How often do you change oil ? The older is the car the more important it is to change oil often ?

[benzw205]

hello,

How often do you change oil ? Do you think that the older the car is, more important it is to change oil often ?

Someone told me the contrary, that changing oil often is more important when the car is new, then waiting 15000 kms / 10000 miles is ok later.

But what about the turbo ? I have read that changing oil is also important for the turbo ? is it true ?

Thank you.

 

[markjay]

The engine oil should be changed every 15,500 miles or 12 months, whichever occurs first.

Do you cover more then 15,000 miles annually? If not, then there's no need to change the engine oil any sooner than 12 months.

In any event, the Service ASSIST on your dashboard will tell you when the next service is due. Just follow what it says and you'll be fine.

 

[benzw205]

The engine oil should be changed every 15,500 miles or 12 months, whichever occurs first.

Do you cover more then 15,000 miles annually? If not, then there's no need to change the engine oil any sooner than 12 months.

In any event, the Service ASSIST on your dashboard will tell you when the next service is due. Just follow what it says and you'll be fine.

Thank you, but 15000 miles / 25000 kms seems really too much to me. Even 10000 miles is a lot, because in Europe the computer tells to change every 10000 kms.

And actually this is not true that the computers tells to change oil depending on how the car is used: I have used it in different conditions / weather / countries during years and never the computer asked to change oil before or after 10000 kms.

Anyway I am asking this question because I am not someone who follows a computer certainly set to push people and pay to change oil more often, I would like to know the truth, real people experience.

But really, your car has always asked to change oil every 15000 miles ? So why in EU all W205 want oil changed every 10000 kms ? (6000 miles)

Thank you again for sharing your experience.

 

[Dickster]

I’m old school and used to changing oil every 3k miles. That’s probably not necessary but for me 15k miles is way too much between changes. These days I tend to do mine around 6-7k miles.

 

[benzw205]

I’m old school and used to changing oil every 3k miles. That’s probably not necessary but for me 15k miles is way too much between changes. These days I tend to do mine around 6-7k miles.

Yes 10000 is what is really required, but I think maybe 15000 is ok.

BMW used to changed oil every 25000...

 

[Dickster]

Yes, and don’t forget we are living in times when car manufacturers are telling us some oil is for life gearboxes are an example that come to mind. No oil is for life in my mind.

 

[benzw205]

Yes, and don’t forget we are living in times when car manufacturers are telling us some oil is for life gearboxes are an example that come to mind. No oil is for life in my mind.

about gearbox, when are we actually supposed to change oil ? but officially it is not requested ? They prefer that we buy a new box when it breaks ?

 

[slade1]

MOT and service every regardless of mileage usually around 5K. Saves on aggro, one visit a year job done.

 

[jasonh]

To really know when the oil should be changed you need to have it analysed. My thoughts are this:

Yes a new car will need the first couple of oil changes sooner (used to be the norm).
Yes an older car will need slightly more frequent changes.
12 months specified by MB is a rather arbitrary number, VW and BMW tend to choose 24 months (with low mileage a synthetic oil will be good for 2 years).
The UK manufacturer mileage intervals are too long and oddly often a lot longer that the USA and other parts of the world for the identical vehicle.
The actual mileage between oil changes is highly dependent on vehicle use.
My personal rule of thumb is that if you want the engine and turbo to last forever half the mileage interval, and 24 months max. Being a bit more cautious I actually change the oil every 6,000 miles and I've taken cars to 180k, 150k and 130k miles with this regime. In all three cases the engines were perfect at the end: almost perfect emissions, almost no oil consumption, engine and turbos perfect.

 

[Headhurts]

I would go with what the manufacturer says, I’m pretty sure that Mercedes don’t want to pay out for items broken due to them not advising oil changes in a timely manner.

That of course would also include the many cars on extended warranty.

You will get a myriad of opinions on here all will be right for their own peace of mind so go with what makes you happy.

Robin

 

[markjay]

1. You can do an additional interim oil service at the 6 months point if you wish.

2. MB used to have flexible ASSIST, with varying service intervals, but since 2007 all MB cars are on fixed 12 months schedule.

3. You still didn't say how many miles you do annually.

4. If your W205 has the 7G+ automatic transmission, then the ATF change is due every 77,500 miles or 5 years, whichever comes first. If it has the 9G transmission, then it's 77,500 miles with no time limit.

 

[190]

How often do you change oil ? Do you think that the older the car is, more important it is to change oil often ?

Someone told me the contrary, that changing oil often is more important when the car is new, then waiting 15000 kms / 10000 miles is ok later.

An old worn engine will contaminate the oil faster due to blow by past the piston rings but for me it's how the car is used that's the most important factor. As the current MB's service intervals don't automatically take this into account I'm a long way from believing they are optimal. The only circumstance I would even entertain the idea of a 15,000 mile interval is if the car was used exclusively for long trips, otherwise 10,000 for mixed use or 6000 if it was used mostly for short trips.

None of this applies to me as I only do a maximum of 5000 miles per year and change it annually. If I did 2000 miles per year and they were all trips of 10 miles or more I would happily change it every 2 years.

 

[markjay]

An old worn engine will contaminate the oil faster due to blow by past the piston rings but for me it's how the car is used that's the most important factor. As the current MB's service intervals don't automatically take this into account I'm a long way from believing they are optimal. The only circumstance I would even entertain the idea of a 15,000 mile interval is if the car was used exclusively for long trips, otherwise 10,000 for mixed use or 6000 if it was used mostly for short trips.

None of this applies to me as I only do a maximum of 5000 miles per year and change it annually. If I did 2000 miles per year and they were all trips of 10 miles or more I would happily change it every 2 years.

Some of the service books I saw had a clause that says that cars in 'heavy duty' use should be serviced more frequently, with the examples given as start-stop city driving, taxis, post office cars, etc.

Which makes sense, because if this is not how the car is used, then it wouldn't be possible to reach 15,000 miles annually without a significant portion of it being motorway driving.

 

[Accused]

Difficult to believe the manufacturers given the past sealed for life gearbox fiasco.
Common sense is the only option if you can't trust the car makers, anywhere between 5k and 10k I think would be totally safe.
On the flip side for my sins I was a London Taxi driver for years. My last cab had a 2.7 Nissan diesel engine (non turbo). When I gave up the job it had 440k miles on it, no oil consumption and oil changes around every 30/40k miles!
Oh and the oil would have been the very cheapest...

 

[Dickster]

My personal experience with E53 and E70 X5 BMWs and their so called sealed for life gearboxes. Not directly related to oil, but both models have known issues. The E53 needs a major service before 100k to stop the “jerking” when coming to a stop. And the E70 has a plastic pan that warps and let the oil spew out at around 60k. So I would recommend attention well before those mileages.

So I’m not too convinced about whatever the manufacturers recommend

 

[350cls]

Since owning an AMG, I change my engine oil every 5000 miles. Being a high performance end of car it's only right for me to give it the best food for it to perform to it's potential.

It's also I good indecation on how things are within the engine itself. I open up the oil filter and have a good look for particals and shavings. Some say overkill.

I also think coolant flushes/changes are way longer than should be. Every two/three years is what I do. "15 years " is the schedule

 

[Skd884]

As MB advise once a year/12.5k ( AMG ) or 15.5k non AMG is fine.

 

[davymead]

Depends entirely on the type of usage of the vehicle for me. If the car is used for mostly local short, stop start journeys, oil needs changing more regularly.
Personally I have my oil changed every 5 or 6,000 miles.

 

[Spider1967]

hello,

How often do you change oil ? Do you think that the older the car is, more important it is to change oil often ?

Someone told me the contrary, that changing oil often is more important when the car is new, then waiting 15000 kms / 10000 miles is ok later.

But what about the turbo ? I have read that changing oil is also important for the turbo ? is it true ?

Thank you.

Am I the only person who changes oil midway between main service simply to ensure loving care and hope longevity. BTW do not trust Kwik fit in Kendal to do this as it will be a literal shxt show! I got mine back damaged and oil had not been replaced! I kid you not!

 

[Fastcar155]

Hi , my car has the engine oil changed at 6 months or what ever the mileage is.

My annual mileage is no more than 3000