Flexible Service System - How Many Miles Are You Getting
 

How many miles are you getting between recommended service (mainly oil changes) with your Flexible Service System? I'm getting a lot and it worries me. Do you think there is something wrong with mine?

Here's the track record:
99 ML 320 purchased new in October 1999
Mix of city and highway driving. Average about 25K miles per year. The truck uses about a quart of oil every 4000 miles.

11865 miles A service - dino oil
23769 miles (11904 since last service) B service - dino oil
34299 miles (10530 since last service) A service - synthetic oil
47948 miles (13649 since last service) B service - synthetic oil
67329 miles (19381 since last service) B service - synthetic oil
86914 miles (19585 since last service) B service - synthetic oil
104XXX miles (17XXX since last service) B service - synthetic oil

I wouldn't go this many miles on purpose, but my wife drives the truck and she pays attention to the FSS as I asked her to. I'll take responsibility for not paying enough attention to the elapsed miles since the last service. Since Mercedes promoted this feature by telling me I would get between 10000 and 20000 miles between recommended service, I don't see that I've been negligent in maintaining the truck.

I've been accusing Mercedes of going to extended oil changes to save money on the so-called free services but I've seen where the Germans are very concerned about ecology and extending the time between oil changes helps reduce the use of resources like oil.

There's a lot of oil in the newer MB engines, the oil filter has been designed for extended changes and MB are now using true synthetic oil of a good viscosity.

However, I live in a very dusty area and I could never go very long before I need new air filters so I'd perform my own maintenance every 12 months.

Personally, after warranty I would do the service every 10,000mi.

Gilly

I get mine done when I do my DMV inspections...once a year.

Based on current mileage, that works out to just under 10K miles per change.

Mercedes Benz hit with law suit in Canada
 

Sunedog
I noticed that your first two services were performed at extended intervals with dino oil.
You may want to read the following article:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1069283411233

Re: Mercedes Benz hit with law suit in Canada
 

Thank you, 3star. I am already aware of this issue and will be following it closely.