W211 2004 Dealer or Indie service dilema

[pomm001]

This old chestnut again
read the sticky on oil change intervals but doesnt seem have a black and white answer.
My question is that my 211 is due a service, oil and filter and fuel filter, and brake fluid change, my local dealer has quoted approx £450.00 as its £130 to change the brake fluid because of the brealing system.
While the brake system is more complicated, disconnect the battery evacuate the residual pressure and bleed as normal.
While i would like to keep the car with a full set of dealer stamps in the book i am struggling a little with this.
Again with the oil change intervals, i know its been done to death, but throught the cars life from new its been serviced every 10 k without fail, always with expensive synthetic oil. when i took over ownership i took it in to my dealer for small service and opted for the fully synthetic oil, my service indicator was counting down from 14.300 odd miles. After a little more questioning 'it depends how you drive sir' before next service due as the assyst monitors oil condition.
Before you know it your next service is due again, its counted down mile for mile. I challeged my dealer tech about this again, who is a very helpful man and he put forward that if your car used oil between services the introduction of fresh oil would increase the service length, and i suggested that in theory if i was to chage the oil a 1000 miles before the next service that i would see the 'miles before next service' increase, we both agreed that i was too lazy to put it to the test.
Well i did change the oil and guess what , yes, its still counting down as normal the oil change has not altered anything which makes me think that its just counts down from a theoretical max ie what its set at by the dealer.

Back to my point
i will soon sell my 211 as work increasingly take me away for months at a time will it effect the re-sale greatly if i use a good indie for the work
thoughts please
Thanks

 

[jberks]

Hi,
The line is quite fine.
The first thing to realise is that it makes absolutely NO difference to resale value. Sure dealer history may sway 1 or 2 buyers but most are only interested in whether a service has been correctly carried out at the right time and many buyers of an 04 merc won't be going to the dealer anyway. Trade in wise, they don't care - even if they say they do.

However, dealers now offer discounts to cars of the age of yours and mine. At my dealer this equates to around 25% off making it still more expensive than the indie but not by the margin it used to be.

Finally there is the middle ground. The brake fliud is an optional extra. You can refuse this work and if selling shortly I probably would. Alternatively, refuse and take it to the indie for any extra work.

My service due message has just appeared so I'm in the same quandry. Mine has a dealer supplied warranty so I'll probably take advantage of the discount offer this time and pay the dealer price but going forward I don't know.

 

[pomm001]

Thanks for the reply
interesting, your right the difference between the dealer and indie has narrowed of late, i was told that the brake fluid chage was not optional and if i did not have it done then they would not stamp the book its about a £100 to do which is bl**dy expensive
who could confirm as MB uk now dont take call ?
mant thanks

 

[Rory]

Are you getting the price from MB Leicester? If so, is that their normal price, or is it discounted?

I believe they're owned by Inchcape, as is my local dealer MB Chester. MB Chester advertise discounted servicing on any age MB - A service is typically £199 and B service is typically £299-£329, depending on model.

If you're thinking of selling the car soonish and it has a full MB history up to now, then it would be a shame to break that now. It also ensures that there's no hassle with the Mobilo cover continuing.

There have been many comments about ASSYST not working properly on W211's - it's vital that the oil type is set in the computer properly but even then it still does't always seem to vary the mileage as MB say it should.

 

[colechelle]

Be very very careful if you gonna bled the SBC as you have said, malcolm and me had very diff outlooks on SBC and the rights and wrongs, after a long chat with malc he agreed with me about the rights and wrongs with SBC, i have had the correct training from mb so i wouldnt advise you on bleding it yourself, we have to pressure the system from 0.5 bar to 2 bar at differnt times and do tests after to make sure its air free, as for the oil grade while servicing you have to go into assyst on star and tell it what grade oil and service scope it has had, if put in correct every 211 would come out with 15500 until next service, all mine do!!!

 

[BlackC55]

Seconded.......

 

[pomm001]

Seconded.......

thanks for the replies
the MB leicester was the discounted rate
I am not planing on changing the fluid myself, but fully take on board the advise .
Interestingly just had a quote from an independant in leicester Premier Service , who i have had good reports about quote £240, all gen parts, all mb mechanics with star diag machine and loan car for the day
anyone used them?

 

[pomm001]

Be very very careful if you gonna bled the SBC as you have said, malcolm and me had very diff outlooks on SBC and the rights and wrongs, after a long chat with malc he agreed with me about the rights and wrongs with SBC, i have had the correct training from mb so i wouldnt advise you on bleding it yourself, we have to pressure the system from 0.5 bar to 2 bar at differnt times and do tests after to make sure its air free, as for the oil grade while servicing you have to go into assyst on star and tell it what grade oil and service scope it has had, if put in correct every 211 would come out with 15500 until next service, all mine do!!!

Just noticed the answer on oil.
agree the ECU must be told what oil has been used for the oil change, this happened ok on my last service, i checked it before i took the car, i think it was 14000 odd miles with the synthetic oil, i was told that this had just been reduced by Mercedes ?
My observation was that it counted down mile for mile after this, irrespective of the journey pattern, i took this up with the service guy and was explained that the condition of the oil is checked by the sensor, and if for instance the oil was changed halfway between services the sensor would pick this up and adjust the oil change period.
For the hell of it i changed the oil and it made no difference at all and continued to count down mile for mile to the next change , which firms up my conclussion that driving style has little impact on this system ( in my case)
what do you think ?

 

[jberks]

when I had an E240, the oil level slowly dropped over 10k or so and I was able to add an extra 1l on a couple of occasions. Each time I did, the assyst would grant me another 1-2k. This, plus the fact that most of the work was motorway based allowed be to clock up 17k before it finally insisted I visted the dealer.

On changing to my E270, I was surprised to see the range at 9,500miles post service. But I figured it would drop more slowly as the 240 had and I would see 15-20k. It didn't. When I came near the service time (8,500 miles later) I checked the oil and saw that I could squeaze in 1l. I did and eagerly awaited my extra 2k. I got nothing.

So, what they say does apply to some models. The W210 E240 for example. But sadly its makes bugger all difference on mine and by the sound of it, yours.

 

[colechelle]

when I had an E240, the oil level slowly dropped over 10k or so and I was able to add an extra 1l on a couple of occasions. Each time I did, the assyst would grant me another 1-2k. This, plus the fact that most of the work was motorway based allowed be to clock up 17k before it finally insisted I visted the dealer.

On changing to my E270, I was surprised to see the range at 9,500miles post service. But I figured it would drop more slowly as the 240 had and I would see 15-20k. It didn't. When I came near the service time (8,500 miles later) I checked the oil and saw that I could squeaze in 1l. I did and eagerly awaited my extra 2k. I got nothing.

So, what they say does apply to some models. The W210 E240 for example. But sadly its makes bugger all difference on mine and by the sound of it, yours.

jberks,
re-read what i posted about the oil and telling assyst what scope of service its had, olly agreed when i posted all my 211,s i service come out 15500 miles till next service, you have to insist when getting serviced that they put in the corret service scope, then you and others will enjoy 15000 between services!

 

[jberks]

jberks,
re-read what i posted about the oil and telling assyst what scope of service its had, olly agreed when i posted all my 211,s i service come out 15500 miles till next service, you have to insist when getting serviced that they put in the corret service scope, then you and others will enjoy 15000 between services!

Thanks for that - 900 miles and counting so we'll be having words pretty soon!

 

[colechelle]

Thanks for that - 900 miles and counting so we'll be having words pretty soon!

Nice one, looking forward to hearing a result!!!!

 

[Rory]

The dealers really do talk rubbish on this issue with E211's!

ASSYST works perfectly on my C270 - resets to 13,000 miles and then counts down 100 miles at a time for approx every 150 that I drive.

 

[7years]

thanks for the replies
the MB leicester was the discounted rate
I am not planing on changing the fluid myself, but fully take on board the advise .
Interestingly just had a quote from an independant in leicester Premier Service , who i have had good reports about quote £240, all gen parts, all mb mechanics with star diag machine and loan car for the day
anyone used them?

Try EX MBUK Technicians, who left MBUK years ago, and are NOT trained to FULL MBUK spec....


Trust me, I know....

 

[pomm001]

Try EX MBUK Technicians, who left MBUK years ago, and are NOT trained to FULL MBUK spec....


Trust me, I know....

its sounds as if you had experience with them ? any advice
PM me if you dont want to on the forum

many thanks

 

[Blobcat]

The dealers really do talk rubbish on this issue with E211's!

ASSYST works perfectly on my C270 - resets to 13,000 miles and then counts down 100 miles at a time for approx every 150 that I drive.

The dealer messed up the ASSYST on my W210 at the last service before I sold it. Previously it would cover ~18K miles between services having been set to 12K to next service. On the last service they made it count down mile for mile from 12K which I was not happy about. They said they didn't understand what had happened and I sold it before I had to service it again.
My W211 is on fixed 15,5K servicing although it is always a B service so far which I'm not happy about.

 

[colechelle]

The dealer messed up the ASSYST on my W210 at the last service before I sold it. Previously it would cover ~18K miles between services having been set to 12K to next service. On the last service they made it count down mile for mile from 12K which I was not happy about. They said they didn't understand what had happened and I sold it before I had to service it again.
My W211 is on fixed 15,5K servicing although it is always a B service so far which I'm not happy about.

Again this is down to the tech whos doing the job, ie, i get a 211 in for a B service, reset assyst on the oil settings,229.5, that puts the next service to 15500, than you tell assyst what service scope you have just done, ie B service, that then resets next service will be an A service, its so simple for techs to do, or if i couldnt be bothered i could reset it though the ICM and the car would come out wanting a B service in 9000 miles!!!!!

 

[Blobcat]

Again this is down to the tech whos doing the job, ie, i get a 211 in for a B service, reset assyst on the oil settings,229.5, that puts the next service to 15500, than you tell assyst what service scope you have just done, ie B service, that then resets next service will be an A service, its so simple for techs to do, or if i couldnt be bothered i could reset it though the ICM and the car would come out wanting a B service in 9000 miles!!!!!

Thanks for that Cole, I will be having words in just over 2K miles. I will be due an ATF change at the same time so looking forward to an £££ouch bill

 

[Rory]

Again this is down to the tech whos doing the job, ie, i get a 211 in for a B service, reset assyst on the oil settings,229.5, that puts the next service to 15500, than you tell assyst what service scope you have just done, ie B service, that then resets next service will be an A service, its so simple for techs to do, or if i couldnt be bothered i could reset it though the ICM and the car would come out wanting a B service in 9000 miles!!!!!

If the customer resets the service counter themselves, can the dealer pick that up somehow?

I'd booked my C270CDi in for its first service when it had done about 16,000 miles and it still has about 2K to go but I thought it had gone too long. It was calling for an A service.
Just before I took it in, at about 17000 miles, it flipped to a B service.
I was playing around with ASSYST and looking at the oil options, Standard - 229.3 - 229.5, and I somehow reset it!
It then went back to 13,000 miles to A service.
Interestingly, I then tried to reset it again, and was surprised to find it didn't matter which oil I selected, it always reset to 13,000 miles. It also always reset to an A service - I expected it to flip from A to B.

When I took the car in, the dealer was perfectly happy to do the A service, but it cam out firmly showing B in 13000 miles.

 

[colechelle]

If the customer resets the service counter themselves, can the dealer pick that up somehow?

I'd booked my C270CDi in for its first service when it had done about 16,000 miles and it still has about 2K to go but I thought it had gone too long. It was calling for an A service.
Just before I took it in, at about 17000 miles, it flipped to a B service.
I was playing around with ASSYST and looking at the oil options, Standard - 229.3 - 229.5, and I somehow reset it!
It then went back to 13,000 miles to A service.
Interestingly, I then tried to reset it again, and was surprised to find it didn't matter which oil I selected, it always reset to 13,000 miles. It also always reset to an A service - I expected it to flip from A to B.

When I took the car in, the dealer was perfectly happy to do the A service, but it cam out firmly showing B in 13000 miles.

yes, for some reason the c,class will only go 13000, i did my own two weeks ago and tried everything on star to give it more miles but always hit the 13000 mark, the new c is stright forward and just resets to 365 days so star not needed to reset them, and yes to the other question, if i was to talk to assyst in your car i could see your car thinking now its had about 4 services where you been playing with it!!