Service intervals pre-facelift W203

[quasarman]

I know there are many other threads relating to this but for clarity is there a way to specify oil type when resetting the service indicator on a pre-facelift W203 via the steering wheel?

For reference its a German built 320 estate that came with ASSYST first registered in 2002.

 

[BlackC55]

nope!!

 

[quasarman]

How did my mechanic do it then? He's a one man band with no star machine and I've just done nearly 17k before service indicator has come on?

 

[Rovinghawk]

Going off at a slight tangent, do you really think that going 17k between oil changes is entirely good for the engine, service indicator or not?

RH

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Going off at a slight tangent, do you really think that going 17k between oil changes is entirely good for the engine, service indicator or not?

I don't see why not.
I had an Audi which did 19k between services. Modern cars and modern oil should be able to handle it.
In my defence, I do big motorway miles which seems kind on my cars.

 

[Rovinghawk]

I do big motorway miles and virtually no town driving. I change the oil & filter every 8k.

Oil changes are a very cheap alternative to engine rebuilds and I expect my car to go to 220k miles without any issues.

RH

 

[BlackC55]

How did my mechanic do it then? He's a one man band with no star machine and I've just done nearly 17k before service indicator has come on?

He probably uses good oil and you probably drive it mostly on motorways on long journeys.

 

[quasarman]

I do indeed do mostly motorway miles and I only ever use fully synthetic top spec oils.
I also run on lpg which has 20 to 40 times less particulates than petrol or diesel (not to mention being half price).

Does this mean I always have variable service interval?