MB service incentive plan ??

Pretty normal retail service upselling. All auto brands market & sell like any other business, unfortunately most don't deliver much value along the way.

A good check on this at the dealer you patronize is to see if he prices service work to the local marketplace. If they quote you a price on a maintenance service, check with any other dealers and a few independents to see what they'd charge. It can be an eye-opener.

Speak on brother!

Before I bought my 2001 ML 320, I spoke to a friend who had a C class. He told me that he routinely paid $200 for what amounted to nothing but an oil change and an inspection.

Luckily, my vehicle was purchased with the free maintenance schedule. When he heard this, he traded in and bought a new one.

With his annual mileage he probably saved close to $1000 a year (A and B Service).

RichieP

Since my '00 E430 is a leased vehicle, I've really enjoyed watching the Flexible Service System indicator run past 12,000 miles between oil changes, then getting it serviced at MBs' expense. Best part, their dealers routinely screw up the car while it's in for service, thereby costing MB more in warranty than if I'd just taken it to Jiffy Lube and sent them a bill!

I had an automotive design engineer explain to me about 15 years ago that with modern computerized machine tools, modern metallurgy and modern lubricant technology an engine in normal service could easily go 15,000 miles without an oil & filter change. My response was "Ok, you first!"

Remarkably, even though it will go 12k between changes this car's never used a drop of oil or any other fluid for that matter. Pretty cool technology in my book.

Hey - where did you say you could get an MB oil change for only $500?????

mcbrue seekingly under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

You have to take the Kia loaner for the weekend.

Kal

South Carolina!

I was taught that oil never breaks down. That is the reason it is not necessary to change the transmission oil frequently and the differential never. Of course, it may be necessary to add due to lossage. That, the main reason to change oil is that it gets contaminated - metal wear, blow by gases, and condensation. With the manufactures going to longer intervals, it suggests that engines are built better, i.e better metals, tighter tolerances, and better oil filters. The fact that oils, such as synthetics, are better lubricants minimizes the wear factor. For these reasons, I've ignored the FSS and changed my oil every 10,000 (on previous two diesels, changed oil every 5,000. I used these intervals because the multiple are easy to remember). Over the past 15 years and more than 300,00 miles, none of my cars "used oil". Thoughts... comments?

Al '99 E300

independents

Toyota and several other mfrs have recommended 10k oil change intervals for years even with conventional oils. No reason to suspect this would cause any harm.

WRT FSS and free scheduled maintenance, the dealers tell me MB will onlypay for the service if the vehicle has gone at least one year or 10k miles since it's last service. 10k is the default lowest mileage the system calculates.

Dealers cringe at all this long mileage interval stuff. They, the oil & filter mfrs really like 3k mile oil changes! The last mfr to have this as a standard interval was VW back in the early 70's. (Frankly, you had to service an air cooled VW every 3k just to be sure either the oil hadn't all leaked out, the cyl heads hadn't popped loose, the clutch cable hadn't broken, etc.)

Hve you been able to reset the FSS to -0-? There are instructions in the manual (1998 C320), but I've never gotten it to work. Similarly, suggestions on this board in the past have not helped me reset the FSS.

ChiDriver

What do you mean "reset it to zero"? It gets reset to 10,000 miles and counts down from there. Why would you want to reset it to zero?

Yes. But, I had to try several times. Just follow the instructions carefully. As a side note, I have a '99 E300 and assume the procedure is not too different for the C model.

C-class and E-class got the same reset procedure.

Keith Beast E14 4NS Docklands

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