R-N

Noticed my oil was low on the E350 this morning so I stopped by MB Laguna Niguel. Service rep Mike was great. Took the car in back, double checked oil level and topped off FOC. At 7k miles it was about 1qt low, apparently normal.

With 100 days left until the first Service A, way to take care of the customer

220S

Honda dealers will do this for Civic owners, too.

listerone

The dealer did the same thing when I owned my BMW.But,unlike MB,BMW offers 4 years of "free" maintenence.

petee1997

My Porsche dealer would not do it.

I was in there last year for a "check engine light" message. Turned out there was nothing wrong. They tried to charge me one hour labor because Porsche will only pay a claim if there is a problem. Told them to drop dead and refused to pay. They finally gave me my keys.

rufmb

+2.
Honda has done it in the past for my Civic and Accord too.

R-N

Honda I can believe. Had a '10 Mustang, Ford wouldn't do squat for free, warranty or no.

BM2BZ

the check engine light went on one time and went down to the dealer right after golf. service rep told me the oil is a bit low but didn't top it off. told me to get a quart from parts dept and he will put it in for free . whoa, should i thank him ?

Grau E350

I'm glad the dealer was helpful. But this doesn't even deserve a golf clap. I've had 5 MB's, and the service is something to be desired.

Glad though you had a good experience.

BenzV12

Good job by your dealer however
I check my oil level every 1000 kilometers , so far so good more than 10K kilometers on the odometer and not consuming up oil lol

Higgs Boson

this has zero to do with what brand of car you own and everything to do with who owns the dealership you go to.

El Cid

Very true.
BTW, check engine light may come on if fuel cap not put back on correctly.
As for "free maintenance"; there is no such thing. You pay for it in intial price of car or they pass on costs to all using service department.

El Cid

One quart low at 7,000 miles might have been normal in the 1950's, but isn't now-even for cars going 10,000 miles between oil changes. I have not had a car of any make in 20+ years that used any oil between changes.

Nuru

I would question a quart low too. Did you happen to check and see via other dealer service depts (via phone), to see if they say the same thing?.

BM2BZ

my service rep told me a quart low is very normal for mine as it's v8. i probably need to put a quart in every few months. he told me owners of c63 need to put a quart in every month or less .

RNBRAD

Hmm, never heard of such.

PHML

My service rep told me the same dang thing when I changed the oil in my wifey's GLK...there was no oil showing up on the dip stick. I was like...WTF?!?!?

Now, need to check the dip stick more often. Anyways, it was the first time I ever heard such a thing. Losing a quart? Where does it go?

Higgs Boson

It is very common for modern engines to lose oil. LSx engines in Vettes, Camaros, trucks do it, the V6 in my Wrangler does it as well, and many others.

The issue is the PCV system. The PCV system is designed to remove crankcase gases by routing them into the intake manifold to be combusted and leave the exhaust. The only problem is that oil vapor comes with it and sometimes so does small amounts of oil. Over time this has an impact on actual oil level.

So not only does the current system of crankcase evacuation cause oil loss, it also means actual octane levels are severely diluted by oil and crankcase gases....There is a performance and mileage gain to be had by deleting the PCV system and running an alternate form of crankcase evac (albeit not emissions friendly since the only other place to send it is the atmosphere like in the old days). Vacuum pumps can actually give 20-50 HP by actively creating negative pressure in the crankcase allowing the engine to overcome much less resistance.....

BM2BZ

i kept seeing some other word when i looked at "dip stick". i gesus taht ltlite ticrk deos wrok . anyway, i'm not complaining losing a quart but not in a month. i was there for service b a month ago and check engine light came on a month after. seriously?

samkimg

So ... what's do the oil levels have to drop to before the car notifies us drivers?

mikemargolis

You obviously don't own a 2003 Ford Excursion like my wife does.

That bad boy burns a quart of oil every 1000 miles, and the Ford dealer says it's normal.

Nonetheless, she LOVES her truck.

R-N

If you check your E350 (W212) owners manual on oil consumption you will see that it tells you, "Depending on the driving style, the vehicle consumes up to 0.9 US qts. (0.8 l) of oil over a distance of 600 miles (1000 km). The oil consumption may be higher than this when the vehicle is new or if you frequently drive at high engine speeds".

Arrie

This is very smart on MB's part. During the normal 10000 mile drive between oil changes you can pour 14 qt of oil in the engine and in MB's opinion this would be normal and the best part is that at the 10000 mile mark you don't need to change the oil as you are constantly adding new oil in the engine. Just replace the filter and you are good to go!

Higgs Boson

There are people that do exactly that with loads of miles on their cars.

todd's benz

I had my car in for a windshield replacement. I asked them to check all fluid level, especially the washer fluid as i knew it was low. They wrote it down on the ticket. I have 3 yrs of free maintenance.

Guess what, i go the car back and the washer fluid light came on the next day.

So I call Ray Catena Service the following day and instead of saying they overlooked it and it was a mistake, he says my 3 month old car might be leaking the fluid and to keep an eye for it.

Ray Catena service is the worst.

BM2BZ

if they did top off all the fluid, the light came on the very next day, you don't have to keep any eye for it. what were they thinking ? only a few reasons could lead to this, they didn't top off the fluid, there is a leak or malfunction sensor. simple as that. go back and ask them what happened. see what kind of excuses they'll give you.