Servicing Problems: Important.

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hawk20

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SERVICING PROBLEMS: IMPORTANT.
It is clear from various threads, here and elsewhere, that many members are having their servicing costs needlessly increased by errors at MB dealers. Below I set out the main problems.
ON OLDER CARS WITH VARIABLE SERVICE INTERVALS VIA ASSYST.
If you use relatively cheap oil while being serviced then ASSYST will count down from 10,000 and that is what it should do.

If, however, you use high quality synthetic oil as recommended in the handbook, when being serviced, then ASSYST will vary the interval between services depending on many factors (short runs, motorway cruising, driving hard, topping up the oil etc -all affect the miles between services) and you may get as much as 15k to 18k between services. (Even more in rare cases)

BUT N.B., ASSYST will only go to variable service intervals if the dealer resets to show that synthetic oil has been used. If they forget, it won't.

If you have been serviced with synthetic oils check that the distance to next service is varying and not just counting down from 10,000. Even ask the dealer to make sure they reset for synthetic oils.

NEWER CARS WITH FIXED SERVICE INTERVALS.

There are some important problems emerging on newer cars with fixed service intervals. Here are the main ones: -

1. Higher Costs for Some: The newer cars like mine, sadly, have gone to fixed one year service intervals or 15,500 miles whichever comes soonest. This is expensive if you are a low mileage driver.
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For example: - if you do 7,500 miles per year on the car, under the old system you would need probably two services in 30,000 miles. Under the new system you will need a service every year, and will need 4 services in the first 30,000 miles. That is double the cost of servicing

2. The Build Date problem: All the new cars in the showrooms or on order will be 1 year or 15, 500 miles between services, as are all cars like mine which were bought in the last few months.

Please read this. You may be able to help others.

Somewhere there is a thread where a guy recently bought new, an old model C class. It had been in stock for some while. It seems that the build date was about 10 months prior to the date he bought it. The 'one year to service' started ticking from the date of build.

Two months after he bought it, after I think only a couple of thousand miles, it says Service Due. Ouch.

I have talked to a high level technical person at MB who says that the dealer should set the service clock to count down from the first registration date (not leave it ticking from build date). THIS PROBLEM applies to all new cars –not just those that have been in stock for a long while. My car was built only two months before I bought it. BUT it will need servicing in only 10 months if the dealer, when doing the PDI, does not reset so it counts the service from date of first registration, instead of leaving it ticking away from date when first built.

You can always ask a dealer for the build date BTW. And if buying new, ask them to be sure to set it so the service is counted from first registration. Recently large notices have gone up in some dealer workshops to remind staff about these problems.

Usually Mercedes manage small gaps between build date and sale date, BUT some cars stick and when new models come out they often build for stock and then shut the line.

So back to the C class, bought 10 months after the build date, after the oil has been in the car for 10 months, and the filter, you might prefer to have the service done, even if it is only after two months of ownership but then the dealer should make a hefty contribution IMO if the car has been in stock for so long.

3. The A or B service problem: when they do the PDI on a new car they need to ensure that they do not convince the electronics that a service has been done as then it will call for a B service when the first service is due. Expensive. So check that when you drive away it is saying A service due in 15,500 miles and not B service due in 15,500 miles. One of my two has this problem and goes in next week to be reset.


4. The pre registered car problem:
Here is a question from one member: we have just bought a pre-registered MB from a main dealer; the car was first registered in June last year but has only done 150 miles. Am I right in assuming it will be due for it's first service this June even though it's hardly done any miles? My partner seems to think it's okay to leave it but I don't want to invalidate the manufacturers warranty.

The answer is that it will need to be serviced in June. And although it will keep on showing that no service is due until 15,500 miles are completed, it will suddenly change nearer the date and say service due in so many days time.

And if the car is not serviced in June, when called for, then the warranty will be null and void.

Sorry for the long post; but hope it helps some members.
 

Rory

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According to a mailer from my dealer, the mileage interval for cars on fixed servicing is 12,500miles for A & B Class, AMG and V12 models.
 
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hawk20

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According to a mailer from my dealer, the mileage interval for cars on fixed servicing is 12,500miles for A & B Class, AMG and V12 models.

Can't speak for the AMG or V12s but we have 3 new A class in the wider family and all say next service due at 15,000 miles. They are all diesel. May be less on petrols?
 

whitenemesis

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The 3 times I've driven from the dealers after a service ASSYST was showing 12500 to the next service. Actual mileage between services has been 17000 and 18000.
 
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hawk20

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The 3 times I've driven from the dealers after a service ASSYST was showing 12500 to the next service. Actual mileage between services has been 17000 and 18000.

You are quite clearly pre the change to 1 year fixed interval or 15,000 whichever comes soonest.
 

Marcus86

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hi all i am a technician for a main dealer, just a couple of notes on service intervals, if you buy a new c-class the actual service shedule does not start until the car has done 500 miles this is to prevent the light coming on early, sometimes the reason the light comes on early can be due to a number of factors other than the date not being set. This can be like said before if cars are pre registered and also depends on how you drive. The ASSYST system works out different variables on your driving behavior if you do short journeys or drive the vehicle hard this advances the service interval so we have seen services coming due in 6-9 months. However if you drive your car often in C and not in high rpm this will pro long your service interval. If on fix service intervals they will be between 12,500 and 15,000 or 12 months. But this system is only for cars registared after july 2006
Hope this helps
 

Micman

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SERVICING PROBLEMS: IMPORTANT.
It is clear from various threads, here and elsewhere, that many members are having their servicing costs needlessly increased by errors at MB dealers. Below I set out the main problems.
ON OLDER CARS WITH VARIABLE SERVICE INTERVALS VIA ASSYST.
If you use relatively cheap oil while being serviced then ASSYST will count down from 10,000 and that is what it should do.

If, however, you use high quality synthetic oil as recommended in the handbook, when being serviced, then ASSYST will vary the interval between services depending on many factors (short runs, motorway cruising, driving hard, topping up the oil etc -all affect the miles between services) and you may get as much as 15k to 18k between services. (Even more in rare cases)

BUT N.B., ASSYST will only go to variable service intervals if the dealer resets to show that synthetic oil has been used. If they forget, it won't.


Thanks for that post it makes for very interesting reading.

In my case my 2004 C-class has always counted down from 10,000miles between services. It is on 38,000 miles now and has 2k to go to it's 4th service which works out at 1 a year. Fine.

Point worth noting is two of my cars services were carried out by MB Main Dealers, the other by an indy.

From what you say that just tells me the Main Dealers either use cheap oil or simply can't be bothered to reset the ASSYST properly after using synthetic oil!

No wonder I prefer to stick to an Independent garage.
 
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hawk20

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From what you say that just tells me the Main Dealers either use cheap oil or simply can't be bothered to reset the ASSYST properly after using synthetic oil!

No wonder I prefer to stick to an Independent garage.

Could just be a simple mistake by the mechanic. Happened to me once.
 

David Nock

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Many thanks for your time and trouble on this post Hawk and also the one about Mobilife/Service Contract Plus.
 

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Hawk, my W211 is on fixed servicing which is better than the previous 211's although not as good as the A/B ASSYST servicing from my 210, that would go easily up to 18K miles between services.
However my fixed servicing appears to be always "B" services at 15K miles which is not great IMO. Have you found any info as to whether on fixed servicing it should alternate or will I always get a "B" on fixed interval servicing?
 
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hawk20

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Hawk, my W211 is on fixed servicing which is better than the previous 211's although not as good as the A/B ASSYST servicing from my 210, that would go easily up to 18K miles between services.
However my fixed servicing appears to be always "B" services at 15K miles which is not great IMO. Have you found any info as to whether on fixed servicing it should alternate or will I always get a "B" on fixed interval servicing?

I find that odd. You'd expect the first service to be A. Just been in and had mine reset as it was showing B service from new. (as described earlier).

What I don't know is whether if it starts off saying A service due, will it change to B service if you do a lot of cold starts, short runs etc.

I'll ask next time I see my technical guru. He left today for Lanzarote.

After you have had a B service it should at least begin by saying A service due in 15,500 miles.
 

Rory

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However my fixed servicing appears to be always "B" services at 15K miles which is not great IMO.
That seems wrong to me.

MB have moved to the situation which exists with most manufacturers where you have a simple oil change type service in year one (ie A), then a more major service in year 2 (ie B).

I've said before that the dealers only use the service indicator as a guide, but of course if it's showing a B then they'll be more than happy to insist it needs a B.
The service book should detail the work needed by mileage/age and the dealer pulls this up in the Electronic Service Sheet (ESS) when you take the car in.
 

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That seems wrong to me.

MB have moved to the situation which exists with most manufacturers where you have a simple oil change type service in year one (ie A), then a more major service in year 2 (ie B).

I've said before that the dealers only use the service indicator as a guide, but of course if it's showing a B then they'll be more than happy to insist it needs a B.
The service book should detail the work needed by mileage/age and the dealer pulls this up in the Electronic Service Sheet (ESS) when you take the car in.
They do that now on the earlier W211's where you could go all the way to "H" according to my dealer.

I had a B service after 15.5K miles and it was showing 15.5K miles to a B service when I collected it. I didn't think about it at the time however I'm in the dealer week after next for them to sort out my rear demister (the radio reception gets noisy when the demister is on and it's damp) so I will ask them about it.
 

littlebrooklyn

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SERVICING PROBLEMS: IMPORTANT.

4. The pre registered car problem:
Here is a question from one member: we have just bought a pre-registered MB from a main dealer; the car was first registered in June last year but has only done 150 miles. Am I right in assuming it will be due for it's first service this June even though it's hardly done any miles? My partner seems to think it's okay to leave it but I don't want to invalidate the manufacturers warranty.

The answer is that it will need to be serviced in June. And although it will keep on showing that no service is due until 15,500 miles are completed, it will suddenly change nearer the date and say service due in so many days time.

And if the car is not serviced in June, when called for, then the warranty will be null and void.

Well having just got off the phone with Mercedes of Chicester we have been informed and guaranteed that our car won't be due for a service in June and won't actually need one for another year. However I am still doubful of that and have asked for that to be put in writing which they have said they are happy to do. I'm not convinced as I am inclined to believe it's going to start counting down in June for the first service.
 
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hawk20

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Well having just got off the phone with Mercedes of Chicester we have been informed and guaranteed that our car won't be due for a service in June and won't actually need one for another year. However I am still doubful of that and have asked for that to be put in writing which they have said they are happy to do. I'm not convinced as I am inclined to believe it's going to start counting down in June for the first service.

That could mean that they reset the car so that ASSYST counts down 1 year from the date you bought it. Thye can do this using the STAR diagnostics kit. Sounds very unlikely to me and NOT what they should do UNLESS they changed the oil and filter before you collected it. And if they did, that would count as an A service and the car would be showing B service in X,000 miles. Worth checking to see if it does.
 

littlebrooklyn

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That could mean that they reset the car so that ASSYST counts down 1 year from the date you bought it. Thye can do this using the STAR diagnostics kit. Sounds very unlikely to me and NOT what they should do UNLESS they changed the oil and filter before you collected it. And if they did, that would count as an A service and the car would be showing B service in X,000 miles. Worth checking to see if it does.

I don't think they reset it and I am pretty sure they haven't serviced it, although apparently it had been 'through the workshop'. I am guessing that was just for the usual check they do before they sell a car. Other half seems to think the service indicator is saying an A service is due at 15,000 miles.

If and when we ever get the books for the car, which had to be ordered as they lost the original ones, maybe we will know a bit more. However I am hoping if we have it in writing that the service isn't due for a year that it won't invalidate the warranty.
 
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hawk20

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I don't think they reset it and I am pretty sure they haven't serviced it, although apparently it had been 'through the workshop'. I am guessing that was just for the usual check they do before they sell a car. Other half seems to think the service indicator is saying an A service is due at 15,000 miles.

If and when we ever get the books for the car, which had to be ordered as they lost the original ones, maybe we will know a bit more. However I am hoping if we have it in writing that the service isn't due for a year that it won't invalidate the warranty.

Let's be clear. 1. If they didn't reset it, then it will call for a service in June.
2.If they tell you in writing that a service is not due until a year from when you bought it they will either turn out to be right or wrong and the car will either call for a service or it won't. If it does, and you do not have one done, then that infringes the guarantee.

By the way, if they connect the STAR diagnostics kit (like a laptop that plugs into the car) it will show you now how many days since oil changed and how many days till an oil change is due. I saw this myself on mine just this last Friday.

What you need them to say in writing is that if the car calls for a service in June they will pay for it!
 
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