[1hawkrider]

My wife's 2008 CLK350 is a "Sunday Driver" so to speak. Therefore it has low milage; only 14000miles. The "maintenance due" light is on indicating "B" service due based on date (1 year since "A" service). But based on milage, I should not neeed the service until 26000 miles. Why should I pay the dealer for service so soon? Is this really necessary?
Hypothetically speaking, if I buy a car and store it for 30 years without driving it so that I will have a perfect, original condition "classic", why would I need to perform service every year during that time? It will not experience any "wear and tear".
Any advice or opinions are appreciated.

Thanks,

Lou

 

[keyhole]

I understand your confusion here, as I'm currently facing exactly the same dilemma.

According to my records, my car has 2500 miles to go until the next oil change, but I have recently had a cluster message advising a 'Service B due in 20 days'.

Clearly, the service computer in the car uses two variables in their ASSYST calculation: mileage, or elapsed time. I'm not sure why that is, athough I have read that the service 'memory' records the number of starts, distance of trip, etc., to include in the service calculation.

I'm tempted to ignore this current message. The oil consumption was zero in the past 10k miles, and the quality is continuously monitored by a sensor in the sump.

All the tables of oil types and their applications state a mileage expected from the oil types. Period is never included. As you stated, engine oil is not known to degrade due to lack of use!

 

[G8south]

Mercedes service is usually 13k miles or 12 months whichever comes first. Cars driven fewer miles is generally harder on them than high mileage. Moisture in the oil caused by condensation is one factor to consider.

 

[keyhole]

i have done a bit of research on this since my post above, and there are some pages in the WIS that cover this topic. As I suggested there are two parameters being measured simultaneously: remaining distance and remaining time.

1) Remaining distance.
This is set to the Starting Distance initially after a service reset to the maximum mileage according to the oil specification. The ASSYST system computes other factors that reduce the Remaining Distance according to driving styles such as:

a) number of cold starts
b) number of high speed runs
c) number of short distance runs
d) trailer operations
e) oil replenishments

2) Remaining Time.
This is set to the Start Time initially after a service reset to 730 days, and is reduced according to the clock. It is dependant on driving style (as above) except for oil replenishments. (If the battery is disconnected, the calculation is invalid)

Maybe I have done too many short journeys, but my last oil change was about a year ago.

After reading this in the WIS, maybe I should do another oil change soon.