johnlk25

I have a 2008 E350 and the recommended oil change interval is every 1 year or 13,000 miles. I bought the car in February of this year and the oil had just been changed. I bought it CPO and it had 27,000 miles on it when the oil was changed.

Now I have 34,000 miles on it and I want to get the oil changed because I just cant see waiting another 6,000 miles........it just seems too long to go without an oil change to me.

When do you guys get your oil changed? Do you follow the maintenance schedule and get it every 13,000 miles, or do you get it changed more frequently?

220S

I base my drain intervals on my style of driving and my driving environment and my UOAs. The 13k OCI that MB recommends is based on average driving in average climate and conditions.

My personal OCI is 7.5k right now. I figured that out based on having UOAs done at every oil change. I think that's really the only way to know for sure when you should change your oil. You can get a kit from LN Engineering http://www.lnengineering.com/oiltesting.html and also from Blackstone Labs http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

Plus you'll see how the motor is doing in respect to any contaminants (coolant, fuel, etc..) It's a great way to monitor engine health and oil condition and longevity. And it's specific to your motor and your driving habits only.

After my last test, it looks like I could do 10k without an issue. I'm going to do 7.5k again, but if it looks good, I'll probably hold off until 10k. I think 10k on the approved spec syn oil with OEM filter will be perfectly fine for me. 7.5k is probably a bit of a waste.

p.s, I bought my car new and I changed out the factory fill early at around 1.2k. Then again about 3k later. After that the next report showed very little metals and silicon on such a young motor, and so I think it was probably good to do until the motor was fully broken in (which wasn't until around 12-15k.) The motor runs strong and I don't use any add oil at all between oil changes (even though the 6.2 is known for using oil.)

Benz-O-Rama

+1 on Blackstone Labs.

In both my E500 and SL600, I change the oil every 5K miles with Mobil1 0/40 Euro Formula. My E500 now has 112K miles (Purchased with 29K) and the Blackstone Labs reports, still come back stellar.

Blackstone is recommending 8K oil changes on my E500, if I wanted to go that far. And they say the SL600 still looks brand new on the inside at 35K miles.

FT Benz

Every 8K miles for me...

edwinwalke

How long do you plan to own the car? If the answer is 100K miles or less then follow the manufacturers recommendation of 13K.

Make sure whoever changes it uses the MB Spec 229.5 approved oil and a Mann, Knecht or Hengst fleece oil filter.

Now if you are going to drive it for several hundred thousand miles then 7.5K or 10K might be better but chances are you can still get there with the manufactures recommendation of 13K.

You car holds about 8 Quarts of Synthetic oil which is about 3 more than most cars and that additional amount helps it run for the longer oil change intervals that are recommended.

More frequent intervals are pretty much a waste of money unless you just are more comfortable and want to spend the extra money.

Barry45RPM

When the DIC "FSS" Tells me to.

johnlk25

I will probably keep the car until at least 100,000 miles, but probably not over 125,000.

I always have the dealership change the oil so I guess I dont have to worry if approved oils and parts are being used.

I guess I can follow the recommended schedule of 13,000 miles because if I have the records to prove that it was done as recommended and if anything goes wrong with it, then its the dealerships problem, not mine.

220S

It's interesting that MB finally dropped FSS and now goes on a mileage/time scheduling on the later cars.

MB had a class action lawsuit concerning FSS and oil changes (O’Keefe v. Mercedes Benz USA, 214 F.R.D. 266.) The FSS wasn't working properly with dino oils and coking and/or sludge was occurring. The answer was to only use synthetic if one plans on following the FSS. The class action suit cost millions. Basically free changes to all FSS cars to replace dino with syn. Most people still using FSS do use syn oil now, so it's all under the bridge. But it pretty much got MB to drop FSS altogether. It was a flawed system.

I'd personally use the mileage/time instead of FSS. And one can always get the dealer to reset a 7.5k interval on FSS just to be on the safe side if one prefers the on-dash reminder.

Benz-O-Rama

You can actually do this yourself, using a hidden key/button sequence.

220S

Cool, I didn't realize that. I have a post FSS car (2009) so FSS is history in my mind.

Also I thought that the actual OCI was still 10k (as per the maintenance manual.) When did it change to 13k? BMW also went officially to 13k. That means you get like only 3 oil changes now with their "free service." But how much $$ of that "free service" do they add into their MSRP.

grane

All good info about oil changes but make sure you replace brake, transmission, abc, rear end and rest of drive train at regular intervals. Search the board and the OM for recommendations but do not believe your transmission fluid never needs changing! I do mine every 40k miles or 3 years, your mileage may vary. I submit time and usage is often more important than miles. Lube doors and locks as required. Lithium grease still exists.

Btw does that lab mentioned above have any tests besides engine oil?

konigstiger

MY05-08 MB recommended 1 year/13000, MY09 to date changed to 1 year/10000.

edwinwalke

MBUSA changed to 10K intervals with model year 2007 for diesels and 2009 for Gas. Starting in 2004 or 2005 they went to 13K intervals when they dropped FSS.

220S

Hmmm. According to the class action suit, it was 13k on FSS that was the problem. And so they dropped to 10K and dropped FSS, too. Now I'm confused.

It's interesting that they went to 10k after 2009. If someone has a pre-2009, then shouldn't they be going to 10k, too, instead of staying with 13k. Most all of the motors are identical and so is the approved oil everybody is using.

The FSS oil sensor is just that, a sensor. So it's oblivious to when you actually change the oil. Why stay at 13k with an FSS car in the first place since that seemed to be the whole sludge/coking issue in the first place.

My brain hurts. Anyway, another good argument to use oil analysis (if even for just a couple of changes) to monitor it yourself.

edwinwalke

It does get to be confusing. Not sure why MBUSA went to 10K intervals in 2009. They went to 10K on diesels in 2007 and the gas was still 13k. I think that in Europe they still have FSS or a variant and the change intervals are much longer. Just checked the UK and as of 2007 they are at 15.5K miles or 1 year.

lkchris

Because of pressure from USA dealers, who wanted more service business.

Oil change intervals for these same engines in Europe are around 19K miles.

Here's some interesting reading: http://papers.sae.org/2007-01-4133/

djrabbi

mine is 1 year or 7,500

Richard / E320

I change mine once a year or every one thousand miles, whichever comes first. For me, that turns out to be once a year.

pinebaron

1 year or 5000 miles whichever comes first, lately the year.

220S

Wait. You change it every 1k miles? But you drive less than 1k miles a year? Wow, that must be a record. How many miles do you have on your car? Less than 10k?

novae500

I changed the oil on the 2005 E55 over the weekend and reset the FSS. It showed next service as 10,000 miles. On my 2006 E500, it resets to 10,000 miles as well. Dont think i ever saw 13,000 mile interval.

edwinwalke

AMG models are 10K. You have to look at the maintenance booklet for you vehicle. For example in 2005 the AMG models were 10K, diesels 13K and other E class were FSS determined intervals.

Lewis06

My shop suggests every 10k, but my car says every 13K.

spinn

I'm not due for service for another 2500 miles. I changed the oil last nite on account that I just got the car a couple of months ago and wasn't exactly sure when the last real service was done. Turned out I removed only 6 qts and the oil/filter color was black. I'm glad I didn't wait.

Yuille36

I'll usually change it at 1 yr or 10K. As 95% of my miles are highway. On occasions, I have changed it earlier, like 8500 miles. I would recommend anyone buying a CPO Mercedes to change the oil as soon as possible, unless you know for sure the service was performed.