Who services their own car? (W212 E350 CDI here)

[TeddyRuxpin]

Hi,

Who's switched to servicing their own car? My 59 plate E350 W212 is now 11 years old and I'm paying for MB Service Plan. I've been really dissatisfied with their service, so even though I've been paying, I'll cancel it before the service which is due on October or November (you get the backdated money back).

The way I see it, the car's value is relatively low now, and so having the full MBSH isn't adding any value at all. However, going completely DIY is probably going to lower it, but if you keep the car for a few more years, is the price really going to offset the savings from servicing things yourself?

A service for my diesel car may include:

• Oil & oil filter
• Air filters
• Cabin filters
• Fuel filter
• Brake fluid flush
• Overall Inspection

I have never seen any mention of coolant flush or power steering fluid flush in the service history. Are these ever done or considered 'for life' on an E350 with OM642? Surely not.

It does not include any gearbox services on my car, so I have to pay for that myself anyway. Mobilo and 'rust protection guarantee' are included.

From the list, the only thing I can't do myself is the brake fluid flush (which is every 2 years), which is something you could get someone else to do relatively cheaply, I imagine (saw an indie quote £50). Everything else is very easy, at least on my engine. MB are also really stingy and say that air filters should only be changed every 50k miles, and so I bought some myself as mine were so filthy and oily. So even though they are due in the next service, they aren't really required.

The other thing is the inspection that you get when they have the car on the lift, which I am not realistically going to do. I suppose you could get that when you get the brake fluid flush done? What's your strategy here?

Has anyone else taken this approach? I want to, but I just need the tip over the edge, or maybe there's something that I'm forgetting about.

Cheers,

Ed

 

[MrGreedy]

I will take the middle-ground approach Ed, but as you know my Merc is an almost identical car to yours.

From a car care point-of-view, I totally agree with you that there are a millions things we can do more thoroughly than any dealer will do, unless you specify it as extras and pay through the nose.
So my basic intention is to use a Merc independent for the most basic of service, plus MOT, and I'll be sure to ask them to do a health check at the same time. This will keep a 'service history' up to date.

For service items that aren't included in the cheap service, I'll do them myself where they are easy, safe and convenient for me to do, such as brake fluid change (although I've not read up on the methodology for my car yet so don't know if it's more complicated than my W203), cabin filter, air filter, fuel filter, brake pads/discs, wipers, bulbs, any air intake seals, new rad and coolant change, EGR valve clean, oil cooler seals, removal and cleaning of intake manifold etc etc. Basically stuff where I don't need to be wriggling actually right under the car whilst it's perched on axle stands, because at the moment the only place I can do it is on my drive and it's 5x harder wriggling around on the ground.

Items I'm already anticipating paying someone to do are gearbox and diff oil change, subframe, engine and transmission mounts. Suspension arms when they go (and on your other thread, I recommended seeing if you can get a number of parts done in one hit plus wheel alignment which we cannot do), but I'll have a look at the rear shock and spring set up and might have a go at that myself. I'll avoid anything to do with spring compressors and risking injury thank you very much. As a slight aside, when I was re-plumbing my house, whilst wearing cotton clothing, goggles and a face shield I soldered new pipe in everywhere (and on the bench outside where I could) except the stuff that was in the (large) crawl space under the house. I thought I do NOT want to be under there if there is a problem with the soldering torch and it lets go! Same principle applies when I'm working on my car. Pretty gruesome, but even when I'm working around the sills, just reaching slightly under the front or around the wheels, I try to do as much as possible with my left hand, so that if anything were to let go, I would keep full use of my preferred arm!

I might be building a garage in a year or two, so if I can accommodate a shallow pit e.g. 30cm that will allow me to scoot under on a creeper bench, I might incorporate that and then have a go at things like transmission oil or whatever else can be done under the car whilst it's still on its wheels. Shame there doesn't seem to be any rent-a-ramp facilities around these days. I guess looking after your own car is not really the socially acceptable thing to do any more (much like only 'peasant scum' would do DIY in the post-second world war era up until about the 80's, when B&Q and the likes really started to take off).

 

[MrGreedy]

P.S. I've already gone through the Merc service schedules (A&B etc) for our car, and listed all the service items that come up according to Merc and put them in a spreadsheet so I can keep track of all that sort of stuff, and make sure anything that isn't in bog standard service can be done by me (a lot of it is just quite simple checks).
In the same nerdy spreadsheet, I will also add anything I do, or anything that I read about that is recommended by the forum or independents and at what mileage/age it should be done.
I'm a total saddo I know, but I'm keeping the car for a while, and I want it to be problem free motoring and on older cars, I find this works well.
Basically, when owning a car you are going to pay one way or another. Either depreciation (new), or in parts and fixing or with your own time (if older).

 

[190]

I've been DIY servicing my 59 plate W204 for 5 years. I'm using genuine MB oil and changing it every 5000 miles.

The decision to do so was based on my experience with running a W201 for 21 years. I spent a lot of money on garage servicing early on in it's ownership and started DIY servicing at 10 years old. When I sold the car at 26 years old the DIY servicing made no difference to the value and in fact the money I had spent in the first 5 years on garage servicing exceeded the cars value. I might as well have done DIY servicing from the outset.

I do recognise that DIY servicing is not sensible on a car under 10 years old if you do not intend to keep it long term. Same goes for anything a bit special that would eventually become desirable and rise in value. My base model W204 is not going to be the least bit desirable when I come to sell it and no amount of money spent on a FSH will make any difference to that.

 

[Major774]

I have been DIY servicing my AMG since 2013, so go for it. I have a nice little spreadsheet to track the main serviceable items and buy MB parts. I usually only go to the garage for difficult tasks.

I have a crazy amount of MB invoices as my service history. I even change my key fob batteries annually with MB batteries

If the car is out of warranty, just go with the DIY route.

 

[W1ghty]

I have been diy service on both my cars for 5-6 years now , I’ve done everything that has come up .
Get yourself an icarsoft code reader and a Pela suction pump .
I buy oil in 20L tubs that meets MB specs and oil filters from MB , Mann or Bosch via eBay .
Ive done both 5g and 7g gearbox changes (Twice each) on the driveway on axle stands/wheel ramps .
Brake fluid changes are easy enough if you feel like it , but for £50 as you say it’s cheap enough .
Ive always tinkered but recently I’ve attempted everything to push my skills up another level .
So I‘ve fitted Brake discs and pads , rebuilt calipers .
Done gearbox changes , oil/filter changes
Brake fluid
Diff oil
Control arms and front suspension
Pollen and air filters
Turbo actuator tinkering .
Glow plugs and relay
Spark plugs
Rocker cover on the CLK
Thermostat
Exhaust bracket repair CLK
Exhaust O2 sensor
Level sensors E class
If I read up on something though I’ll happily go to my Indy if I don’t fancy doing it . I’m thinking engine mounts I may not attempt ?

The MOT test covers a fair amount of underside checks as well

As you say your car (and both mine) are worth nothing as trade in value so you might as well crack on yourself . Good luck

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Thanks all. I think you've tipped me over the edge - I'm going to do it. No plans to sell the car soon as I'm quite happy with it, so I'd rather take 'full control' and not overpay someone to do it while half asleep.

How do you guys manage things like 'inspections' - i.e. putting the car on a lift and looking under it and checking for general issues? I am thinking I would get them done at the same time as the brake fluid flush, every 2 years...

Does anyone know about power steering and coolant flushes? I saw something saying that it's 150k for coolant flush, not quite that's right or not - can anyone confirm? This would mean that I need to do it at the next service (November). I checked how to do a coolant flush, and it looks quite easy, there is a drain at the bottom, and as the reservoir is at the top there's no need to bleed the system in the traditional way,.

I already have an MBCarSoft 2.0

Is there anything else I'm forgetting... do they.... re-grease anything?!

Cheers!

Ed

 

[W1ghty]

Thanks all. I think you've tipped me over the edge - I'm going to do it. No plans to sell the car soon as I'm quite happy with it, so I'd rather take 'full control' and not overpay someone to do it while half asleep.

How do you guys manage things like 'inspections' - i.e. putting the car on a lift and looking under it and checking for general issues? I am thinking I would get them done at the same time as the brake fluid flush, every 2 years...

Does anyone know about power steering and coolant flushes? I saw something saying that it's 150k for coolant flush, not quite that's right or not - can anyone confirm? This would mean that I need to do it at the next service (November). I checked how to do a coolant flush, and it looks quite easy, there is a drain at the bottom, and as the reservoir is at the top there's no need to bleed the system in the traditional way,.

I already have an MBCarSoft 2.0

Is there anything else I'm forgetting... do they.... re-grease anything?!

Cheers!

Ed

Excellent stuff .
Coolant I believe is 15 years ??
Steering fluid I don’t know , but I bought 1L the other year and suctioned out the pas reservoir then refilled a couple of times to use the container up
If you have Xenon headlights like mine there are level sensors in the front right wheel well and above the rear diff , both of which get affected by salt and the mental arms rust and break . Grease them if you have them .
Underside inspections I probably take off the front panels every year and clean leaf sludge out from under the front rad , then spray hoses and metal with ACF50 .
i clean and waxoyl the wheel arch lips every year or two .
I spray the rear lower spring holding arm thingys with waxoyl or Dinitrol every couple of years .
The mot checks a lot of stuff , which is why I have MOT’s done in the spring so I can attempt any work myself that isn’t in the winter .
You could do with a 3 ton jack and a couple of wheel ramps and a couple of axle stands for safe working

 

[OneForTheRoad]

I've maintained 2 family cars for over 30 years , I also service neighbours cars inc brakes etc. I dont care about service stamps ,by the time you come to sell them they usually aren't worth any more or less . They are worth more to me as I've saved 1000's of £££ in the process of diy ing.

Keeping the oil good is the main point. And its one of the cheapest items.

 

[phobos]

I service my own S212 E350CDI using genuine Mercedes oil ( the 20L tube of MB oil sold by the dealer is really cost effective) and I get also the filters from MB.
I always keep all the invoices of parts / consumables purchased for cost tracking.
In July I have done the coolant and diff oil as the car is 165K miles.
Next month will be brakes, front and rear ( disks and pads)

I have my own Star C3, which does help with the maintenance quite a bit

I agreed with the general opinion that DIY can be quite cost effective and also you know that the job is done to your standards with the parts you want.
With the money saved, you can get some nice tools that will reuse in the future, so extra savings!

I also have quite a lot of fun doing these tasks, keeps me away from computer screens that I spent all day looking at

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Diff oil, I hadn't thought of that. What's the interval for that? 150k as well?

My car is out of 'sync' with mercedes system as the original owner skipped the second service (because they got the gearbox service done elsewhere), but the ESS says this for my car (I don't have adblue nor is the gearbox covered for a service)... see no mention of the diff in the upcoming service (milage will probably be around 146k then)

 

[MrGreedy]

I've just looked at the diff oil replacement on WIS today. Pretty simple. Clean the diff around the drain and fill plugs. Undo fill plug. Undo drain plug.
Drain.
Refit drain plug.
Fill until oil flows out of the fill plug.
There was potential oil spec change over around the age of our cars, with warning not to mix oil types. I'd suggest oil from Merc to be certain.
Absolute dry quantity is apparently 1.2 litres. Might get away with 1L bottle. Could re-use some old oil in a pinch if a tiny bit short.
Car must be perfectly level.
50NM torque on both plugs.

Use a small smear of thread sealant when refitting the bolts.
WIS also recommends new plugs.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Does it need to be level, with access from a pit/lift? Or perhaps 4 jack stands, hehe. If it's that simple, I'd hope an indie would do it for £50 or so. Does the WIS mention service intervals?

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

More info: It seems like the OM642 Poly V-belt doesn't have a change/service interval, but you just inspect it at each 'service' and replace when it's starting to crack etc. I'm guessing the pulleys are probably changed at the same time, they seem to come in a kit (if aftermarket).

 

[MrGreedy]

Does the WIS mention service intervals?

I didn't see any mentioned

 

[phobos]

Diff oil, I hadn't thought of that. What's the interval for that? 150k as well?

My car is out of 'sync' with mercedes system as the original owner skipped the second service (because they got the gearbox service done elsewhere), but the ESS says this for my car (I don't have adblue nor is the gearbox covered for a service)... see no mention of the diff in the upcoming service (milage will probably be around 146k then)

I have done mine at 157K using the process described by Mr Greedy. The drain plugs definitely will need to be replacing as I have managed to deform one of them taking it off ( it was that tight)

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Thanks, I just re-read that he'd already said that he car must be level, so it would require 4 jack stands and decent space under the car, so I'd probably get that done elsewhere.

I'll ask an indie here how much it costs for the diff to get done when I take it for the engine/gearbox mounts (I'm taking to MBSpecialist in Bridgend) - just trying to find the 'official' MB word on when it should be done.

 

[W1ghty]

Thanks, I just re-read that he'd already said that he car must be level, so it would require 4 jack stands and decent space under the car, so I'd probably get that done elsewhere.

I'll ask an indie here how much it costs for the diff to get done when I take it for the engine/gearbox mounts (I'm taking to MBSpecialist in Bridgend) - just trying to find the 'official' MB word on when it should be done.

There is only intervals for diff oil on 6.3L and 4x4 vehicles . I change mine every 40k using Fuchs oil , because it’s so cheap to do (£15-20) , when I do the gearboxes .
www.opieoils.co.uk has a search engine for oils

 

[Major774]

More info: It seems like the OM642 Poly V-belt doesn't have a change/service interval, but you just inspect it at each 'service' and replace when it's starting to crack etc. I'm guessing the pulleys are probably changed at the same time, they seem to come in a kit (if aftermarket).

The belt will last a long time. I perform a major service every 4 years on my car (my mileage is less than 3k a year though lol). Main items I can think of:

• Spark plugs
• Charcoal filters
• AC filter
• Air filters
• Both belts (I got a supercharger belt). Just check the pulleys whilst the belts are off, and replace if needed.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Thanks for that - diesel here so no spark plugs!

How long is a 'long time' for the belt? My car is 11 years old / 143k miles