrication theology and let the FSS tell me what to do. Until last week the FSS was counting down the miles to the first post-delivery service, and was at something like 1500 miles to "Service C". We have about 9000 miles on the car. Then, overnight, the FSS switched from counting down the miles to counting down the days, starting at 30. The day that the FSS is now counting down to is, precisely, the one-year anniversary of delivery. Coincidence? I think not. The FSS may be flexible on the miles between servicing, but it seems to have one inviolable commandment: Thou Shalt Not Go More Than One Year Between Oil Changes. Of course, it doesn't follow that the oil was changed on the day of delivery, but the FSS seems to be assuming something like that.

 

Reading this thread has cheered me up no end. It is most noticeable that ALL the replies to date have been from the USA, and they are all roughly in agreement over the oil, plus filter replacement.

At first I dared not speak against this overwhelming opinion because I have been accused of being 'anti' American in the past. However I will take a huge gamble and go against the flow.

This is my fourth Mercedes-Benz CDI (two E-class and two Sprinters) In Europe the E-class servicing is dictated by the ASSYST onboard computer. Our previous E-class was serviced roughly every 22 - 24,000 miles. We covered just over 60,000 miles before selling the vehicle and we had it serviced just before selling. (that was it's third service since new) No oil change at its first 500 miles or 5000 miles.

Before anyone starts saying that is not right. I do know of just two owners that average 60,000 miles per year and keep their cars for three years. These cars are serviced in exactly the same way. (as dictated by ASSYST) The owners of these vehicles laughingly say that there vehicles are finally 'run in'. Now there is no way I will keep my own vehicle until it reaches an equivalent mileage and neither I, nor the owners of the other two E-class have any fears what soever about engine wear. The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is an extremely popular commercial vehicle and servicing cost is obviously a major consideration for the owners of these vehicles. 100,000 miles per year is quite common for these vans. Not all however have ASSYST, my first never and we had it serviced at 12 months then every 24,000 miles.

When I bought my first CDI E-class (W210) I contacted the dealer after the vehicle had covered 500 miles and tried to book it in for an oil change. It was as though I had called into question the techical expertise of the service manager. He poiltely explained that I would be wasting my money because it would be an unscheduled, and totally uneccessary oil change. I stated how I had always changed the oil at the first 500 miles, my father before me had always changed the oil at 500 miles, all my friends, relatives, etc had done the same thing. He politely said times have changed and technology has progressed.

I accept that the USA has problems with the quality of its diesel fuel, but hopefully the day will come when your vehicles will acheive the same time between servicing as those in Europe.

My comments are solely on the CDI range of the 211 as I have no knowledge of the petrol ASSYST servicing periods.

In my opinion the E-class is a brilliant vehicle with excellent engineering and I for one would NEVER risk damaging such a beautiful vehicle. If the US recommendation is 5,000 miles then you MUST service the vehicle at the designated mileage.

No criticism is implied, just an informative factual report of one English owner.

Regards,
John
Sunny Torquay

 

Glad to see you look to be back in your groove...

 

Thanks very much,

Bye for now,
John