Advice on service

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dmarook

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Jun 18, 2010
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6
Hello everyone,

I bought my (56 Reg) E280 Mercedes last year. 48K on the clock. The dealer ( Chichester) did a B service before I took delivery. I drive less than 5K per year on my Mercedes. Now the MOT is due. Car's computer is saying next service due in 9000 miles.

I went to my local dealer to enquire about MOT. The guy at Service desk said the car needs a full service at 15000 miles or 12 months whichever comes first. Looking at his computer, he said my car will need a 50K mile service and quoted me for a £500+ service including usual parts. They will renew my road side assistance as well.

I was wondering as to:

1) What's the point of a computer in the car saying when next service is due if the car need service every year anyway?

2) The guy at the dealer said they will hook up the car to a computer that will tell them what parts need changing, is that the usual practice? How frequently are the Oil/air filters , spark plugs etc. are changed?

3) Is it worthwhile extending the car warrenty (MB warrenty cover Tier 1)?

4) Should the Air con be serviced every year?

Thanks for any help or advice in advance.

DM.
 
Hello everyone,

I bought my (56 Reg) E280 Mercedes last year. 48K on the clock. The dealer ( Chichester) did a B service before I took delivery. I drive less than 5K per year on my Mercedes. Now the MOT is due. Car's computer is saying next service due in 9000 miles.

I went to my local dealer to enquire about MOT. The guy at Service desk said the car needs a full service at 15000 miles or 12 months whichever comes first. Looking at his computer, he said my car will need a 50K mile service and quoted me for a £500+ service including usual parts. They will renew my road side assistance as well.

I was wondering as to:

1) What's the point of a computer in the car saying when next service is due if the car need service every year anyway?

There are two setups.

Earlier pre-facelift W211s. In which case it has a system called Assyst+ which expects you to service the car when it tells you to. This will be at some variable mileage (9000 or more) or 2 years - whichever comes first. This is 'variable' servicing.

Later W211s are based on 15000 miles or 1 year - whichever comes first - so called 'fixed' servicing.

The change between the two was round about the the time your car was registered. So it could be either.

2) The guy at the dealer said they will hook up the car to a computer that will tell them what parts need changing, is that the usual practice? How frequently are the Oil/air filters , spark plugs etc. are changed?
That's the theory they purport..

In practice even with Assyst+ variable the items are scheduled by milage/year with various bits subject to inspection.

This website will give you a service sheet for your car based on age/mileage.

Mercedes-Benz ESS

3) Is it worthwhile extending the car warrenty (MB warrenty cover Tier 1)?
Depends on how you feel about the cost vs. the risk.

Sounds like your car is low mileage and if you assume it was well kept then the answer IMO is on
the no side of the balance.

4) Should the Air con be serviced every year?
No. The service sheet will suggest what should be checked. ISTR the filter is down as a two yearly item.
 
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If it's a 280 V6/7 speed it requires 15500/12 month intervals (whichever is sooner).

Confusingly, there are only A (minor) or B (major) services, despite all the letters the car offers.
 
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Oil and filters are done every service. Plugs every 40,000 I think. Spoke to my dealer recently about the aircon service for the CLK. Now 8 years old. They said not to bother as long as working properly.
 
I went to my local dealer to enquire about MOT. The guy at Service desk said the car needs a full service at 15000 miles or 12 months whichever comes first. Looking at his computer, he said my car will need a 50K mile service and quoted me for a £500+ service including usual parts. They will renew my road side assistance as well.


2) The guy at the dealer said they will hook up the car to a computer that will tell them what parts need changing, is that the usual practice? How frequently are the Oil/air filters , spark plugs etc. are changed?

Meant to add. If your car is petrol then the spark plugs will be down as 4 years or 60000 miles. The car needs 12. It's not cheap at dealer rates.

Dealers tend to be coy about pricing in everything when they quote up front. Before you accept the any service price from them check the ESS sheet and make sure they've included everything that's scheduled. They'll quite brazenly phone up and ask for £300+ to fit plugs to a V6.
 
Thanks for your prompt, helpful and informative responses.

I meant to add that you could save some money by using an indie - they will still have access to the service schedule and generally use genuine parts.

Ask on here who is recommended in your area, which will give you another option.
 
AFAIK the move from variable servicing to fixed servicing was not due to any technological development.

It was simply the case that fleet managers hated variable servicing from both scheduling and budgeting point of view.

I had this conversation with an MB guy that phones me up 1 year after the previous main-dealer service and asked if I wanted to book the next one. I replied that my car is on variable servicing schedule and the MB guy said no problem, just call us when the instrument display tells you to.

I do very little mileage annually, and always end up servicing based on time with plenty of mileage to spare - I get around 15 months between servicing on the time-based system.

On my wife's Renault, on the other hand, the service indicator pops-up every 12 months like clockwork, regardless of mileage - she only does 1k miles a year...
 
Hello everyone,

he said my car will need a 50K mile service and quoted me for a £500+ service



DM.

if you live near Chichester you are within reach of Olly at PCS (Horndean) - highly regarded Indy who gets top reviews on this site - do a search to check him out.
 

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