It seems to me that Mercedes has let an Environmentalist program the code for the FSS. If Mercedes would have taken the code for the FSS and divide by 2.5 then the synthetic oil issue would have never occurred.

A cheaper solution would be to install a hour meter to the engine and after a predetermined time (in hours) a reminder to change the oil would appear. I saw one at Sears for $20 that was intended to install on a lawn tractor. Every 25 hours of operation a reminder to change the oil would occur. The unit was even powered from the spark plug voltage (no batteries required).

Sometimes simpler can be better.

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Ray
1998 Mercedes E320, 200K Miles
2001 Acura 3.2TL, 178K Miles
1992 Chevy Astro, 205K Miles