Scott S.

Well, my wife bought it. It seems like it's
going to be a great vehicle for her, only
has 35,000 miles on it. But what is bothering me is the fact that the 1st owner went to 10,000 miles on the factory oil, then the FSS told him to change it, again the FSS lighted up at
about 22,000 and again at 30,000 so my
engine oil has only been change three
times. I am not used to this kind of
maintenance. The oil is very black with
5,000 miles on it.
When I took the oil cap off to take a peek down inside it, I turned red quick,
as in mad as hell, because there was a
whiteish paste/cream all over the under
side of the oil cap, I cleaned it off real
easy. I had always heard this is a sign of water in the oil, Sure enough I got to looking inside the oil well with a very bright flashlight and there are several drops of water in the Goddamned engine!!! HOW?????
Probably the 5 dollar an hour kid with a high pressure washer held at very
close proximity to the oil dipstck, cap,
etc....I don't know. What a shame to treat a fine engine like that. And there is black crud all inside the oil fill cap and down into the oil fill well.
I'm going to the dealer Monday and
have a long talk with the manager.
I may change the oil myself and monitor it, maybe change it again after a couple thousand miles to kinda clean out the engine inside.
I am calling MB on Monday too because of the lawsuit pertaining to the cause of this black crud in the engine, if I can get the free 150,000 mile engine (only) warranty from MB I'll
keep the car. I understand the cause was the car came from the factory with non-synthetic oil and that oil cannot go
10,000 miles between changes, but
full synthetic can. Thanks for reading and I appreciate any
input from experienced owners. This is
our first Mercedes, !

C-rod

l also have a 1999 ML 430....l bought the vehicle with 65,000KM or about 50,000 miles.....it currently has 85,000KM on it...Though the FSS says every 15,000KM or 10,000 Miles..never listen to that even with synthetic.......l change my synthetic every 7500KM or 5000Miles.....l know it's a little more expensive..but it is worth it...As for your situation, if your ML is under warranty...please return it to the dealer......this is a situation that they are aware of....also you should have them check your seals and rings for wear.....hope that helps....they should extend your warranty...

jswedberg

The oil change interval is a hot topic of discussion. I figure Mercedes wouldn't allow it if it increased the chance of engine damage.

BTW our ML is on it's third change of oil (37,000 miles) with no problem. The C32 just had it's first oil change at 10,000.

The white in the oil is definitely a bad sign though. Check up on it!

theine

originally posted by jswedberg
BTW our ML is on it's third change of oil (37,000 miles) with no problem. The C32 just had it's first oil change at 10,000.

You won't have any problems yet, cause the engines are almost new, but how long do you think they'll go with that type of maintenance.
Oil change is the cheapest maintenance you can do to maintain your vehicle, why go to that extreme.
I change the Mobil One in my CLK once a year aka every 3,000 miles, on my other cars with regular oil, every 3,000 miles also.
When I sell my cars, they are "like new", and I always get the best price for them.

Some Pete Guy

Only 3k miles a year? No wonder they are like new when you sell them.

Seems like such a waste. Do you enjoy driving your car?

theine

My wife's Jeep Grand Cherokee 10,000 miles per year.....and yeah I enjoy driving my car, but I work out of my house, so no daily commute is necessary.

Darkmann

This FSS issue seems to drag on and on. Listen flks, the FSS works, period. We all seem to forget that the ML (and all FSS vehicles) carry a ton of oil compared with regular autos. I have two MB's and I follow the FSS and haven't noticed any problems. At first (13K) service on one of the vehicles, I had the oil analyzed just to see if it could still protect - the oil was fine (very black, but fine). There are hundreds of FSS vehicles out there and I am yet to hear a FSS related engine problem - the class action lawsuit isn't FSS related. Scott's, have your ML checked and have the oil changed, but stick with the FSS. And BTW, by the time the engine fails, most of us will be driving our 2nd or 3rd ML anyway!!!

timdf

synthetic oil every 3,000 or even 6,000 miles ! Why, because most engine wear occurs during the warm up phase and a fully synthetic oil does a much better job than dino oil period.

Second the reason why we had to change our old dino oil every 3000 or 6000 miles in the past was because the combustion by products used to break it down. Fully synthetic oil does not suffer from this problem and going over 10,000 miles between oil changes is not a problem for it.

Even in my 996 Porsche they say once a year or every 15,000 miles - likewise for most modern engines.

Changing synthetic oil every 3000 or 6000 miles is like pouring money down the drain.

Can it do any harm changing synthetic every 3000 / 6000 miles ?
Probably not - apart from wearing out the sump plug thread prematurely ;-)

Frankly it's an 'insurance' I don't need and one which is pushed by Jiffi Lube etc to keep their businesses alive.

Some Pete Guy

I guess I still don't get it how someone can enjoy driving their car and only drive it 3,000 miles per year.

That's extremely low mileage for a car that someone claims to enjoy to drive.

Are you concerned about depreciation or something?

Darkmann

Totally agree with you. I think a lot of drivers are inadequately informed about the process of engine lubrication systems and the quality of currently available lubricants. Like I pointd out earlier, if anyone really doubts this 10K+ oil changes all they have to do is send a sample of their used oil for analyses - not to determine engne wear, but to determine the protective propensity of the used oil. Many people will be amazed at how "good" a 10K used Mobil-1 is!!

GreenM3

I find it a bit curious that 10,000 mile interval oil changes started at the same time when "all scheduled maintenence for the first X years" became included in the purchase price.

My M3 would have gone in once for an oil change in 3 years if that were the case.

I will continue to pour an extra $50 a year "down the drain" because I don't trust that the dealership has my best interest in mind.

If it is a waste, so be it.

theine

originally posted by some pete guy
I guess I still don't get it how someone can enjoy driving their car and only drive it 3,000 miles per year

As much as I wan't I can't drive more than 60 miles miles per week, everything is close by. And if we have to go out of town, I always take the Jeep.:p

Scott S.

Darkmann, until last night I had no idea the ML 430 held 8.5 quarts of oil. This is
over 60 percent more than my 5.7 Tahoe
holds at 5 quarts. And I do think that
capacity has a HUGE bearing on MB's
engine design to go 10K miles on the oil.
I also found out about the Nickasil (sp?)
cylinder bore coatings that were originally
born in Germany too, making these engines not your everyday aluminum blocks. I read too, that the piston ring tension had been reduced to help prevent wear and heat build up, this is
damn impressive stuff here!!!
These engines are among the most
advanced engines on the road.
I think me and moma are really going to
enjoy this little suv. (fingers crossed)

Some Pete Guy

Ah, I get it.

You drive for utility rather than driving for pleasure.

That explains the low mileage and explains why we obviously have different definitions of "enjoy driving my car."

timdf

When I was working back in the UK for Ford Cosworth on F1 & Cart engines, the only oil used in recent years was Mobil 1 and a very 'thin' one at that. One of the reasons being that the engines on starting up almost instantly idle at 5000 to 6000 rpm (in the case of F1 V10 with a rev limit of 18500 +, Cart recall the Cart idle rpm's).

Further the CART engines used to be running at circa 14,000 rpm for the race duration and these turbo engines run hot, only a fully synthetic oil could withstand the pounding (and contamination from the unburnt methonal).

Normal dino oils were just too viscous when cold or too thin when hot - IIRC Mobil 1 was the first fully synthetic oil designed specifically for very hi performance race engines, then sold to the general public thus permitting extended service intervals we're now seeing.

So in alot of respects Mobil 1 is total over kill for road going engines - but is about the best life blood you can give your engine.

And no I have no connection interest in Mobil what so ever :-)

Darkmann

No, the FSS (and the Bimmer system as well) will not let you go over 12 months without oil change, regardless of mileage. In the case of the MB, the FSS will call for a "B" service at 12 months, even if you have zero miles on the car. Otherwise, A/B/A/B/A etc, etc based on 10K miles. Sometimes it may go as far as 13K before calling for the next service. And, yes, it's not a coincidence that the the scheduled maintenance promo coincides with the introduction of the 10K oil change.

theine

Well that's my case, I change oil in my car once a year, which happens to be 3000 miles.