E270CDI Servicing Issue? Possibly?

[frumpsta]

I have an E270CDI Elegance, December 2003 model.

I mainly do motorway driving (approx 2500 per month).

All servicing is carried out at a main dealer

I had the car serviced at 31000 miles at a dealer and when i got the car back it was showing 9315 to next service.
I have just had another service done and it was 9200 since the last as it was overdue for a service..!! The service interval indicator was reset and again it is reading 9315 to next service.
I am keeping an eye on the countdown and it is going down mile for mile the same as the number of miles i am doing so for every 100 miles i go it goes down by 100 miles.
I read somewhere that the type of oil put in can effect the gap but all my documents from the dealer state that they are using the .5 oil (the best??)

The questions is -----

Am i missing something?

I thought that the service intervals were variable and i thought that i should be getting between 12000 and 16000 miles between services.
Also should the counter not be reset to 10000?

Please help as i think i am being stiched up by the dealer so i get my car serviced by my reckoning at least 5000 miles early.

Many thanks in advance for any help or advice here.

:-(

 

[jberks]

All I can say is that you are not alone. I was also hoping, that as I do 2k per month with 75% motorway I would be seeing 16k between intervals. The indicator sticks rigidly to 9300 and drops mile for mile. There doesn't seem to be a fully synth setting on the assyst (I've looked) so I can't get a 13k starting point either, despite it being refilled with Mobil1.

The only think I have come up with is to enter the assyst settings after a couple of thousand miles and reset it back to 9300 as the oil is more than up to it. Even the top up mid service trick didn't work desipe it gaining me another 4.5k on my previous E240. It seems that the vairable part of the assyst on the E270 doesn't seem to be as variable as it is on other models. I don't think it's your dealer as mine has been done at the dealer and the indie with identical results.

The 9300 actually equates to a KM value which is why its not a round mileage.

 

[Sprint'n'Go]

Here we go again

This subject seems to come up with surprising regularity. My Sprinter van has a standard 20k interval and this stretches to about 23K with oil top-ups. It is the same 5cyl 2.7ltr engine and I run on Mobil 1 until recently. Have either of you discussed this with your dealer as this may be a setting that can only be altered via the STAR diagnostics computer. I am sure they are more than happy to service your cars (and take your cash) at sub 10k intervals and won’t set the extended interval (if possible?) unless you ask them. When I had some oil analysed at 23k the results showed that the additive package was far from expired and the oil was good for continued use with further sampling necessary to establish a sensible change interval.

I know I am starting to sound like a stuck record with this information but hopefully someone will approach their dealer and get the definitive answer soon.

According to my service book if oils to spec 227.0/227.1 are used then intervals are reduced by more than half to only 9k. Is this what your cars are set to?

 

[jberks]

Yes I did query it and was told that most E270s do the same!

 

[Rory]

Yet (and I know we've discussed this before) but my C270 seems to work fine.

Why not just ask the dealer if you can go on to fixed service intervals - which MB are bringing in anyway later this year anyway?

 

[Blobcat]

Yet (and I know we've discussed this before) but my C270 seems to work fine.

Why not just ask the dealer if you can go on to fixed service intervals - which MB are bringing in anyway later this year anyway?

I have been to my dealer in Swansea this morning for a rear wheel bearing and two front lower ball joints - speaking with service reception and one of the team leaders they were unaware of MB switching to fixed servicing. I don't know if they are that well informed though as they tried to tell me you can't drain the torque converter on my W210's gearbox

 

[Rory]

I have been to my dealer in Swansea this morning for a rear wheel bearing and two front lower ball joints - speaking with service reception and one of the team leaders they were unaware of MB switching to fixed servicing.

http://www.whatcar.co.uk/news-article.aspx?NA=218913

 

[Blobcat]

http://www.whatcar.co.uk/news-article.aspx?NA=218913

As I said I don't think they are particularly well informed.

 

[frumpsta]

Follow up, Possibly more disturbing

Thanks for the info. The km conversion makes sense.

i have also spoken to a colleague of my in Scotland who has an almost identical aged model. He has done 9000 miles since his last service and the assyst is showing that the next service is due in 4000 miles...!!

He also mentioned that there was some (Heated!) discussion on Radio 2 recently about why Mercedes in Scotland seem to have longer service intervals than those equivalent cars south of the border. Apparently the man from Mercedes said that dealers do actually have the ability to change interval levels.....

On the service sheet that came with my recent service it states:

"When using oils of the higher specification 229.5, the service interval is extended by a multiplication factor of 1.3. The correct oil specification MUST be programmed into the vehicle by using the Star Diagnosis or the vehicles instrument cluster"
That would mean my service interval should be 12109 not 9315..!

Perhaps it is time for all of us to voice our concerns and one method i have found very good in the past is to log the complaint with Watchdog via the BBC website. If enough of us do it then perhaps we may get somewhere!

 

[Rory]

Have a look at this thread:
http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=17061

and here: http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=13857

 

[OlafMaxwell]

Blobcat, my car was in for service a few weeks ago and appranetly MB now recommend changing the transmission fluid and filter. Last time and a number of times before I asked about this and was told it was not recommended by MB but this seems to now have been altered. As for knowing where things are at a previous dealer I no longer use it took 4 attempts to get the oil level sensor replaced and when eventually it was done the service manager in the dealer could not tell me where it was located.

 

[Blobcat]

Blobcat, my car was in for service a few weeks ago and appranetly MB now recommend changing the transmission fluid and filter. Last time and a number of times before I asked about this and was told it was not recommended by MB but this seems to now have been altered. As for knowing where things are at a previous dealer I no longer use it took 4 attempts to get the oil level sensor replaced and when eventually it was done the service manager in the dealer could not tell me where it was located.

Makes you wonder what we get for our money doesn't it. I'm having the ATF changed at end of the month. THe Service Manager and the team leader I normally deal with are both very good. Service reception and this other team leader were not well informed at all. I don't think they know how to deal with an owner who knows something about his car. They probably get more of the "money is no object" or the "company is paying" type of owner.