I recently took my 99' C280 in for its first service. The car had 7K on it, so I took it in for service A and to have my tires rotated. I have always performed routine maintenance on my car myself, but I figured I would try to use the dealership for warranty purposes and because its my first Benz. To my dismay, a couple of dissapointments resulted. The shop slightly dented my hood were I assume a careless technician must have shut the hood with his fist leaving a minor indentation. They scratched the heck out of my rims when they rotated the tires. And, there were scratch marks on my paint were I believe they ran my car through an automatic carwash. $240 dollars later, I'm trully upset at the shoddy workmanship. Anyway, Is there any way that someone could provide me with detailed instructions on how to change the oil on my C280? Where I can get the filter tool and what other tools I may need? Any kind of service information how to's? Etc. I just don't want service technicians touching my car anymore unless its absolutely neccessary! I may try another dealership in the future, but I'm really paranoid of the expense and results. Please help.

I agree I had my car there and the same thing happend. There car wash scratched the trunk lid, I now that it was not there when I took it there. I always keep the car sparkling clean, so I can tell where it was touched. I let them change the oil once, after that I have been changing it myself. I believe it doesn't void any warranties as long as you use there filters and record when it was done. There is a way to reset the computer also. My dealer wants $170US for a oil change, wiper blade change and the ventilation filter in the car (not the charcoal one), all of the above only cost $30.

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Peter L. House
1998 Sport E430
Azure Blue

I had similar experiences with my car, so I start doing some maintenance myself. I bought the factory service books for my car ('86 300E) and, I know the work is done with attention to detail. Not to mention the money that I am saving and enjoying every minute of it. Your car may not have the factory books or the new factory CD (call 1-800-for merc) since it is so new...
As far as the oil change, I have been using the "topsider" (there are different brands), around $50, which is a basically a suction pump looks like a small gas container found in most boat supplies dealers.
You warm up the car for 5 minutes so that the oil is warm, loosen the oil filter, stick the suction hose in the dipstick hole and let the "topsider" do the job for you. Once all the oil is in the "topsider", change your filter, fill the engine with oil and you are done.
No crawling under your car, everything is done from the top, no mess either. I am just a satisfied user.
Good Luck!

J.Hidalgo

I guess that is the reason that we are here!! For every dealer there is at least 5 independent shops. Find one that has the ability to service your car & your needs. Don't be afraid to voice your displeasure to your M.B. dealer.

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MERCEDES BENZ MASTER GUILD TECHNICIAN
ASE MASTER TECHNICIAN
27 YEARS M.B. TECH

I agree with MB Doc, that is why independants are here. An independant has only one thing to offer you,"GOOD SERVICE",because an independant shop has to rely on happy, satisfied customers for future work. The independant shop has to impress you with good courteous service and gain your confidence with quality work. The dealers'shops have it alot easier. They know that cars will come in for warranty work because they are "authorized" to do it. I'm not knocking all authorized dealerships,but I think alot of them could use this next sentence as advice....... You sell a customer his/her first car through the sales department,BUT you sell him/her their next car through your service department.

Recently a neighbor that had two Lexus bought a new Mercedes S-Class. Based on our experience with Mercedes dealer service my wife said; "I bet that as soon as they take that MB for its first service, they will go back to the Lexus dealer and beg to have their old GS400 back!". Sad but true. I agree with the independent Mercedes Shop comments. I service my MBs through one that has earned my trust and don't even care about the dealer(unless car needs some expensive warranty work).

What does all of this have to do with a technical issue or question????? This site is supose to be for technical issues not slamming dealers or independents. As with all thinks in life there are good and bad. Not all dealers are good nor all independents. The issue at hand is if you wnat information that is why we are here. Or so I thought. Please keep it technical.

I have not come to praise cesar but to bury
him! I am a second generation MB tech and
very proud of the position I hold but the auto service industry has some very definate
problems. The most severe being the short
supply of good tech's. That shortage has created a situation where management will
hire anybody with a pulse and a minimum of
tools. Votech training and ASE certification is no guaranty of competence, you need to
find a tech who know's what he's doing and
stick with him. You can request the tech
that your happy with. How do you find that
person? Ask your service advisor,he knows
who the good tech's are.

Several valid points were made in this thread but, Corky's right. Bandwidth is such a terrible thing to waste.
Let's move on...

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Bill Wood - Webmaster
MercedesShop.com, LLC