RE: Here's a simple answer to your question if you don't have a manual!!!
well. that means you have a lot of miles to go before your next Oil change, IMO.. don't waste your money on oil change if the FSS tell you that you have 5K plus miles before next service. But for the piece of mind you can do it if you want. FSS odometer is just like money in the bank, you drive a lot it will deduct from your FSS miles[:)][:D]. Currently you have service "A" and the next one is SERVICE "B" with two wrenches[;)]
Welcome to the club[:)]
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2000 ML320 Black Opal
2003 C320 Sport Sedan Bordeaux Red
1996 Honda Civic...
1991 Black Nissan Truck
2005 Honda CR-V EX AWD...New Add on to my Toys...
Trek, Full Suspension Mt. Bike
and a Dog, name Abby;-)
"Life is Short, Let's Enjoy It"
Let FSS work as it is designed to be. It has been designed with a secure margin of error, and it is even in the conservative side.
The only recommendation is not to pass more than 11,000 miles, since the FSS may be defective. When I bought my 2001 ML 320, my FSS sensor was defective and it went all the way to 16,000 miles. The advisor at the time told me to wait until the maintainance light came on and to come back then. Later it was obvious that I had defective FSS sensor, and it ended to be a defective one.
I always have changed at the recommended FSS intervals and I currently have 108,000 miles with no engine problems. I have a very spirited driving habits so I really push my ML 320 engine to it's limits.
I always flush my engine oil based on various technical recommendations to clean and avoid sludge in the engine, which has various serious side effects on various engine components, filters, etc.
The first time I flushed the oil, it was amazing at the amount of sludge I had in there. My engine was a lot quieter, too. In the past, my oil cap was always full of sludge. Now a days, my oil cap is clean and no signs of any sludge.
AC
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2005 ML 500
Black, 18" AMG Wheels, 285/60R18 Falken Ziex ST/Z + Bi-Xenons(+ Drew's e-code mod), Yakima roof bars. Former vehicle 2001 ML 320 with 108K miles, when traded, and a large repair/defect history. After 3 years of owning my current 2005 ML 500, it has become another unreiliable vehicle with a very large/expensive repair/defect history..
Just a note on oil changes, I have been using full synthetic oil for as long as I can remember. About 20 years ago, I had a Chrysler with the Mitsubishi-designed 2.2l four-cylinder turbo engine. I put almost 200-K miles on the engine changing the oil and filter every 10K miles. Of course the rest of the car fell apart around it, but the engine was still going strong with no symptoms of excess wear and tear – i.e. no leaks and no oil burning. I figure if an engine like that with a tiny filter and only 4 quarts of oil can survive, then an engine with over 8 quarts of oil, triple the filter area and MBZ engineering should be just fine.
10,000 miles between oil changes is a long time/distance even with synthetic oil and fleece filters. I reckon any sign of sludging at all is an indication that the oil has been going around too long. It also depends on the condition of the engine. New engines and high mileage engines need more frequent changes because contaminants get into the oil more quickly. I'd like to know more about the algorithm that MB use to calculate the changes before I relied on the Service Indicator.
MB service schedules aren't perfect. The W123 230 engined cars had no schedule for a Cam Chain replacement and if you left it - @100K miles, whammo, no wallet!
10,000 miles between oil changes is a long time/distance even with synthetic oil and fleece filters. I reckon any sign of sludging at all is an indication that the oil has been going around too long. It also depends on the condition of the engine. New engines and high mileage engines need more frequent changes because contaminants get into the oil more quickly. I'd like to know more about the algorithm that MB use to calculate the changes before I relied on the Service Indicator.
MB service schedules aren't perfect. The W123 230 engined cars had no schedule for a Cam Chain replacement and if you left it - @100K miles, whammo, no wallet!
Your reasoning is quite sensible but you're speculating. There are quite a few here, me included who have followed the FSS on more than one Mb vehicle and we haven't had a single problem. What a lot of people don't consider when making this argument is that
1) Engine technology, tribology have improved so much better than several years ago. Even my 1989 Nissan 300ZX turbo recommends 5500 oil change intervals. I do them at 4K with Mobil-1 and I have 215K on the car. No problems at all. Today, 10K on synthetic is not as harsh on the engine as you may think.
2) There is a lot of oil in the ML's crank case (all FSS equipped MB's for that). We're not talking just 4qt here, there's a ton of oil there. I don't have my manual here but if you check you'll notice that it takes a lot of oil.
3) The first FSS recommended oil change on my 02 320 came at 13K. I had a sample sent for oil analysis. I was very impressed - basically, the analysis said the oil was still integral enough to provide adequate protection for the engine
So, unless you want some kind of insurance policy, changing the oil before FSS is not necessary.
On the tranny, however, there's been too many documented failures that I don't believe the lifetime requirement that MB recommends. 50K-70K is what my MB master mechanic recommends, if I plan to keep the car long!!!
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1989 300ZXT - mine
A pair of running shoes
A 18Hp lawn mower
2 Mountain Bikes
350Z - will be mine when @ 300+HP and 3-Car Garage
10,000 miles between oil changes is a long time/distance even with synthetic oil and fleece filters. I reckon any sign of sludging at all is an indication that the oil has been going around too long. It also depends on the condition of the engine. New engines and high mileage engines need more frequent changes because contaminants get into the oil more quickly. I'd like to know more about the algorithm that MB use to calculate the changes before I relied on the Service Indicator.
MB service schedules aren't perfect. The W123 230 engined cars had no schedule for a Cam Chain replacement and if you left it - @100K miles, whammo, no wallet!
Your reasoning is quite sensible but you're speculating. There are quite a few here, me included who have followed the FSS on more than one Mb vehicle and we haven't had a single problem. What a lot of people don't consider when making this argument is that
1) Engine technology, tribology have improved so much better than several years ago. Even my 1989 Nissan 300ZX turbo recommends 5500 oil change intervals. I do them at 4K with Mobil-1 and I have 215K on the car. No problems at all. Today, 10K on synthetic is not as harsh on the engine as you may think.
2) There is a lot of oil in the ML's crank case (all FSS equipped MB's for that). We're not talking just 4qt here, there's a ton of oil there. I don't have my manual here but if you check you'll notice that it takes a lot of oil.
3) The first FSS recommended oil change on my 02 320 came at 13K. I had a sample sent for oil analysis. I was very impressed - basically, the analysis said the oil was still integral enough to provide adequate protection for the engine
So, unless you want some kind of insurance policy, changing the oil before FSS is not necessary.
On the tranny, however, there's been too many documented failures that I don't believe the lifetime requirement that MB recommends. 50K-70K is what my MB master mechanic recommends, if I plan to keep the car long!!!
I have been using GUNK Motor Flush for years on my 2001 ML and on other vehicles before that. It is a simple motor flush fluid that works great and is safe on any engine.
I wish I had began using the motor flush on my vehicle when it reached 15,000 miles, but I was always taking it to the dealer for changing the oil and never had a chance to do it. I don't know what kind of oil the dealer was using at the time, but I was shoked to see that my oil cap had a thick layer of sludge impregnated all over it, and I just really hate to imagine how the rest of the engine was looking at that time.
You are right, motor flush fluids are mostly kerosene and petroleum destilates, but those components are one of the best sludge solvents that really work and that can be safely added to an engine. Kerosene has been used for more than half a century to clean heavy sludge from engine components. They just have packaged it and added some better solvents to it.
You need to remember, though, that when you add oil flushing agents, you should never drive around. You add the flushing engine, you turn on your engine on, you wait the recommended time, and then you drain your oil.
I too flush my motor with every oil change as well. When I first bought my ML with 28,000 miles, the oil was very dirty and nasty, looked like conventional oil and not synthetic...if it was synthetic, is was in there waaaay too long. My oil now is nearly perfectly clear at 8K-10K miles as it is when I put it in. Clean oil is key to keeping an engine running well.
I use Sea Foam (multi-purpose - works well for injectors too!) or AMSOil Engine Flush. Both work equally as well and it's beats the days of having to go buy kerosene from the gas station... [:)]
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