I took my 2017 E300 to my MB dealer for my annual maintenance and battery replacement as I still had the original batteries. The service rep comes back to me and suggests at the age of the car it needed a plug replacement and a transmission flush. Flush over $900 and plug change over $500. Shocked to say the least I refused both services which they noted on my record. Spark plugs only wear when the engine is firing so no to replacing at 24K. Tranny is not abused ever and again has such low mileage. Why not a less expensive fluid change and filter change? It seems I made a massive mistake moving from BMW to MB years ago as my service advisor told me to abide to the MILEAGE interval and ignore YEARS except on brake fluid flush.

Will my car self destruct without these expensive and IMO unnecessary services. What is the "real" mileage these should be done?
2017 E300 4Matic with ~23k miles in the US.

 

Rule #1 with German car ownership: stay on top of, better ahead of, maintenance.

You have an old nearly 9 year old car. Low usage can be detrimental. You have an aging low usage car.

I would do the two services and agree with the dealer that age is the reason. Price is in the ballpark for a dealer. Other options are DIY or indy.

Welcome to MB ownership.

 

I have an '18 E300 with ~26k miles. I replace oil and all filters as well as have all inspections done based on time. Transmission, differential, plugs, etc. is serviced based on miles. This recommendation is from my trusted MB service advisor and is contrary to the Mercedes-Benz AP00.20-U-1208DN Service Sheet.

 

spark plug yes - based on mileage.
Any fluid - they deteriorate over time. So time/mileage whichever comes first.

On top of that, if you are not rich enough to feel comfortable to have service at dealership, go to a trusted indy shop. As in the industry practice, many dealership outsource their work order to the indy shop as well.
If you are skillful enough, do all the maintenance by yourself.
But if you don't want to pay any dime nor having the skillset, get a toyota.

 

I actually thought transmission is every 5 years or 50,000 (60,000?) miles whichever came first for this model?

Spark plug my PPM used to be every 3 years regardless of mileage, the service booklet says around 5 if I recalled correctly, you don't want the spark plugs to get stuck next time you remove it.

 

Another thing (not sure if true for most modern cars) is that spark plugs on an MB has many sparks at a time so they do wear off quicker.

 

I you check the threads you will find a split: People who do service based on mileage and people who do service based on time.

I have worked on cars my whole life and I firmly believe in mileage vs. time. There is nothing inherently different between a Mercedes and every other car out there: Today's synthetic oils are light years better than oils 10/15 years ago, plus tolerances on today's modern engines are so far superior to those of 10/15 years ago. So I change my oil every 10K miles. Brake fluid: most cars do not even suggest changing brake fluid but when they do it is every 50K miles. The way I drive my car, no racing no high speeds (like on the autobahn) my indy shop sees no reason to change brake fluid every two years. With regard to the transmission, again most cars do not require this, so 50K seems soon enough for me. Spark plugs: most cars 100K. If you car starts quickly, runs smoothly and mileage is the same, I think every 100K is often enough. Engine and cabin filters: there is no discussion here: this is strictly mileage not time.

Battery: my car is September 2018 production, 2019 E450 and I too am on the original battery. When I go out west to ski and I am gone for several weeks, when I come home, I put a charger on the my battery. I then go to stand by mode: it shows 32 weeks. At this point I see no reason to change it, but when I do it will be at Walmart for $179 including installation and the battery comes with a 4 year warranty: anything wrong during the 4 years, a new battery no questions asked. (no pro rata)

Remember your Mercedes is not a museum piece: it is a car to be driven!

Hope this helps.

see: https://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart...0&from=/search

 

If you really are afraid of the spark plugs being frozen, then go out now, loosen and then retighten you plugs: Takes 8 minutes: 2 minutes per plug: much cheaper than have the dealer change 4 plugs, @$125 a plug, $500!

 

Your car is 7+ years old. Plugs are less of an issue but could be a problem getting them out and are worth changing just to have fresh plugs. All fluids have a life and should be changed based on time or mileage. You might be thinking your low mileage is good for your engine. It's not. The low mileage suggests many short trips that likely do not get the engine to normal operating temp. That is considered extreme conditions and should have more frequent oil changes.

None of the maintenance is necessary as long as you are willing to face the consequences of problems down the road. In the old days, if a car sat for 3 years and never moved the first thing someone would do is replace the fluids and plugs. There is a reason for that. Cars are made to move. Sitting can cause problems if not properly cared for. Do some research besides asking on this forum and make your own decisions. It's your car, but if it were mine, those services would most certainly be done.

 

I always like it when someone I do not know wants to go into my pocket and take money out of it.

I do not know about you, but I did not inherit my money, I worked for it. I did not get rich by throwing money away and I am certainly not going to start now.

You statement that that if you do not want to spend money on a Mercedes get a Toyota is asinine!

You may think your Mercedes is a museum piece: but in reality is just a car so go drive it!

 

That would be silly. Why not just change the plugs yourself if you are going to do that. Most of the cost is labor, not materials.

 

Why?? If the car starts quickly, runs smoothly and mpg has not dropped, there is no reason to change the plugs. Modern plugs are designed to last 100K.

Maybe yes and maybe no. Stop and go driving in urban areas like NYC, might be considered extreme conditions. But if the car is driven several times a week for 15/20 miles, engine operating temperatures have been reached and I would call this normal and certainly not extreme conditions.

Back in the old days, spark plugs were changed every 15K miles, and oil and filter every 2.5K miles. When you pulled a plug at 15K miles, it was black crusted and dirty: engines in the old days did not run clean and do not forget 15 mpg was considered good! Today pull a plug out of a modern car at 20K miles and it looks brand new! So of course if your car sat for three years you would change the oil and filter: but not necessarily the transmission or the plugs.

Just my $.02

 

You missed my point: going to a Mercedes dealership for service while crying about being ripped off is silly.

 

The OP asked for opinions and he gave his. He is not taking money out of your pocket and his statement of buying a Toyota to reduce TCO is valid. Mercedes cars are expensive to own compared to many other cars. Yes, there are outliers, but as brands go MB is one of the highest in cost of ownership.

You have made the statement about a car not being a museum peice several times before in similar discussions. All while boasting about how well you care for your car. The truth is that a well maintained car will have a better chance of lasting longer. This can result in less expense and a longer life of the car thus lowering the TCO over time. Skipping routine maintenance to save a buck is a penny wise and a pound foolish. Nobody should perform unnecessary maintenance, but fluids, plugs, and other wearable or consumable items should be replaced before they fail or have the chance to allow unnecessary damage to a car.

 

Hmm...I'd like to add some facts to this post (and these come from my head, so I take them as truthful facts )

1) Service advisors are paid to sell, most of them on commission. They provide advice, but also pad their pockets.
1B) My dad used to work at a dealership, and told us a story once. A retired lady came in for an oil change. The service advisor was able to get another $2,000 out of the lady for additional services that she didn't really need. The service advisor was in the lunch room rubbing his hands like a raccoon telling everyone how he was able to get another $2,000 out of "la vieja". Someone who's retired and potentially doesn't have income/money to spare. Disgusting.

2) Spark plugs don't really wear out over time. The important part is enclosed in a cavity and only really wear with use. If you haven't noticed an attributable drop in your MPG or have noticed knocking/misfires, then you don't need to change the plugs.

3) Changing the plugs actually increases the likelihood if you breaking something, such as damaging the coils and/or wiring when trying to remove them.

4) Not changing the plugs does potentially allow them to seize "more" into the head, potentially damaging your head in the future.

5) Hygroscopic fluids like brake fluid does need to be changed more often, regardless of miles

6) ATF is also hygroscopic, but I've never had an issue with ATF because of age, only because of breakdown due to wear/mileage. Also, as a former engineer for transmissions, you REALLY need to be careful every time you open up a transmission. Today's modern valve bodies have such tight tolerances that any spec of dust can lock up a valve. I cringe whenever I hear of people *****-nilly wanting to change out their ATF or filters because they want to. Every time you open up the transmission, you could be asking for a world of hurt.

In the end, even as an engineer, I play the fine line of "if it ain't broke don't fix it", to a point. I would say, you're not at that point yet. Age alone isn't a good enough reason to replace something on a vehicle. You need to think about the wear and tear and also about what resulting things could happen because of it. In my opinion, you're not at the gray area yet of needing to replace plugs and ATF.

Especially if it's because a service advisor told you to do it.

 

Changing filters depends greatly on the operating environment. Filters are working whenever the car is running regardless of mileage. In the spring we get lots of yellow oak pollen in the form of a fine dust. In the summer and autumn we get Saharan dust that can be seen as a layer of brown haze at about 5,000 ft. ASL. One can actually feel the sandy grit. The pollen and dust can be seen in air filters when changing them each year. If I followed a mileage schedule for changing car air filters, they would only be changed once every 10 years. That certainly wouldn't be good.

 

Everything mechanical will eventually wear out: Each time you remove a bolt and replace it, there is a chance of cross threading. Even if you do not, the threads start to wear.

I have read that on the W214 inline 6 there is no dip stick so you cannot use an oil extractor. Further the drain plug is nylon and must be replaced each time you change the oil and drain it from the pan. Now does anyone really think that will be done each and every time?

My own experience is as follows: A customer comes in for an oil change, inspection, etc. with a few complaints. After changing the oil and filter, the car is put along the wall, under a shelf for another hour. The customer is then told that they did and that, blah, blah and it took several hours and the charge is - you fill in the blank.

Hence the name "Shelf Job!"

And yes, I can confirm that service advisors are on both salary and commission and the more they sell the more they make: Again as I posted in another thread:

 

Might be the way to go.

 

and put a little anti seize

 

Spark plugs can corrode from non use, around the hex. The electrodes can corrode inside the piston, if you are in the habit of short trips, then leaving the car sitting.
During short trips, the oil never really gets hot enough to burn out any condensation, which mixes with the oil to form acids. A good old fashioned Italian tune up can solve that.

 

No anti seize on spark plugs. Ever.

 

No point in explaining anything related about money with him. I told him that he should drive a Toyota Prius because he puts only 87 octane in his E450 thinking he's going to save "$1,000 a year"... He then gets defensive when people laugh at him for thinking he's not ruining his engine over time or building an insane amount of carbon inside his engine by doing what he's doing. He then gave me the same speech about how he didn't inherit his money, how he has a million dollar house or something, and how he doesn't need to drive a toyota to save money because he puts lower octane fuel in his car.

For the OP, I would not follow any words of advice from someone who thinks that you do not need to change your spark plugs out on an M274 engine every 30,000-40,000 miles, not needing to change your transmission oil and filter every 50,000, and not having to put specified octane fuel inside your car. There's a reason why the manufacturer spend millions of dollars on R&D. Theres a reason why we change our oil out before 10,000 miles, before the viscosity gets too thin (I change mine out at 5,000 miles specifically on the M274 engine, but to each their own), why plugs need to be changed - so they don't seize or wear out by 30-40,000 miles, and why you should be putting in 91+ octane instead of 87 - so you don't build carbon up in your engine and so your engine doesn't explode because of pre-detonation/knocking.

Do your own services (changing 4 spark plugs requires two tools and about 20 minutes of your time), or find a reputable Indy shop to do them for you to save some money.

As for your transmission situation - I have a second E300 that I do not care about nearly as much as my other E300 (one is a beater, other one is my baby). I bought both new. I had some hard shifting and banging of gears at 48,000 miles on the beater E300. I took it to my buddy who specializes in Mercedes and he said that the transmission was more than likely missing oil because it can burn off or turn thinner over time. Once he changed the oil and filter the harsh shifting went away. As for my other E300, i religiously change my transmission oil and filter every 30,000 miles. I've never experienced any of the issue's that my other E300 had due to the fact I maintain it more often.

 

You must have had a porcupine for dinner!: On another thread, I see you really got into it with Massimo (BTW I thought you were mostly correct), Obviously you have a great deal of time on your hands - and unlike Massimo I have no intention of going back and forth with you.

Choose who you want to listen to: I have 2,243 post and 722 likes. That means almost a 1/3 of my posts have been liked. The same cannot be said for you posts.

 

Wow!!! No way!!! You have that many posts and likes?? You must really be the smartest and most qualified guy on MBWorld to be telling people what to do with their cars!!! I will def listen to you from now on. I will go get run flat tires and throw away my Non RF Conti's i just purchased, I will start putting in 87 octane because who needs 93!!!! Who doesn't love carbon build up and a knocking engine, am i right????

I might have a lot of time on my hands but at least I give proper advice and don't tell people what to do with their cars that's incorrect. Half the stuff you've wrote on this post and on the other people are 90% incorrect. Sorry for being that guy but I'm being straight forward and someone has to say it like I said it to Massimo. You're just going to hurt people if they continue to listen to your non-sense.

 

Agreed. Skip the anti-seize.