Skipping Service A and B?
 

I have read post on other sites where people have skipped services and reset the computer because they think the service is "Useless" or "A waste of money" I personally take my cars in when they need to be serviced and pay it no matter what the cost.

Whats your views on this one?

No skipping services here.


A $100-$200 service can prevent a $5k engine or trannie from taking a dump.

Thank you Justin for proving my point. I have a cousin who is being a little thick headed right now and is 1,200 miles overdue for her service B. She says "They dont do anything big on the car. It can wait":rolleyes:. I tried to tell her it was bad but its talking to a wall with her.:mad:

I may not get to the service right on the mark, but I am damn close. I think the most we have gone over on a service was like 400-500 miles. It just comes down to when we have free time to take it in and get it worked on.



But yeah, skipping services is bad. What car does she have?

For most, the "A" Service is cake, so no reason to skip. The "B" has a few things that might require a bit more care, but still no reason to skip.

Mercedes owners saving nickels on service seems silly.

It depends on what the service is. My Honda's first scheduled service was $150, and it was basically an oil change and lubing doors. I can (and did) do that myself. I'm doing my next one too, because it just includes a valve adjusment and coolant change. Why should I pay $200 for that one when I can do it myself?

Somewhere I saw a service schedule for a 1936 Mercedes. If you think todays cars cost a lot to service...

I think it called for lubing the chassies every 500 miles and tune ups every 5,000. The one I like best was the 50,000 mile one which instructed you do "dismantle the entire car and check all parts for wear."

Anyone have a real source for this information? It was many years ago that I was looking at this, and it would be fun to read if there is an English version on line somewhere.

Pooka

Back in 1936 it probably took quite a long time to rack up 50K miles

You always need to rotate the hubcaps on schedule.


After all, the dealer said so.

Dont forget to change your blinker fluid.... ;)

I don't believe what my local dealership charges for a "B" service is worthy of their charges. Everything is DIY

- Inspect windshield wiper inserts and service windshield washer system (Replacement of wiper inserts additional*).
- Inspect and rotate tires, record tread depth, and correct tire pressure. (Wheel balance additional*).
-excludes AMG, Sports Models, SLK, and vehicles
with staggered wheels
- Engine oil change and oil filter replacement
-Includes Mobil 1 synthetic oil
- Lubrication service
- Includes hood hinges, lock cylinders, striker
plates, sun roof tracks and top off all fluids
- Cooling system inspection
- Includes antifreeze protection level, hoses and
clamps
- Brake inspection
- Includes check of pad thickness and condition of
discs, fluids and lines
- Inspect heating and ventilation dust filter, replace if needed. (Replacement additional*. Dust filter prices vary by model)
- Function check
- Includes warning lamps, headlights, exterior
lights, seat belts, windshield wiper and washer
- Inspect and lubricate throttle linkage
- Check and clean air filter
- Reset flexible service system counter
- Inspect front axle ball joints; check steering play and power steering clutch; and rear differential levels
- Inspect Poly V-Belt for condition
- Inspect starting and charging system and service battery
- Inspect climate control refrigerant

What's included in the A service that you can't do yourself? You can reset the FSS yourself even.

Nothing

A SERVICE
Inspect and record tread depth, and correct tire pressure
- Rotate tires (excludes AMG, Sports Models, SLK, and vehicles with staggered wheels)
- Engine oil change and oil filter replacement
-Includes Mobil 1 synthetic oil
- Lubrication service
- Includes hood hinges, lock cylinders, striker
plates, sun roof tracks and top off all fluids
- Cooling system inspection
- Includes antifreeze protection level, hoses and
clamps
- Brake inspection
- Includes check of pad thickness and condition of
discs, fluids and lines
- Inspect heating and ventilation dust filter, replace if needed. (Replacement additional. Dust filter prices vary by model)
- Function check
- Includes warning lamps, headlights, exterior
lights, seat belts, windshield wiper and washer
- Inspect and lubricate throttle linkage
- Check and clean air filter
- Reset flexible service system counter

#1 Most important thing about these services are the oil and filter changes.
Heres my favorite "Shouldn't cost me anyways" check from that list
- Reset flexible service system counter:rolleyes:

At times I think all those other things are just thrown in there to make us feel good about the cost. However I do question if they actually go through all these checks. My theory is that most dealers just do the oil change and then see if anything makes a noise on a test drive......

Granted it's great for someone who cannot or doesn't have a clue about these components. But I am not going to pay $115 hour to check my lights - that's called a state inspection and it's $5

Some people can learn from other's mistakes and some have to learn from their own mistakes. Some will not learn. Which one is she?

Similar to mine. 70% of that is accomplished by aiming your eyes at things. Open/close the hood, doors and if they don't squeak that's another step.
Not rotating your tires on schedule isn't going to do anything, but I can see that being a pain to do. Most tire places offer free rotate and balance for the life of the tire though. Oil change needs to be done. The air filter anyone capable of driving a car can do themselves.

We took the ML320 in for service B and they charged 500 dollars. Ouch. it was just an oil change basically as they charge extra to do anything else. They stated the brakes needed to be done to the tune of 700 dollars, and some plug needed to be done on the transmission as it was leaking and a fluid change to the tune of 450 dollars, and the battery needed to be replaced as it failed their "test." Well, it was overdue for a transmission service, it needed brakes shortly thereafter, and it's battery gave up too. I took it to my indy who did the oil and trans fluid and replaced that plug for 300 dollars I think. I did the brake pads for 80 dollars myself.

What would that encompass? Just saying "brakes" is not sufficient. Is it pads or pads and rotors?

If they are changing that plug and then draining the fluid and the TC then filling it up again with the expensive fluid that might come to $450 since they have to drive it, hook it up to SDS and then fill with even more expensive fluid. Also, does that include the gasket and a couple of updates?

Did you do an item for item check to see what cost what? I mean, if there are 5 steps and your indy is doing 3, that might make it cheaper. If he doesn't do certain things, you are comparing apples to oranges.

Yes but you didn't pay for labor and shop supplies. Kind of an apples to oranges again. I did my brakes for $250 but I don't count my time, buy parts at a discount, etc, etc so it changes the equation.

When i first bought the SDL years ago it had been 100% MB maintained by the good Dr. So when it was ready for service I wanted to keep the tradition and took it to MB. LOL $545 Never again. Shortly after that I became a member of this forum.

It's great fun when I stop by the dealership service "suites" on my way to the part desk. Generally, the folks sitting in the glassed in booths with the SA or waiting in the lounge sipping their expresso drinks . . . wouldn't know how to open the hood latch, let alone find the air cleaner box in a current Mercedes.

I can only presume that a big part of these owners having dealer service is that there's someone else to blame if it's not right.

I am skeptical they actually check all that stuff on a brand new car. Heck my friend took his Mazda 3 with 30K miles on it for its first service, which includes tire rotation, and they didn't even rotate the tires. What else didn't they do I wonder. And that was a good 300 or so dollars. Some dealerships have their own services that aren't even mentioned in the owner's manual. I have heard a service writer try and scare someone into getting one of these ripoff services by insinuating that if they ever have warranty issue, it might not be covered because they didn't get the service :rolleyes:

She is driving a 2004 C320 4Matic. 30,000 miles.

How many times around the island is that for you?

I told her take to an Indie shop instead of the dealer. But again its like talking to a wall.

Its not bad if you put it off for time constraints. But just do not put it off too long. IIRC, FSS in the newer cars is like 10k mile intervals.



Hell, if she brings it to the steal-ur-*****, they will even give you a loaner.



IMHO people that do not maintain vehicles should probably be driving something likea a Honda Civic, not an MB.

Yup. I don't follow these rigid laundry lists of things to inspect. I stare at my cars including from the bottom often enough that my cars actually get inspected pretty much all the time. The main thing is to follow the really important maintenance, especially fluid & filter changes. The rest is pretty much just fluff that becomes important only if you never pop the hood yourself.

Clockwise or counter?

Roughly 292 laps.

On new cars you really don't have to do much to 100k miles. Just a few oil changes, maybe a couple tranmission fluid changes, and a few air filters. So unless you are really clueless about cars you can skip all those services. Even if you don't work on it yourself, just have the fluids and filters changed on schedual.

Like my moms new Rav4 we just ignore that "service" stuff and do it ourselves. A lot of it is inspecting stuff, I'm not paying someone $300 to make sure my lights and wipers work.

I printed off the old Mercedes service sheet from my FSM, and I think its the one to follow. Change the brake fluid every spring, lube the door hinges, etc, etc. You know back in the 80's when people who could afford Mercedes bought them, and paid to have them taken care of for 20 years. Mercedes figured the owners would want to keep the cars for a long time, so recomended maintenance accordingly. Not the wannabe's sipping coffee who can barely afford the rental I mean lease payments, they freak out if a MAF sensor blows out of warranty since the Visa is probably maxed...:D

I was talking to my indy today, who had a C320 on the lift.



A chick owns it, and brought it in for an oil change. He checked the FSM and he got confused....


He thought it originally read 1300, but when he did a double take, it really was 13000 over. Figure 23000 on the oil.



He was draining the oil when I got there, and there were chunks and the oil was really thick.... Its synthetic too.

Thats nothing. Had a 02 ML320 in yesterday late in the day for the power steering hose recall. 97,000 miles overdue on the service counter. everything leaked, rattled and was broken. I wouldnt have had enough space on the paper to write up everything it needed.

but hey, its now got a brand new lower power steering hose on it! nevermind the leaking steering rack...

Ohlord! What the hell is wrong with people? 97,000 miles over due? That car is done I think. I told my cousin about what happines when you let things go on a car and of course she thought I was insulting her intelligence. HA HA What Intelligence?:D

Almost the same thing happened to my employers ML when I brought it in two weeks ago to get said hose fixed. You would think that with all the previous services and "Inspections" that someone would have seen a non-recall hose still in the car after 50,000 miles.

Thus proving my point from earlier, your not actually watching them work on your car so who knows if they even bother to check anything.

MTI has a made a great point about 50,000 1936 miles are different than 2009 miles.

All things are relative. If you look at the service secdule for a 1929 Model A Ford the 1936 Mercedes services schedule looks positively drawn out.

not 97,000 miles since it last oil change, but since the last time it had seen a service. when you get cars like that its mostly a waste of time to write it up and get prices for parts since 9/10 times it all gets declined anyways.

The winner here though was an 03 ML I had for oil consumption. 70-some thousand miles on it. I checked the history in the engine module of when the oil changes were done and it looked like this:

10,000mi
21,000mi
33,000mi
47,000mi
and thats it... no oil changes since the car went out of warranty! And she wondered why MB wouldnt help pay for new rings...

First time (since we owned it) my Benz door hinges needed to be lubed was last winter. 20 years.

Alwyas a good reminder . . . regular maintenance can also result in the discovery of problems that, if caught early, will be easier, lest costly and likely won't involve a tow truck during a storm on the wrong side of town where there's no cell service . . .

The same thing applies to going to the dentist regularly, annual physical . . .

...and I DO believe they check all of those items on the A and B intervals...how else do I get those calls from my dealer rep about taking care of "this" and "that"?

Interesting how many things need attention on a vehicle with under 20K miles? Needless to say, they are all "wear" items...:rolleyes:

Get a BMW than, its all covered!:P:D

Depends on the "service". I do most if not all of the work on my cars anyway, but I'll go way above service intervals depending on the specifics. I'm still on the original timing belt at ~3.5x the original service interval, but if I had a honda w/ an interference engine then I'd be on that every year or whatever, although even then that depends on the specifics. My pickup has an interference engine but I'm not super worried about going beyond the service interval because it also has a double row timing chain instead of a single timing belt. Fluids I try to be pretty religious with, but I've done some pretty stupid stuff like not changing the coolant at the proper interval, which cost me a water pump and a lot of time.