Hi All,
I recently purchased a 2003 C 230 Coupe Commpressor. I go to check the engine oil under the hood and guess what... NO Dipstick. Mercedes says that since you can check it on the console screen that they don't bother with a dipstick, only a cap for them to suck out the oil.

I talk to the parts dept. and one guy says you can order one. They send me a A 111 010 1172 dipstick for 20 bucks. I put it in and it reads 1/2" above the max level. The car has 1400 miles on it.
I call the parts guys back and they say now that there is no dipstick for the car available. They now say there is a Mercedes Tool that you can buy to check the oil level that is 4 feet long. The dipstick they sold me is around 2 ft. long. Their tool can not be left in the car and is only for checking. They also say that the dipstick they sold me can not be relied on to give a correct reading.

Can anyone tell me which part of this nonsense is true? Is it just that the dipstick is slightly too long? or a little too much oil? I really like to visually inspect my engine oil to check how dirty it is. The dash wont tell me that.


Thanks,
Mark

The "shop" dipstick can't be left in the car & THEY should not ever sell the 111-010-11-72 for that model as it won't give correct readings.
IF you mark that dipstick(111-010-11-72) with the correct level from the inst cluster readings then you could leave it if so desired.

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The shop-tool dipstick is measured in millimeters, so it won't really give you real useable information. It can be RELIED on to give an accurate reading, just a little too accurate and you'd need a chart to interpret the information, it's not like it has "full" and "add" on it or anything, it's used for several types of engines. I'd use the cluster.

Gilly

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1: Get in the car and close door.
2: Key in position 1
3: press and HOLD button on far left side of cluster for about 20 seconds, NOTE: you will here a beep at this time.
4: release the button
5: Use PAGE DOWN on steering wheel one time
6: Key to Postion 2. You will get some info in the display including cluster part numer, and OIL LEVEL.

You want to be level and let the car sit a bit before doing this. Reading should not exceed 7.5 on display. 7.3 - 7.5 seems to have worked really well. This is about 8 quarts of oil during a fresh change with filter.

Let me know what you think of this "TIP".

Thanks

Benz_Tech

Thanks All,
I tried what Benz_tech suggested. The 2003 C-Sports Coupe only takes 5.8 quarts.
But the proceedure kind of works and shows 5.5 L. on the display.
I guess I will just mark the stick so I can at least see how dirty the oil gets.