jfoster1

My father just purchased a new 320 cdi. The dealership is 120 miles away. I have to take him to see his cardiologist in the town where the dealership is. That ends up about every 6 months. I asked the dealership about just purchasing a oil filter from them as I cannot take off work to have the oil changed. He asked if I could bring it for the 1000-3000 mile and the 6000-8000 checkup, then after that he said I could have it changed anywhere I wanted. Here are a couple of my questions. Wonder if it has break in oil they will change at the 1000-3000 visit? I wonder do these things now use the spin on filter or still the old canister type? They show going 13,000 miles between oil changes. When I looked in the service book it shows mobile one euro blend. I don't think we have euro blend here. I have used Amsoil in the past and have been satisfied with that synthentic, guess I will stick to Mobile one though since that is what they recommend, if I can find the euro blend. 13000 miles sure seems like a long time though. I wonder why Mercedes sucks the oil out also instead of draining through the drain plug. Have not looked at the engine compartment, hope the oil filter is not hard to get to.
Thanks in advance

saturnstyl

Let me give you this advice: DO NOT TAKE THAT CAR ANYWHERE OTHER THAN THE DEALERSHIP. Its all new technology as far as a CDI system on the mercedes in the states. Nobody will know how to work on it, and they most likely will screw it up. It only requires service every 13,000 miles. Once a year for most folks. Schedule that cardio appt to coincide, and read the owners manual and service booklet so that you better understand the car's requirements.
First visit is at 1,000 miles. Its a basic familiarization with the service dept, and a check over of the car. You can have any glitches corrected at this time, and have any features you don't understand explained to you.
Second visit 7000 miles or so. Tire rotation free of charge. Everything as far as service goes from now on comes out of your pocket. Free maintenance is over. Nobody could agree on what is or is not covered under the A or B service, customers expected things to be replaced or covered that were in fact, thier responsibility. Confusion causes dissatisfaction, and now that confusion has been eliminated. 13,000 mile intervals and a tire rotation in between.
The Mobil 1 0w40 is available at the dealership, I believe the filter is a cansiter style too. I also think the motor still has a drain plug, many techs opt to suck out the oil instead of dealing with the encapsulation panels under the car which can be a pain to remove and reinstall.