Hey Guys, How much faith does everybody have in the FSS calculations for oil change interval ? Are there any bad experiences out there with the calculated interval having been too long ? I'm using Mobil 1, but a drain interval of 11,000 miles on my 1999 E320 makes me worry sometimes. Comments welcome.

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Steve

There have been posts before addressing this concern and that FSS calculations can result in expensive damage to the engine. In fact, I believe it was posted some time ago that M-B replaced some engines that were damaged due to poor FSS management.

I believe the consensus is to trust FSS only up to 10,000 miles or so before the oil should be changed. You may want to search the archives back 8 months.

It's a noble for M-B to make an effort to conserve our natural resources, but not at the risk of damaging one's expensive and hard-to-rebuild engine. Where would the conservation be then?

Is your car still dealer maintained under purchase agreement?

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 140K

I let the FSS countdown normally, but change the oil/filter every 5000 kilometers it counts down.

Most people do not use the FSS interval.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

I work for Mercedes and most of our techs are not to happy with the FSS extended oil changes. My wife's car is a FSS car, but its also a lease, so I know I am servicing it to MB's specs, but we wont keep the car. On my older Mercedes I change the oil about every 2500 miles using Mobil Delvac 1300.



Terminator

02 C240W 15K
89 300SEL 163K
83 300TD 190K

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Mike

90 300D 511k
95 C280 133k
14 BMW 528i