Winter Oil service

[sautah]

Not the ideal weather to do it but the OCD was kicking in as I like to do an oil change at around 6000 miles. Doing it with the extractiion pump and the filter from the engine bay is brilliant. getting under a car is not my idea of fun these days, regardless of weather.

6.5 litres came out and a fresh 6.5 litres went back in. The Motul "Specific Mercedes "stuff I used the last time seems to have been deleted from the lineup but this is 229.52 approved so totally fine using it. Opie oils for the oil and filter.

I also decided to renew the fuel filter which I bought on ebay from MB Newcastle who are very good for spares. Also a very straight forwad job, I have clip release tool which is a lot better that using a pair of grips and a scewdriver !

I'm a bit annoyed I can't get a lable to stick to the oil filter housing .......

Here's to another 7000 milies or so.

 

[Gazwould]

Nice to get it out all in one go , so I bought a 9L extractor .

 

[W1ghty]

Not the ideal weather to do it but the OCD was kicking in as I like to do an oil change at around 6000 miles. Doing it with the extractiion pump and the filter from the engine bay is brilliant. getting under a car is not my idea of fun these days, regardless of weather.

6.5 litres came out and a fresh 6.5 litres went back in. The Motul "Specific Mercedes "stuff I used the last time seems to have been deleted from the lineup but this is 229.52 approved so totally fine using it. Opie oils for the oil and filter.

I also decided to renew the fuel filter which I bought on ebay from MB Newcastle who are very good for spares. Also a very straight forwad job, I have clip release tool which is a lot better that using a pair of grips and a scewdriver !

I'm a bit annoyed I can't get a lable to stick to the oil filter housing .......

Here's to another 7000 milies or so.
View attachment 164289View attachment 164290View attachment 164291View attachment 164293

That’s my kind of ocd buddy . Good job especially in cold weather .
Good Pela action shot there .

 

[sautah]

Yes the pela will do 6Ltrs and you have to remember that. I learned from my mistake the first time I maxed it out and the whole thing needed a cleaning out.

I think I’ll get an electric pump for next time. I have no question now that it gets more oil out than via the drain plug.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Not that OCD!....my OCD would never let me do "most" of an oil change from the top when you can do a complete one complete with any sediment or tensioner debris from underneath. Preferably letting it drain overnight to get every last drop!!!

 

[Bellow]

I have no question now that it gets more oil out than via the drain plug.

Yep. I've drained from above with a Pela then removed the sump and there was nothing in at all. What more proof is needed?

 

[Mickyh7]

I have an area on my garage wall painted matt white.
All my service jobs, oil change dates etc are on there via a Black Sharpie!
Don't need to lift the bonnet on any of the cars.
Sometimes less is more!

 

[MSG2004]

That's great.
I'm hoping to do my own service, a first. The car was last serviced by MB in mid Dec 2024 - acovered about sub 2k miles as we have access
to another car for longer trips.
My car has FSHMB and since the last B service in Dec 2024, the cars covered about 5k miles.

Should I be changing the fuel ? Should I change the cabin and air filter

I'm researching those suck out oil gadgets and that is the only way I will get the oil out - any tips on this other than don't do it?

The "release tool," what does it look like and will it close the clips again please? (links will help.)

On my previso MB - (gle now) they were petrol so when they were three years old all i had done was an oil change via Halfords every 12 moths and i used to do about 9k mile a year then -

 

[Trickythemerc]

I use a sealey 9 litre pump and have a gold magnetic sump plug fitted. Every third oil change I drop it via the drain plug just to satisfy the OCD that lurks in my mind.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Yep. I've drained from above with a Pela then removed the sump and there was nothing in at all. What more proof is needed?

I think thats just about impossible....the pump intake pipe could never be flat enough to the floor of the sump to get all the oil out before it was sucking more air than oil. Also 7 or 8 litres (8 in my case!) of red hot oil rushing out of the sump plug will wash away any sump pan debris in a way that no pump ever could. There must be a reason that even Mercedes don't allow oil draining from the top on some AMG models. Each to their own though.

 

[ToeKnee]

The car was last serviced by MB in mid Dec 2024

In a few weeks time then......

 

[Bellow]

I think thats just about impossible....the pump intake pipe could never be flat enough to the floor of the sump to get all the oil out before it was sucking more air than oil.

You are wrong. Manipulation of the pipe is all it takes to take it all.

Also 7 or 8 litres (8 in my case!) of red hot oil rushing out of the sump plug will wash away any sump pan debris in a way that no pump ever could.

Wrong again - as thousands of sumps that have been plug drained but have a layer of whatever on their floor amply demonstrate. Flow is driven by height - not a lateral dimension.

There must be a reason that even Mercedes don't allow oil draining from the top on some AMG models. Each to their own though.

Saddle sumps?

 

[ALFAitalia]

Your engine your choice...

My view...

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You view....would have been interesting to see sumps removed to see the difference in debris.......regardless of your view, the sump will be washed out by the action of the oil leaving it...the same way most of the stuff gets washed out of the bath when you pull the plug....when it wouldn't if you pumped it all out.

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[sautah]

I have an area on my garage wall painted matt white.
All my service jobs, oil change dates etc are on there via a Black Sharpie!
Don't need to lift the bonnet on any of the cars.
Sometimes less is more!

I don’t understand this completely unless you are giving parts of your wall to any next owner of your car ! if it relatates to the label that’s there for there next owner should I sell the car. It’s not there so I know when it was done if that’s what you mean.

All of the mileages and dates of what I do on any of my cars is in a folder with parts invoices and the dates and milage of when they were fitted.

 

[sautah]

I think thats just about impossible....the pump intake pipe could never be flat enough to the floor of the sump to get all the oil out before it was sucking more air than oil. Also 7 or 8 litres (8 in my case!) of red hot oil rushing out of the sump plug will wash away any sump pan debris in a way that no pump ever could. There must be a reason that even Mercedes don't allow oil draining from the top on some AMG models. Each to their own though.

Totally had the same thoughts years ago but after actually doing the pump based method AND removing sumps ( I have done this with 4 different vehicles over the last 10 years ) I’m happy that the pump removes just as much as the sump plug method.

Bear in mind I always do the change when the car has been out and used for over an hour so the oil and anything in suspension is well and truly mixed up.

Also remember im changing the oils a lot more frequently than the actual service intervals. It’s not like the sump is full of sludge and broken bits of timing chain guides !

It works for me and works for Mercedes and BMW

Appreciate you are more OCD than I am so good luck clambering around under your own cars. I do all of mine outside and don’t have access to lifts etc now so the top down method is beneficial there also.

 

[Skd884]

In india they change the oil once every decade and the cars run perfect!

 

[sautah]

In india they change the oil once every decade and the cars run perfect!

Do they? That’s interesting. Do you do that with your cars ? I didn’t think so.

 

[Mickyh7]

I think thats just about impossible....the pump intake pipe could never be flat enough to the floor of the sump to get all the oil out before it was sucking more air than oil. Also 7 or 8 litres (8 in my case!) of red hot oil rushing out of the sump plug will wash away any sump pan debris in a way that no pump ever could. There must be a reason that even Mercedes don't allow oil draining from the top on some AMG models. Each to their own though.

Dealerships don't use the sump bolt route anymore, if it's at all possible.
My neighbour is a manager for Audi, he told me, on modern cars, no one does, because of undertrays etc.
All suction now, some sumps are now conical, to aid this.
It's really safe, sleep tight.
Time to move on.
Old cars died at 70k
Modern cars die at 170k +
And if your not keeping the car forever, why be so concerned?

 

[rf065]

Not that OCD!....my OCD would never let me do "most" of an oil change from the top when you can do a complete one complete with any sediment or tensioner debris from underneath. Preferably letting it drain overnight to get every last drop!!!

This has been done to death on you tube etc, using a pump leaves nothing in the sump. There are absolutely no gains in removing the sump plug.

 

[MSG2004]

Dealerships don't use the sump bolt route anymore, if it's at all possible.
My neighbour is a manager for Audi, he told me, on modern cars, no one does, because of undertrays etc.
All suction now, some sumps are now conical, to aid this.
It's really safe, sleep tight.
Time to move on.
Old cars died at 70k
Modern cars die at 170k +
And if your not keeping the car forever, why be so concerned?

A very interesting and informative post.
I recall back to the days I had an Audi 2.3E. This is about 30/32 yrs ago it was the face lift model. I bought the car as it looked awesome in the metallic green and big, black tyre and the famous, pro-con system IIRC. I bought the car when it was just over a year old. So the fist time took to Adui for full service, the year after like all of my petrol cars, I only had the oil changed on it and did air filter myself . I took the car to a well-known fast-fit (they are still around) centre

As I waited in their waiting room the bloke that was going to drain the oil came barging in to the front desk and ranted at the manager that it takes long and they should "charge more" because the work shy booked had to take the user tray of - it was relatively long. I thought you stupid k.... Get a job you can do

Reading the posts here re extractor pumps, I thought I'd get the oil done via garage if I don't go MB for the first time with this gle that I've had from new

However, Micky7h's comments have made me change my mind, thank you.

Out of interest, anyone going to MB in the near future, please ask what those over-priced places do as I just assume oil was drained via plug on sump.

Years ago, on my brand new Mondeo ghia v6, I used to change the oil etc myself from the second year onwards just like I did with my C class MB's - too old now and got better things to do than getting covered in oil