ML Dude: One thing to keep in mind in regards to frequency of oil changes in these engines is like most MB engines, it hold alot of oil. The ML engines in the US all hold 8 1/2 quarts of oil, that is alot of oil to keep contaminates in suspension. My advice in general concerning oil changes is 1000 miles per quart of engine oil capacity, and that's for non-synthetic oil. 10000 miles isn't so bad for a 8 1/2 quart capacity engine, especially running synthetic oil, and then add in the oil level/quality sensor and the FSS starts to make some sense.......Gilly