MBAsian0000

before my GLK, I owned a 2006 C280 4matic. On the C280 i went for a oil change every 5000 miles. and the dealership told me u only need to do an oil change every 10000 miles/ 1 year. is there a difference between a compact sedan and an SUV when comes to oil change? or did I just wasted all that money doing unnecessary oil changes in the past?

lkchris

You wasted your money.

The 10K miles figure is a USA-only figure since there are so many oil change geniuses in the USA and dealers like making money.

The interval for the same car/same engine/same oil in Europe is something like 19K miles.

You will NOT be doing your motor a favor changing the oil more often.

HBirdman80

Been this way for a while, ever since M-B started that Mobil 1 advertising (or even earlier).

NYCGLK

Found this on UK site:
"Many models produced from 2007 have fixed service intervals. Services alternate from A to B and occur every 15,500miles or after one year, whichever comes sooner. These fixed service intervals make it easier for you to plan your servicing around your schedule, making it less likely for you to miss a service."

Let's keep in mind that ppl in Europe most likely don't hit 15k miles per year as distances traveled are much less, so service is still every year. Also driving conditions in most of parts of Europe are different, types of gas are different, oil used is different as well as air requirements that model has to meet. So cars that have same engine may need different service intervals. Does 10k vs. 15k make a real difference, who knows, there are too many other factors.

jbondox

does a $80 oil change every year really bother anyone? that is like a quarter a day???

chilledbenz

Thats ok, the oil changes used to be free under the 4 year 50k mile warranty. For some no-brain reason, they decided to end that program, meanwhile BMW carries on with their program. In this day everyone from Hyundai, Toyota, and Lincoln are offering free maintenance through certain dealerships, makes you wonder what MB was thinking, but apparently not enough customers complained.

MB does now offer a maintenance plan at the time of purchase that covers three oil changes for $769 (non AMG models, gas only engines). Thats a pretty good deal, but if your keeping your car till the warranty is up, they should have at least included a fourth oil change, even if it were a little more expensive in price up front.

MBAsian0000

so what if I continue to do oil change every 5000 miles? does it make my GLK run better? or am I just wasting my money?

NYCGLK

wasting your money, synthetic oil doesn't need to be changed that often. 5k is interval for regular oil.

MBAsian0000

back then i used to own an acura TSX and they told me to change the oil every 3000 miles.

RedRover

In my opinion, there IS no "one size fits all" I don't give a damn how good MB is or how good Mobil 1 is.....if you drive to work for 5 miles in each direction every day, then go to Wally World (4 miles) on the weekend and out to Rizzos Pizza shop and Elite italian restaurant (4 miles) on the weekend and your wife drives down to JoAnnes Fabrics (3 miles) and Bed Bath and Beyond (also 3 miles to the same mall).......you better change that oil sooner than every year.
No matter who built the car or what oil you use....that is "severe" treatment in that the car never reached proper operating temp. You will have unburnt fuel (Open loop operation) and water condensation in the crank case at the end of each and every one of those trips.
The oil? Oh the base parts of the oil will be fine. But just how good do you think synthetic is when you add water to it?

I prefer systems like MB used to have (Maybe still does in Europe) where they actually had a sensor that tested the conductivity of the oil. More trash=more conductivity). I think it was called FSS and they might have brought it to the US under the ASSYST name?

Failing that, I like my caddys system that works on an algorithm where they measure starts and stops, miles, temperature, speed etc. Right now, my caddy says that I have driven 1135 miles (mostly 20-30 miles trips at about 45-50 MPH - suburban driving with a single road trip of <> 500 miles) since last reset and have 84% of the oil life left. I think that is better than an interval system but not as goos as an actual oil test system.

Anyway, I will change my oil on my GLK at 5000 miles (Cost aprox $125) since I use it more for short trips than anything else.
Then when the car is 1 year old I will go in and let the MB dealer get <>$300 for an oil change.

MBRedux

I own or have built many high performance cars... (Porsche, Audi, MB, BMW etc) There are many here on MBW who agree with me that extended oil change intervals reflect a current trend among high end manufactures... it's in Vogue for a luxury car maker to advertise this! And why should they care? There's no real money in oil changes anyway especially with low mileage warranties. They figure many of their customers will suffer engine wear issues only after their 50,000 mile warranty expires.

I personally knew one of the chemical engineers that worked for Mobil for nearly 30 years before he retired. In contrast to popular belief, synthetic motor oil does not last any longer than conventional motor oils... think not? Then please show me where it's written that it does last longer and I'll show you a hoax. They may hint at it but I'm sorry to report, it isn't actually written anywhere that it does.

Syn oils do hold their properties a little longer, reduce friction at higher operating temperatures, are less prone to water retention, but they do become contaminated just like conventional motor oils do. Extended oil changes are a direct result of better engine manufacturing and engineering precision, thus less friction, less blow-by gases etc etc. However, there are other factors that contribute to oil breakdown regardless of what type it is. Poor driving habits such as pumping the accelerator instead of keeping a steady throttle, slow traffic commutes, cold engine starts, engine braking techniques, towing trailers, etc. These things all take a high toll on any oil.

We had a BMW that also required a 10,000 mile oil change interval with Mobil-1. At 100,000 miles, that engine was nothing but one large SLUDGE BOX... gummy and varnished with worn out valve stem seals blowing white smoke at every stop light.

If you took apart engines as much as I do, you would understand. Our new GLK will get the same initial treatment as all our new cars have.

Oil Change at 1000mi.
Again at 2000mi.
Then again at 4000-5500mi.
Then every 5500 miles thereafter.

When you dismantle an engine after a 100,000 miles that's been treated like I describe above vs. one that hasn't or has followed the manufacturer's recommendation, it can be compared to a dentist looking into the mouth of a 50 year old person who brushed their teeth after every meal vs. one that only brushed before bedtime. Get the picture?



vs

ftttubrgcm

Next month will be a year of ownership and even though we only have 6,700 miles registered, we got a 25 day warning until service. For those of you with way more mileage per month, what mileage was your first warning at?

dwlovell

Nice photos, they have, however, nothing to do with cars. After any reasonable use, the interior of most engines looks dirtier than teeth. So you should really avoid using those pics, it hurts your argument as it looks like you are relying on a emotional response because their isn't enought "fact" to back up your claim. (Just a respectful criticism of those teeth pictures as part of this discussion, no offense intended).

I think if it was so cut and dry and obvious that engines need the rigorous oil change schedule you recommend, the old adage would still apply. The problem is that its not cut and dry and not obvious, because MANY MANY people are finding they are lazy, dont change their old but every 10-15k miles and their car still lasts with no problems way over the 100k mile mark.

I had a Toyota Camry 1984 changed the oil no sooner than every 15k miles, sometimes longer if I was lazy or forgettful. I finally sold it still in working order with over 275k miles never having any oil-related issues with the engine.

I have a 2002 Toyota Highlander AWD bought new and put on 107k miles and the same oil change habits and its running strong in perfect working order.

I had a 2002 BMW 330i that I bought at 44k miles, took it to 102k miles with the same oil change habits with no oil/engine related problems. The BMW service department had record of all the regular services and it showed the recommended 10-15k oil change interval as well. (If the prior owner had it serviced elsewhere more often, I don't have info on that)

I regularly service all of my cars at their recommended intervals, I dont get extra oil changes outside those intervals. The only exception was the Toyota Camry which I never serviced at all and really never had any major breakdown other than a distributer cap with worn down connections and a alternator that stopped charging.

I wont comment on chemical engineers or company insiders, I can only go on my experience and the experience of pretty much everyone I know.

My point here is your advice certainly wont hurt anyone's car and probably will have "cleaner" engines, but I am not ready to agree that the longer intervals are practically any different in terms of maintenance cost or lifetime of the vehicle. There are just too many people who dont have the problems you describe for it to be considered a "done deal". The jury is still out.

MBRedux

I disagree... with my experience, the pictures represent a perfect analogy. With most of todays over engineered internal comb. engines, you can never change the oil and still get it to run 100,000. Only proves one thing... most engines today are far superior to those made 25 years ago. Oil has improved too.... but gasoline.... the main culprit in oil break-down... hasn't changed that much. (Except for the lead and sulfur content.)

chilledbenz

A couple things here, not that I am saying your thinking is wrong, because everyone is entitled to their own opinions....but this is the year 2010..there are systems in place to prevent most if not all of your worries stated above. And if by some strange stroke of luck, something does happen, rest assured you have a 4 year 50k mile warranty that will cover such an issue. The fact of the matter is, oil and more importantly synthetic oil has come a long way in a short period of time. I would however be a little worried about Porsche's 30k mile oil changes in their Cayenne (non turbo) but if thats what their engineers have tested and deemed a proper mileage so be it, they wouldnt warrant it if it were true.

For the comment about the Acura TSX..sounds like thats for conventional oil and yes that should be changed more frequently.

dwlovell

My point is that, I dont think its been made clear if the difference is marginal or measurable for the majority of engine configurations on the market today. Why else would so many people be asking this question? If it was obvious and factual, everyone would be offering the same advice.

My 84' camry was an early EFI engine, so maybe that counts as more advanced, but when I got rid of it, it was about 17 years old, but it was extremely tolerant regarding oil change intervals. (It even ran nearly empty on several occasions without any complaint.) My point on the teeth pictures is that even if my camry's engine looked like dirty teeth at 100k miles due to few oil changes, who cares what it looks like if the car still drives to 275k miles without any breakdown in performance or maintenance cost?

I don't think dirty appearance of internal engine parts has any basis for performance or reliability. It could be that the engine parts get more "seasoned" with oil over time and a more dirty looking part is far more tolerant than a brand new shiny part. In that case, you would be preferring the ugly teeth looking part. (Just conjecture there.) However, I dont think the dirty teeth pictures are productive for the argument, because I dont think there is a correlation asserting that parts that look like dirty teeth are associated with performing poorly and parts that look clean are associated with performing well.

NYCGLK

bottom line the more often you change oil the better it is. But how much better it really is, is unknown as there are many other factors.

You can fill up bad gas once and screw up the engine.

P.S. Let's start break-in vs. no break-in discussion

MBRedux

Correct... and depending on how often it's done, the better the chances are that engine performance will benefit. Is it worth the extra bucks? Well that's the million $ question isn't it? If you're looking to do the least to maintain your car, then by all means follow the standard recommended schedule. It won't hurt your car if you plan to keep it for several years or so. Similarly, you can brush a young adult’s *brand new* teeth once every week if you wish, and they'll probably last until the kid is in their twenties before they go bad. Does that make the brushing interval okay? The teeth will function fine, but if you plan to keep them longer, the interval would need to improve.

Ultimately it's up to the owner to decide how often they wish to brush (or change their oil)... not the factory. And please keep in mind that bad oil will also screw up an engine.

One thing you all need to know. Engineers don't really play as large a roll in deciding the service intervals as you may think. Where have you heard that? In a sales brochure?

Look this is what I do.... it's more than a passion, or a serious hobby. Because I'm in the engine tuning business.. (mostly high performance Nissan (NISMO) Racing engines) I get to speak to many so called "factory engineers". In real life, Syn oils get contaminated, gum-up and varnish just as much as any other oil does... viscosity extenders and other additives are not new miracles, they have been around for as long as I can remember.... Simply put, Syn oils are NOT an engineering wonder you have all been led to believe. Let me make this crystal clear.... if the factory engineers had their way.... you would be changing your oil every 3500 miles and that’s no lie. 50,000 mile engine warranties are nothing..... NOTHING… it’s a joke especially in a Benz! These engines will surpass that interval without a fault… the factory knows this…. And who pays for the engine repairs after that…. You! These long oil change intervals have always been made by upper management and their advertising agencies… (the other half of what I do for a living).

Yes oil has improved, but not as much as you may think.... ask anyone who seriously races and they'll tell you the same.

Good luck with your *factory* recommended oil changes.