The_Judge

My 2018 E400 has been driven a whopping 1,376 miles since its last service on October 19, 2023, and my Mercedes dealer is now bugging me to bring it in for service once again. The car is running fine, no problems or irregularities.

Question: Is service necessary at this point?

Thanks.

JettaRed

iTrader: (1)

Some services are time-driven. Three most critical services are oil changes (6 months), transmission service (5 years), and brake fluid service (2 years).

So, even with only 1,376 miles since the last service, you should get your oil changed since it's going on 11 months. When was your brake fluid last done? Transmission service?

Ask the dealer what needs to be done.

JettaRed

iTrader: (1)

Oil viscosity does break down with time. And with a turbo car, you have more opportunities to cause damage to the engine and turbo when you skip or delay essential services.

ua549

Service should be by miles or time whichever occurs first. For me it is time, every year on the purchase anniversary date (about 2,500 miles).

E300-18

If the car isn't under warrantee, I think it comes down to a personal decision. Mercedes recommends oil changes every 12 months or 10,000 miles. I'm always under in miles, but not as much as you. I don't believe that there is any magical deterioration that starts happening right at 12 months, and I'll let it go another month or two with low milage.

JettaRed

iTrader: (1)

He should change the oil at 6 months. Never wait 10,000 miles or 12 months to change oil if you want to get lots of miles out of the engine.

E300-18

What is your source for that information? Mercedes recommends oil changes every 12 months or 10,000 miles for my car.

JTK44

As you know there are so many posts on the subject of low mileage and whether an oil change is necessary: whether changing the brake fluid every 20K miles is even necessary, never mind less than 2,000 miles.

Suggest you read those many threads and posts and come to your own conclusion.

As to the tranny oil change at 5 years vs. 50,000 miles:

I suspect as time goes on more will have to make that decision: Having worked on cars all my life, the one thing that manufacturers do well now is make transmissions. Most are bullet proof. My own opinion is mileage and not time determines when tranny fluid should be changed. To answer your question until your car hits 50K miles I would not even consider changing the transmission fluid.

Hope this helps