luxse

hi!

I posted this question in another forum as well.

I was curious if anyone on here can give me a few recomendations on where to get my oil changed? I would like to take reliabiliy, courteous service, and most importantly price into consideration. I have an S600 and I am in the east coast, specifically potomac Maryland area. Any help or recomendations would greatly be appreciated!
thank you in advance!

-luxse

kenstudios

Most places that only do regular oil changes might mess up your car and not claim responsibility. Think about it. These guys do oil changes for 15 bucks and you will get 15 bucks worth of work done. The cheapest oil change for an S class is a DIY oil change. $20 for oil filter and 8.5 qts of Mobil 1 syntetic oil at $6-7 a qt. The dealer will charge you this much plus labor. Expect that for an oil change and if it's way cheaper than that then something is cooking.

newton22

To add to that, expect more than $80 in labor. DIY is the way to go it seems.

luxse

I just calle up the local dealer and they quoted me a price of around $600 for an oil change. he told me they make sure everything comes out good and a little bit of that $$ goes toward diagnosing your car for any other problems that may arise.

it still seems a bit pricey and they don't even provide a free loaner car at that price. There might be some free coffee and free internet access. but I can't help but feel it's a bit steep. even if I am riding around in an S-Class .

Anyone else has taken it to a smaller repair shop around DC/MD/VA area and found some luck with oil change?

I might just have to change the oil DIY style but trying to avoid it if I can .

$150-200 seems a bit more reasonable, but $600 for an oil change almost made me fall out of my chair! :-p

newton22

For $600, I would expect a loaner car along the lines of a Ferrari F430.

djamer

Hate to say it, but, if you allow yourself to pay $600 for a Service A for an oil change, your logic for doing so is simply beyond me. Most independant shops here in the DC Area that specialize in Benz charge no more than $250.00. My CLk and CL were serviced in Fairfax,Va by the best Benz shop and I never paid over $225.00. Not sure how dealerships justify such huge markups.

If you are still insisting on going to the dealer. Here's a suggestion, go to the your local dealer website> go to the Services Link> and most likely they will publish specials for routine maintanence such as service a or b. You will probably save 20% of listed price. I know HBL, ASC have such links on their homepages.

JDM

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 600.00

Either they misunderstood you, or they understand you perfectly!

..by the way, if there appears to be nothing wrong with your car, don't pay them to look for it..

kenstudios

$600 sounds like a quote for service B which they do charge outrageous numbers. They should charge you around 200 give or take just for the oil change. Welcome to the world of MB where the stealership loves wallet draining. I think it's time you learn how to change your own oil.

luxse

hi all,

thanks for the feedback and suggestions coming in!

Unfortunately the extended warranty I purchased required that I change the oil at intervals of 5000miles or sooner. and it needs to be documented. So I would love to save my self $600 ever 5000 miles (every 1.5 months for me). however, it would void the extended warranty. hmm...anyone know of a service center that can print me out a receipt for a DIY oil change :-p.

Is it true the s-class only needs an oil change every 10,000 miles??? that's pretty nice!

Please let me know if anyone else knows of any other service centers I can try out around the MD/DC/VA area.

thanks agian!
-luxse

kenstudios

It only needs to be documented at the manufactures suggested interval which in this case is 10K miles. The oil needs changing more often than that. Just do what I do, Change yourself at 5K then at the 10K mark have the dealer do it. Keep your receipts though.

Also have them chang your tranny fluid at 30K mark. MB says its sealed and doesn't require changing but at 30k the fluid coming out is as black as three layers of 5% tint put together.

kenstudios

This is also oil related.


https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...=1#post1668008

djamer

Luxse, check your PM.

luxse

...either that or the system is being funny.

newton22

Is a DIY possible on the tranny fluid?

luxse

I was driving along Prosperity Road in Fairfax today and pulled over to check out a service center. And the font desk lady there quoted a price of $110 for oil change including parts, labor, topping off of fluids.

This sounds a bit more reasonable than $600.00 that my nearest dealership was quoting.

The place had about 10 bays, the owner, and 3 employees with 75% of the vehicles being serviced at his location being BMW. the 25% was mercedes.

Anyone else have any other recomendations out there?

Kenstudios, I bought some funny 3rd party warranty that stated that I need to change my oil at 5000 miles or less intervals. ...blah

ok thanks for the input from everyone. please keep it coming! I appreciate the support this group is providing!

newton22

Yup, its $110 here, sounds reasonable. But I don't like the way they do it, they use a vacuum and suck the old oil out. For all I know, there could be plenty of old oil still in there when just pour the new oil in.

kenstudios

Newton, a DIY is possible on tranny fluid. You must buy the dipstick form dealer then have a toque converter to be able to do this. Also you have to do it with engine cold and allow plenty of time tor fluid to drain.

newton22

Have you done it? Is it a lot harder than changing the engine oil?

djamer

I had PM'ed about this place. Fairfax Service Center. Owned and operated by Reese Sheraf. he's a friend of mine.

kenstudios

The tranny fluid change is not as hard as people have made it sound but it's a lot more demanding than oil change. Fluid flies everywhere. Check out this article. It's pretty similar for the S class.

http://www.mercedesshop.com/Wikka/Trans7226Fluid

luxse

I couldn't remember the name of the service center until you brought it up. they do bmw and mercedes, but mostly bmw.

Reese was on the phone when I stopped by but his wife quoted me $110. I wonder if they just use the vacum method to suck out the old oil or if they go the traditional route?

How well do you know him? a good friend? or just associated with him because yoiu are a long time customer of his?

I'll check my PM again in a sec.

justbecause

I think we all have a torque converter Ken,do you mean be sure to drain the TC or that you will need a torque wrench to do this job??
In any event to change tranny fluid on a sealed for life trans, that has no leaks or shifting problems at your suggested 30K mark seems pointless to me,you could in fact create more problems than its worth when changing seals,gaskets,cleaning drain pans,and fluids ect,by contaminating the unit with dislodged particles and also run the risk of future leaks.

djamer

I have taken my cars (BMW 318i, CLK, and CL) to FSC for the past seven years. Since I don't own German autos anymore, I don't go there, since his shop specializies in BMW,MB, Porsches.

He has been at the same location for over 25 yrs. That should tell you something. They use traditional method. No reputable shop will vacumm out the oil. Not sure where you have heard this. I know him b/c i was a long time customer and I would recommend him over any dealership in the area.

Jayhawk

When servicing my S, I look for reliabiliy, courteous service, and least importantly price into consideration.

newton22

You have a point, but currently at 33,000 miles, my tranny shifts slightly rougher, at least rougher than when the vehicle was new.