I bought a '00 E320. Questions about : Tranny fluid, engine oil, & harmonic balancer
 

Howdy :) Dr. ///AMG in da house with a new car coming next week (or maybe the week after next...mmm sounds like the movie friday.. ok ok enough!!!) and well I don't know much about the new benzo's, since in my family we've only owned W124's (wagons and sedans) and a W201.

So with the arrival of the '00 W210 320, come questions:

1. Do you recommend doing the tranny service, although they say it's a lifetime fill :rolleyes: ?
How much will the tranny service be ?

2. Engine oil: Always use mobil one synthetic, or is it ok to use regular oil?

3. What's the harmonic balancer? What does it do? I was told by Mark Cummins that they are prone to go bad and could cause severe troubles. Do I replace it? Do I check it? Can I check it?

4. Should I take my car to the stealership for the initial check up, or take it to an indy shop. I'm thinking stealership since there's a lot of electronic involved, that an indy may not be acquinted with.

So thanks in advance for the answer :)

Oh and here's a pic for you guys to enjoy :) The car was purchased on eBay and it coming from TX to Cali. btw it has 67k miles.

http://www.nxcess.net/go/1008/DSCN0069.JPG
http://www.nxcess.net/go/1008/DSCN0082.JPG

http://www.nxcess.net/go/1008/DSCN0071.JPG

Benzmac and / or M.B.DOC recommends changine the tranny fluid at 60,000 miles.

The FSS system requires that you use synthetic.

The early engines ('98) had problems with the harmonic balancer. The flaw was corrected on later engines. Yours is clearly way past this so it is o.k.

As for your initial checkup, I'd feel comfortable taking it to a good Mercedes Benz Service and Repair facility or the dealer.

Do you live in So. Cal. or No Cal.? If you live in So. Cal., I recommend taking the car to Enrique at Mr. MB Motors in Tarzana. He is world famous, and there are many posts recommending him on this site under the Good Shops section.

Thanks for the info. I'm in San Luis Obispo, 1hr north of Santa Barbara.

ttt b/c more opinions never hurt :)

When I was doing the dealer thing we had 2002's tossin harmonic balancer rubbers. :-(


Use synth oil.


Service tranny at 60k, use MB fluid.


Joe

The M112 engine didn't receive the modified balance until engine number 650,000 +- a couple of hunderd & that didn't happen until 2000!

Is there a way to check to see what my engine # is?


btw...what the heck is the harmonic balancer and what does it do?