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

[merc85]

Interesting thread, thanks. For those who DIY, do you have a mechanical background or is it feasible for *anyone* to do this competently?

I look after my s211 e55, I'm self taught when it comes to mechanics, you get to know what jobs are to big to do on the ground for instance,

Always handy to a haynes manual for torque specs more than anything else. Being methodical works a treat and take your time.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Interesting thread, thanks. For those who DIY, do you have a mechanical background or is it feasible for *anyone* to do this competently?

I'd say no, not "anyone". I know folks that can't wire a plug, and would struggle to check their oil or top up coolant or washer fluid. Changing a light bulb my be just within their grasp.

If you are competent at mechanical things, have all the DIY tools then probably yes but if not best leave alone.

 

[tonysmb]

A lot of people don't have any interest in doing it, some don't even know how to open their bonnet. I've seen one person top up their oil by filling it until it was at the base of the filler cap! It took a fair bit more than 1-litre.

However, if people have an interest and a degree of common sense and a suitable place to work, access is often available to various workshop books/manuals, online information etc.etc.. You need access to a range of tools, jacks, torque wrench, chocks etc but, on a lot of cars, the routine things are often diy'able. It might take longer than a dealer would but you can spend time to do extra things they often wouldn't bother with. The mivevtowards more electronics is making it more difficult sometimes without access to the diagnostics, although you can often just have a diagnostic check at a dealer.

Many people are quite capable of changing their own oil, for instance, but others would prefer to pay anything up to approx £300 for a garage to do it. Most start with the basics, perhaps leaving more complex things to a garage.

 

[190]

Most people with even just a minimum amount of common sense should be able to change the oil via the suction method. Those that couldn't mange that I feel genuinely sorry for and wonder how they get through life without paying through the nose for every little job in their house.

My guidance would be if you don't understand how something works than either commit to learn about it first or don't do the job. That would particularly go for anything safety related like brakes.

 

[ToeKnee]

I do all the work on the insignia taxi, servicing, brakes, even changed the clutch and dmf recently but I take the SL to Mercedes to keep the full dealer history. Go figure......

 

[merc85]

ToeKnee,

Did you use the SAC tool for the vectra? As most don't even realise one maybe needed.

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

I do my own basic service work on the Boxster. It is 21 years old , whilst it is still in virtually mint condition ( one previous , very fastidious owner) with only 32k miles , it has probably reached its lowest value . I only use it on high days and holidays . There are a couple of jobs that I cannot do myself, so I am using the money I saved on garage bills to have the wheels powder coated ( no scuffs but a couple of blisters ) , keys reprogrammed , and a couple of very minor dings caused by someone closing the front bonnet without checking for protruding luggage. Probably being a bit fussy in my old age as previously I would have sprayed the wheels and tapped out the little dings. I sold my 450SL a couple of years ago as I felt I was getting too old to tinker around , but decided to do basic servicing on the Boxster as I am not yet ready for the pipe and slippers.

 

[Andy_C]

I do my own basic service work on the Boxster. It is 21 years old , whilst it is still in virtually mint condition ( one previous , very fastidious owner) with only 32k miles , it has probably reached its lowest value . I only use it on high days and holidays . There are a couple of jobs that I cannot do myself, so I am using the money I saved on garage bills to have the wheels powder coated ( no scuffs but a couple of blisters ) , keys reprogrammed , and a couple of very minor dings caused by someone closing the front bonnet without checking for protruding luggage. Probably being a bit fussy in my old age as previously I would have sprayed the wheels and tapped out the little dings. I sold my 450SL a couple of years ago as I felt I was getting too old to tinker around , but decided to do basic servicing on the Boxster as I am not yet ready for the pipe and slippers.

The SL is being well looked after.

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

The SL is being well looked after.

Hi Andy, hope you are enjoying the old girl . Fond memories of that car and I am sure you are treating her very well. You will have to give me an update!

 

[UrbanM]

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

Thanks for the info. I wouldn't know where to start with much of the above so I am toying with the idea of getting a service plan or finding an Indie. My experience so far of Mercedes, Croydon has been bad! They diagnosed a control arm needing immediate replacement. The dealer (and another garage) I bought the car from inspected it and found nothing wrong!

 

[ToeKnee]

ToeKnee,

Did you use the SAC tool for the vectra? As most don't even realise one maybe needed.

I've not used a sac tool but I have the insignia with a fiat diesel engine, not vectra?

 

[RichardF]

I do, I used to buy parts from a marque specialist that's local to me. More expensive than shopping online, but convenient so I didn’t mind paying the extra.

Recently they've started supplying poor quality stuff though, incorrect items, things that just plain don't fit.

I'm not saying I won't use them again, as I say local and convenient, but I'll be very wary.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Boring questions, but does anyone know the best re-usable clamps to replace the 'one time use' filter filter clamps, for an OM642? I could just buy 2 of these non-reusable ones: Genuine Mercedes-Benz Fuel Filter Hose Clamp Binder 14.5-15.5MM A0049972090 NEW | eBay

Or, just go for 15mm jubilee clamps? Pack of 5 Stainless Steel Mini Fuel Line Hose Clip Petrol Pipe Clamps Silver 8-10mm (13-15mm): Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

 

[clk320x]

My indie reuses mine with zero issues.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Hi all,

So a couple of weeks back, I managed to service my car over the course of a few days (it was very cold and only a few hours of light) - it was lock down and I didn't need to use the car. Here's my 'report' as someone who has gone from not working on their car at all (5+ years ago) to trying to do everything that doesn't require a lift. Here's what I did:

- Fit orange turbo and orange/oval air intake seals
- Clean under trays (to get rid of random smells from previous oil/diesel leaks)
- Clean engine from below/all engine oil residue (from lazy techs who throw the oil filter in, causing drips)
- Check for leaks
- Change oil / fit oil filter
- Change fuel filter
- Vacuum out air filters
- Do radiator coolant flush
- Change bulbs in sun visors
- Run Carsoft MB2 tool diagnostic / check for errors
- Check wing mirror connection
- Wash Car Exterior
- Wash Car Interior
- Reset service indicator
- Go to the recycling center and get rid of oils/fluids

Wasn't due brake flush/cabin filter this year, and I'd already changed the air filters and they still looked new. I'd done 10,768 miles since the last service and that includes all of lockdown where the car was on a trickle charger and sitting idle! I do a lot of trips on the M4 so that's mostly motorway miles at 65mph cruise control (this year at least). The car's milage is ~148k. The last year's MPG was 35.7, which is down from about 40.3, and the figure of 35.7 is artificially high because in the last year the car has been used for motorway miles much more than in the previous year when it got 40.3. This is due to MB diesel software update, but I digress...

Firstly, the ramps that I ordered were okay, however they scraped a bit on one side - probably due to the fact that my bumper was not fitted into the clips correctly by the MB techs when I asked them to realign it (ugh). I managed to get some more of the clips in and it's a bit better now but not 100% - if the bumper was not previously damaged and attached 100% OEM, it probably wouldn't scrape on that side. I used a bit of wood anyway and got away with it (will post vids soon).

However, I didn't realise how many panels had to come off to get to the sump plug and the for draining the coolant (3 covers in total) and although the ramps are big/tall, they don't really give you that much room to work when you're that far back under the car - some of the bolts you need to take off to get the massive middle panel off the car are basically in the middle of the car. It was a real pain in the **** to get that off as I was working on a dirty floor (I'm on a farm!) with so little clearance in the middle/back of the car.

I also got sent the wrong crusher washer from MB Newcastle (see pic), which was very annoying. I ended up using the old one. I actually used it twice as I overfilled the oil a bit, so had to let some out. I overfilled because a lot less came out than was expected, and I didn't measure how much came out before refilling. Obviously when using the ramps, the downside is that you can't put the car back level to get all the rest of the oil out of the sump, so I actually was happy to 'flush' a bit of oil with new stuff. I might buy a pump for next years oil change and do it via the dipstick as there's no need to get under the car.

Speaking of the dipstick and over filling - the MB OM642 red dip stick is the stupidest design I have ever come across. SO hard to read, everything is just covered in oil.

That said, I'm glad I got under the car and checked out the condition of everything, which was surprisingly great for a '59 plate with almost 150k miles.

Coolant - I now realise that because my oil cooler seals were done a few years ago, I didn't really need to do a coolant flush, as you need to drain the coolant then, so the coolant is not the original 150k one and looked brand new. Oh well! Only thing that got me is that, again, it didn't all come out - at least it wouldn't when on the ramps. I used an 'ingenious' method of getting a little air blower gun and putting it into the expansion tank, and wrapping a plastic bag around the lip of the tank, and this forced air through the vent system. I even put my lips around and blew through but I quickly got light headed doing that! Surprisingly effective, though... I probably got out more than an extra 1L if not more, by using this method.

Anyway, from the look of the coolant, I wasn't too worried about how much was in there as it looked good! The MB system has the reservoir at the highest point in the cooling system, so there's no 'bleeding' per se, just keep topping up. I was a bit concerned as I knew more had come out than I'd put back in - my level wouldn't go down until I'd actually driven the car for a day or two. I just checked often and refilled and it's now perfect.

The fuel filter was relatively easy enough, I bought new clips but ended up reusing the ones that were on there.

Thankfully the car/engine returned no errors when scanned, except for the heater element on my passenger wing mirror. Not sure how to fix that short of buying a new mirror.

Anyway, I learned a lot and was able to inspect and clean my car in a way no MB tech or otherwise would do. I think changing one of the seals has gotten rid of some juddering on half throttle (vacuum leak) and cleaning the oil that's dripped down from the oil filter (or as much as I could) into the engine by sloppy MB techs. as well as cleaning the undertrays, has gotten rid of a smell that would come and go, through the vents.

Shortly after doing all this, I realise I have a screw in the side of one of my front tyres... none repairable, so I decided to change them both... another £225 for a pair of Continentals!

Doing this service after changing the engine mounts, as well as getting 2 new tyres, means the car really drives as good as new. I have some control arms I'd like to fit, but I'll tackle that after the winter, I think, the car drives well.

Anyway, to people who have worked on their own cars for years, this is probably all boring stuff, but for me I've only been working on my cars for a few years, bit by bit, so it was a great learning experience. Hoping to buy a weekend 'toy' in the next couple of years as a project, as working on the car is almost as fun as running it! Don't be scared to get your hands dirty (well, wear gloves...) and take it slow!

Cheers,

Ed

P.S. Shortly after doing all this, I realise I have a screw in the side of one of my front tyres... none repairable, so I decided to change them both... another £225 for a pair of Continentals!

 

[MrGreedy]

Great stuff. Thank you very much for getting back on this thread and updating. Love reading about this sort of oily stuff.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Here's the video I promised on going up/down the ramps...! The camera could be closer to the car, but hopefully it helps in some way!

I think you can see it catches a bit on the side closest to the camera when heading back down, and makes a noise.. I don't think it's just the wood cracking.

Ed

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[Blobsta]

I do all my own servicing on my daily and some interim on the Mustang whilst having the history kept up at an independent as it's a bit of a rarity.

I'll link the thread I updated with my service at the weekend on the CLK here as it's probably a better place for it than the tenuous link from a failed idler pulley. You can see the difference between OEM and pattern parts here. Squeaking on idle - this pulley has seen better days | Parts, Maintenance & Servicing

 

[alabbasi]

I try to do my own maintenance. Where I'm not able to do the work or the job requires two people, I pay a kid that I've known for years to come to my building and do the work. I have 2 lifts, shop air and a beer fridge.

 

[MrGreedy]

......and a beer fridge.

Sounds fantastic!