W203 service intervals

[K3LVC]

My C270Cdi is coming up for 1st service at 16k miles - strangely though it's showing a B service needed. Can't find anything about this in the handbook. I'm sure my previous C270 started with an A then a B.

Any thoughts or is this normal ?

 

[jberks]

If its gone to 16k it will have skipped the A and gone straight for a B. The A is only an oil change. After 16k lots of other things need checking.

 

[Rory]

How old is it? Mine did this a few days before it was due to go in for the A service I'd already booked.
However in messing about, I reset ASSYST (by mistake) so it showed 13000 miles to A service. This seemed to baffle the dealer, but they happily did the A service and when I got the car back it correctly said 13000 miles to B.

There have been other reports of dealers saying they don't take much notice of ASSYST and doing A services when B was called for.

However, if your car is coming up to 2 yrs old then it probably ought to have a B anyway - it changes with both distance and elapsed time.

 

[Blobcat]

After around 13-14,000 miles the ASSYST generallay switches from an A to a B service.

 

[K3LVC]

Car is 15mths old. Responses are reassuring as I'm just inherently mistrusting. Previous C270 Manual had 1st A at 1yr/14k whereas this one (identical but auto) is showing B at 15mths/16k.

Will be interesting to see the dealers response.

 

[Rory]

Car is 15mths old. Responses are reassuring as I'm just inherently mistrusting. Previous C270 Manual had 1st A at 1yr/14k whereas this one (identical but auto) is showing B at 15mths/16k.

Will be interesting to see the dealers response.

Please let us know what the dealer says.

Mine's a C270 auto too. It got to about 15mths old/16000 miles without ever having a drop of oil added. It was calling for an A service at about 18000 but I booked it in anyway as I was becoming concerned about what the oil must be like. Then the display flipped to a B and the rest as already written above.

You might be able to insist on an A, but the dealer might say it'll invalidate the warranty if you don't service it as per ASSYST. I was a little concerned about this on my car, especially as I'd changed ASSYST myself - I wondered if the car would 'know' that I'd done that. Anyway, nothing was said and it's back on schedule now.

Of course, from later this year, MB is dropping variable servcing anyway (on most new vehicles). They dropped it a couple of years ago in the US (although Americans seem to like to change their oil every 3000 miles anyway).

 

[sv4]

Does anyone know if ASSYST just do a normal countdown based on mileage, or does it adjust the service interval based on driving conditions? For example, does it countdown faster if the car was used entirely in heavy usage urban driving?

 

[jberks]

It is a little more intelligent than just mileage and time. It also looks at clenliness of the oil and a few driving factors. I've never had it drop faster than the 1:1 mile but with the odd oil top up on the 240 I was able to get it to 17k before I needed a B.
However, I do seem to be the only person with a motorway mileage 270 that only ever gets 9300 miles between services, irrespective of oil quality, how driven etc. MB are apparently doing away with variable intervals and I suspect mine was one of the first!

 

[psmart]

Strange, because I share almost similar engine to yours, in a heavier shell and a lot of its mileage is high speed motorways. I always take it in before service is indicated (log book always shows plus differenc figures) due to my job and time availability. I generally get ~14-15000miles between services, over 1+ years (time between services).

The interesting thing though, is that I have had the ASSYST increase in value, dependent upon who's driving it. I can remember the family driving it from Stuttgart back home for me, with George driving (>60 yr old), a definite Yorkshireman, screws every penny out of evrything, and when the cars got back to Leeds, the ASSYST reading had increased! I thought this was normal, where it would increase/decrease according to how it is driven. I can almost guarantee that when George drives the car long distance, the ASSYST goes up!

 

[Scooby Don't]

Similar story here. It's early days yet but my C270 managed 14k between services last time round and flipped from an "A" to a "B" on ASSYST somewhere around the 12k mark. Like psmart above I also saw the mileage to the next service increase when I started doing my regular motorway jaunt so obviously there is something to detect driving conditions/full throttle starts and the like.
Incidentally for the last 2 days the computer is showing a fuel consumption of 54mpg on the motorway run which seems rather optimistic. Admittedly the traffic has been heavy so it's been 50/60mph at best all the way there but even so..
I thinking of treating it to a tank full of sodium pentathol....

 

[psmart]

Incidentally for the last 2 days the computer is showing a fuel consumption of 54mpg on the motorway run which seems rather optimistic. Admittedly the traffic has been heavy so it's been 50/60mph at best all the way there but even so..

The C-Class is suprisingly fuel-thrift when driven sensibly. Our C220cdi Sequentronic has managed 66mpg, so 54 is well within the realms of feasibility. Just double check by topping up brim to brim on next run.

The ML managed just over 39mpg on its return from Austria, doing around 60 (max 70) all the way. Mind you, I did have the Turbo disabled :mrgreen:

 

[Blobcat]

The ML managed just over 39mpg on its return from Austria, doing around 60 (max 70) all the way. Mind you, I did have the Turbo disabled :mrgreen:

Although I expect the journey felt twice as long :-(
I enjoy the A8 from Stuttgart to Salzburg, wouldn't like it quite so much at 60mph. Do you collect the Vignettes or get a year pass?

 

[psmart]

Although I expect the journey felt twice as long :-(

It did... ~6 hours to Düsseldorf in a fully working car, ~12 at 60mph!!

I enjoy the A8 from Stuttgart to Salzburg, wouldn't like it quite so much at 60mph. :-(

I dont enjoy the A8 these days, too much traffic, albeit if your on a bike, would be brilliant with the semi-hairpins looping on up out of Stuttgart and then South of Munich. Trouble is, the road is full of Camera's these days, so go above 100 or 120km/h and a nice portrait arrives in the post for EUR35 or more!! Luckily you dont collect points (UK drivers) yet! I prefer the A8 SZG->Munich, A99 round, then A9 upto Ingolstadt. The A9 is great, reminds me of a video arcade game, wide, up and downer, few limits, with the roof open, brilliant, even when the outside temp is below zero

Do you collect the Vignettes or get a year pass?

Like collecting 'metal coat of arm badges' for my walking stick when I was younger, every year, Swiss or Austrian vignettes from 2000 to 2006 are lined neatly up on the windscreen. I'm quite happy to pay the Swiss or Austrians to use their roads, a hellova lot cheaper than Italy (or France).

 

[Blobcat]

It did... ~6 hours to Düsseldorf in a fully working car, ~12 at 60mph!!


I dont enjoy the A8 these days, too much traffic, albeit if your on a bike, would be brilliant with the semi-hairpins looping on up out of Stuttgart and then South of Munich. Trouble is, the road is full of Camera's these days, so go above 100 or 120km/h and a nice portrait arrives in the post for EUR35 or more!! Luckily you dont collect points (UK drivers) yet! I prefer the A8 SZG->Munich, A99 round, then A9 upto Ingolstadt. The A9 is great, reminds me of a video arcade game, wide, up and downer, few limits, with the roof open, brilliant, even when the outside temp is below zero

I was told that the forward facing gantry gatso type camera's were for the trucks. Not had a piccy as yet and been through some of those cameras at well over 200km/h They were on the A61 to Ludwigshafen if I remember correctly.
Don't like the Autobahns on any bike, sitting at full throttle for mile after mile is not my biking dream. I prefer raging hard in the bendies . Riding to the Black Forest in June for a weeks RnR .

Like collecting 'metal coat of arm badges' for my walking stick when I was younger, every year, Swiss or Austrian vignettes from 2000 to 2006 are lined neatly up on the windscreen. I'm quite happy to pay the Swiss or Austrians to use their roads, a hellova lot cheaper than Italy (or France).

I have a couple of years worth of Swiss and Austrian vignettes still on my windscreen. Flying next week to Slovenia so no vignettes for this year . I agree about the Italian tolls, spent 2 hrs queuing for 2 working booths out of 30

 

[psmart]

I was told that the forward facing gantry gatso type camera's were for the trucks. Not had a piccy as yet and been through some of those cameras at well over 200km/h.

They catch all drivers, the Germans are into photographic proof, rather than a flash of your tail number plate. The plus thing... at the moment (until 2008)...is that UK cars are not chased up and the photos generally dont fully show RHD. I tend to rent a lot (hence the low mileage on my ML) and thus get the nice portraits. I've received 2 in the last month, 1 in Düsseldorf and 1 in Viehofen, Austria!!!

Don't like the Autobahns on any bike, sitting at full throttle for mile after mile is not my biking dream. I prefer raging hard in the bendies .

Last bikes Ive ridden, Superdream 550 and NSR400 was twenty odd years ago, absolutely ideal for the Alpine roads, but Autobahns, would definitely be lousy.

Riding to the Black Forest in June for a weeks RnR . .

Wicked! For the first 6 months of my work in Stuttgart, I was staying just south of Pforzheim (cant remember village name) in my Caravan, commuting daily to Wild der stadt, and S-Bahning it into the centre. Great life, shame I wrote off the family car which started me down the 4x4 route!!!

I agree about the Italian tolls, spent 2 hrs queuing for 2 working booths out of 30

Not as bad as my 3 axle Motorhome A-framing a 2 axle Seicento, Italians refused to believe it was a Caravan towing a car and charged me as a 5 axle HGV! Thieving b*!!!!!!!!

 

[Sprint'n'Go]

However, I do seem to be the only person with a motorway mileage 270 that only ever gets 9300 miles between services, irrespective of oil quality, how driven etc. MB are apparently doing away with variable intervals and I suspect mine was one of the first!

I know this topic has been covered before but It seems incredible that you are getting such short service intervals, especially considering your daily commute. My big box bodied sprinter van with the same engine has a standard 20k assyst interval and usually covers 23k before it reaches zero. Why does the sprinter get a longer interval when surely the engine must be working a lot harder to move the extra weight/volume. As I have mentioned previously, an oil sample that was submitted after 23k to 2 different testing companies both came back saying that the oil was still usable and further sampling would be able to establish a suitable time to change the oil (I had already done this and would not want to override the assyst decision).

Jberks, is your assyst set for the correct grade of oil as it has been suggested in other threads that the assyst interval can be altered to suit the oil used?

Also my services have always flipped A then B without fail although I do get a service every 7-8 months so time doesn't really come into it.

It seems amazing that Rory didn't seize his engine when it was brand new, diesel engines are notoriously heavy on the oil during the running in period and I have experienced this twice. However the engine I am currently running in seems to be using little oil but I will monitor it closely as I have nearly been caught out previously. How can identical engines vary so much?

 

[Rory]

It seems amazing that Rory didn't seize his engine when it was brand new, diesel engines are notoriously heavy on the oil during the running in period and I have experienced this twice. However the engine I am currently running in seems to be using little oil but I will monitor it closely as I have nearly been caught out previously. How can identical engines vary so much?

I did check the oil level! Although the engine should hold 6.5L, the display (when I got the car at 6000miles) showed 6.2L. It went down to 5.4L, but the check oil test always showed OK.
Even after service, where I supplied my own oil, and they used 6.5L of it, the display still only shows 6.2L, so I suspect the level indicator isn't very accurate.

 

[K3LVC]

Dealer responses re assyst

Eventually got round to phoning the dealers to book in with varied responses

1) South London Main Dealer - if it says B it must need B - that'll be £500 and no you can't have a courtesy car in the next month

2) West London Main Dealer (where it was bought from) - if it says B you must have missed a service. I respond "it came from you 4 mths ago and was confirmed that no service had happened yet". They respond "well take that up with the salesman then - it's definitely missed a service and we'll need to check the warranty situation when you bring it in" - that'll be £500 please.

3) Yorkshire Main Dealer - could be an error with assyst - bring it in and we'll check - if it needs A we'll do A @ £240, if not we'll do B @ £400 and of course you can have a courtesy car - will this friday do ?

Have a guess which one will get my service ?

 

[Rory]

1) South London Main Dealer - if it says B it must need B - that'll be £500 and no you can't have a courtesy car in the next month

The response on the type of service is understandable - the wait for a car is ridiculous.

2) West London Main Dealer (where it was bought from) - if it says B you must have missed a service. I respond "it came from you 4 mths ago and was confirmed that no service had happened yet". They respond "well take that up with the salesman then - it's definitely missed a service and we'll need to check the warranty situation when you bring it in" - that'll be £500 please.

Outrageous customer 'service'. High mileage C's often only have B services.

3) Yorkshire Main Dealer - could be an error with assyst - bring it in and we'll check - if it needs A we'll do A @ £240, if not we'll do B @ £400 and of course you can have a courtesy car - will this friday do ?

It's almost bearable when they say the right thing, but they'll probably insist it has to have a B. The prices are actually a little on the low side - ensure they use fully synth, MB229.5 oil or you won't get the extended interval.