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Just beware that engine has to burn the oil.
MB engines don't use it much, but if you really don't see any oil usage- that would indicate fuel making up for burned oil.
chassis, is there a reason you prefer draining oil rather than vacuuming it for V6 engine?
1. I don’t own a vacuum extractor and don’t want/need to buy more junk. I have been making a full court press to get rid of my junk. I have been less successful than I had hoped in this regard.
2. I like bottom draining. It’s a habit from 40 years of oil changing. I get a chance to see what’s happening under there. For example, yesterday I checked to see that my new front axle fill and drain plugs are not leaking from when I changed the axle oil a couple of weeks ago.
3. I hold the belief that extraction removes less oil than draining.
4. My dealer has set the example, by bottom draining my oil, that WIS is not 100% gospel.
I had oil pan from OM603 engine out and took some pictures how the draining system works.
Oil drain plug was made sideways at 1/2 length of the pan. so beside the drain hole flange, it will hold lot of oil on flat surface, what can be as much as 1/2 of glass
Factory dipstick goes into the corner within 1.5mm from the bottom, so if you put a plank under opposite corner wheel, you can extract the oil down to 2 tablespoons.
Not that it really matters with about a cup of oil still trapped in other parts of engine.
Lately I bought 12V extraction pump. When it is slow, it allows me to check other things under the hood, while pumps the oil straight into recycling containers.
When I don't replace oil filter orings (when I know I did them last time, sometimes I skip) it can be white gloves job, when I use garbage bag for pulling the filter out.
Rotated the tires with a little more than 70k miles on the vehicle and around 28k miles on the tires. The wear is even but more than I would have thought. I bought these Conti LX25s for the higher tread wear rating than the stock LX Sports. Hope they last until next spring/approx 40k miles on tires.
Mercedes eat tires faster than any vehicle I have owned. A dissatisfier for me.
Had some great towing performance from the GLE this week.
A 500 miles round trip pulling a 3,500lb single axle unbraked boat trailer with two adult bikes on the roof. 13mpg average. Roads were an equal mix of local, county two lane and US highways.
Second was short hauls from a house to a boat launch, pulling my brother in law’s Malibu Wakesetter 23LSV. The boat is a beast, on a two axle trailer weighing about 6,500lbs total. It had hydraulic (surge) disc brakes.
In both cases the steering, suspension, drivetrain and brakes were all in control and confident. With the heavy Wakesetter the boat launch was down a steep hill and I engaged descent control, and it worked perfectly, maintaining 4mph max. The heavy boat caused the rear suspension to compress quite a bit, too much for long journeys. A WD hitch would be needed, or air suspension.
Power, acceleration and shifting were excellent while towing both boats. Pulling the heavy boat out of the water was easy.
The W166, and all MB full size SUVs, are excellent towing platforms.
Those SUV are always excelent vehicles due to short rear overhang.
That not only limits the sag, but makes for much better handling.
I use GLE for towing about 5000 lb patio boat. The boat is 102" wide, so I can feel it on steering and 4-cylinder has to shift a bit on the grades, but tows just fine.
Might be impression, but W166 sags more than W163 I used for towing years ago.
Boat don't need to have lot of weight on tongue, so I adjusted the trailer "crane" stop to move COG to the rear.
Just returned from a 4,000 mile vacation to the Rockies and back. Great motoring experience. Vehicle turned 80k miles.
We had 2 adult bikes on the roof nearly the entire time, plus luggage and hiking gear for two in the car.
We drove up Steven's Gulch Road to Grays Peak Trailhead again. Intermediate to advanced 4x4 road, and the 4MATIC + 4ETS system and "Off Road" drive mode selection handled it easily. On the descent I used DAC quite a bit which is nearly identical to using cruise control in a downhill situation. After pressing the DAC button on the center console, the cruise control stalk controls DAC; I was using it at single-digit descent speeds from 4mph to 8mph. Pretty awesome.
Fuel economy wasn't great, but that's not new. Around 16mpg at 80-85mph with two bikes on the roof and two adults in the car.
I will change the engine oil this week and decide what to do about the leaking hose from AC compressor to condenser. It isn't affecting the AC performance much. I will either find a local indy or DIY. It's an easy job, just need to collect a few tools for the evac/fill step.
6am in the Grays Peak trailhead parking lot. 6am in the Grays Peak trailhead parking lot. Bikes ready for the road and mountain views! 6am in the Grays Peak trailhead parking lot.
80k mile oil change last night. Pretty simple. As usual the most time consuming job is getting the underbelly pan off. Without a lift it's a pain. I don't have a lift!
Bottom drain procedure.
Materials:
0W-40 Mobil 1 European Car formula oil, purchased at Advance Auto Parts in stock. Pour in 6 qts then read the dipstick, add more oil if needed. I usually add 7 qts.
Mann filter Mercedes A0209975445 / Mann HU7025Z, included filter and o-ring, purchased at Advance Auto Parts in stock Crush washer Mercedes N007603012102 purchased qty:5 at MB dealer in stock
Tools:
oil filter housing wrench
13mm socket for drain screw
8mm socket for underbelly pan screws
small thin flat blade screwdriver to remove old o-ring from oil filter housing
torque wrench with 25Nm-30Nm capacity
ratchet handle
short-medium socket extensions
compact air ratchet for underbelly screws
air compressor
Thanks @threeMBs and @whitewagon . Did either of you consider the John Dow JDI-6EV? I'm a tool junkie and want the best, if it is reasonably priced.
What I don't like about the John Dow unit is the suction speed of around 0.04 gpm. This means 40-50 minutes to extract 8 quarts. Way too long and my small compressor will be running continuously during that time.
Rotated the tires yesterday at 81k miles. I usually do it with oil change, but didn't have the time. It's done now.
6/32 tread depth left, I'm pleasantly surprised. 40k miles on the Conti LX25s now, maybe will get another 20k+ miles out of them. Much longer tread life than the factory Conti LX Sports. I didn't like the LX Sports from Day 1. Noisy, gummy, slappy, mushy and fast wearing.
6mm front brake pad life. Pretty happy with that also. Hope to get 10k miles more life out of them, or at least until spring. I'm driving quite a bit these days and I hope to avoid changing pads and rotors in February in the Midwest winter! Rear pads+rotors were changed earlier this year and they are chunky and have lots of miles remaining.
Still haven't changed the compressor discharge hose. AC is working fine, XENTRY said the refrigerant pressure was in range, so I'll just keep an eye on it.
Hello and first post. CEL and found cylinder 5 misfire. Swapped coil pack with #6 and reset. Second CEL on same cylinder and found injector was failing so replaced that and also did the plug in #5 while in there. guess what... CEL again on #5. Scoped cylinder and all looks good. Any suggestions where to look next? Dealership advising for compression test. thanks in advance.
Hello and first post. CEL and found cylinder 5 misfire. Swapped coil pack with #6 and reset. Second CEL on same cylinder and found injector was failing so replaced that and also did the plug in #5 while in there. guess what... CEL again on #5. Scoped cylinder and all looks good. Any suggestions where to look next? Dealership advising for compression test. thanks in advance.
Sorry to hear of the symptoms. There is a long thread in the X166 section talking about misfires on M157/M278 (your engine) engines. Several causes, some worse than others. Have a read through the entire X166 misfire thread.
Had the Charcoal Cannister replaced under CPO Warranty 54K miles '17 350 4MATIC, check engine light came on, stayed on for 2 weeks then went off for 2 weeks preceding my appointment. Appointments are booking 4 weeks out in my neck of the woods and I read the code P0455 so it wasn't something that was pull over and have the vehicle towed. (I even cleaned the fuel cap area checked the seal on it but that didn't do the trick) So waited for my appt.
Found it odd that the light went off but they still found a code once brought in for service. ( I did mention what happened and wanted it looked at).
Not sure what the cost would've been but it costed me $0.
On modern cars the code will be stored as "historic" forever, or till somebody will erase it with a scanner.
Than some soft codes can come on and off. I had 1 for intercooler leak, who would light CEL after "flooring it" but the light would go off after 5 or 7 drive cycles when I did not floor it. Till next time.
Dealer wiper blades, at least at the one I went to seemed way overpriced for something so basic. I have yet to see a general auto parts store that has identical looking replacements in stock to check out, but had heard Bosch was one brand. Have you used others such as Bosch before?