Some info that may be useful to other A class owners or to add to HJ's info, regarding a problem with some service indicators on the A class.
My Mercedes A140 (year 2000) uses the ASSYST service indicator what decides for itself when it wants a service.
The car indicated that it required a service after 12 months (6400 miles) and again after 24 months (12900 miles)
After doing some research on the internet regarding the logic of the system (i.e how it works out service intervals) I discovered that the Mercedes Assyst system uses a timed service interval of 720 days or mileage as determined by Assyst (approx 10K on the A140)
The car should request it first service at 10K or 24 months whichever occurs first. As I only did 6400 miles in the first year the car should have had its service (according to MB standards) at 10K (or approx 18 months) and not 12 months (based on time) as displayed by the ASSYST indicator. The second service would then be due 10K or 24 months later, and not 12 months as displayed in the ASSYST indicator. This second service is listed as a B service at an approximate cost of £350
Approximatly one month before a service is due (on time) the display in the car shows the number of days left untill a service is due. This should count down one day a time, however in my car it was counting down by two each day.
After further investigation I discovered that there is a know problem with instrument clusters on certain A class models, with the system counting down two days each day.
After visiting my MB dealer, and checking the chassis numbers, they admitted that it was a "know fault", but that vehicles were not recalled, and the problem only rectified after a customer complained. The dealer should have know that there was a problem after they carried out a service after 6400miles/12 months.
The solution is to replace the instument cluster (under warranty).
If I would have not be inqusitive regarding the workings of ASSYST my car would have been requesting a service more often than needed each time. No wonder that the dealers never mentioned the fault - benefiting from all the extra service work that it created.!
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Carl
I understand your point completely, but I would question the use of these service indicators. If, as you suggest, your car should only need servicing every 18 months you would risk damage to the engine due to contaminated and degraded engine oil.
Most experts agree, and HJ certainly strongly recommends, that oil and filter should be changed every 6,000 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first. I suppose it'll depend on how long you want to keep the car, but I would ignore the service indicator for oil changes.
Regards
Pat
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I agree with Pat. If there is a fault with the system it seems to be erring on the side of caution rather than misplaced optimism. I always understood that it counted the number of cold starts and legth of subsequent journeys which are more crucial than anything else for estimating the condition of the oil.
HJ
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I agree with you that the service intervals of many new cars are designed to keep the total life cost low (for fleet managers) rather than be best for the car.
However the fault was that the cars computer was going through two days each 24 hours - caused by a faulty instrument cluster that did not meet the design specification of MB. It was not a one off fault, but a problem that MB knows about affecting certain cars and will remedy if complained about.
One you have got the indicator working correctly, there is nothing that stops you from doing more frequent oil changes if you wish. I am not sure what the inputs of ASSYST are, I know that the BMW system uses cold starts/journey length but I have not come across this as a factor with the mercedes system.
As far as I can find out the service interval is determined by the deteriation of the oil via an "oil sensor" that can detect the quality of the oil in the car, which is interpreted to a reading of remaining miles to next service, or 24 months if there is no significant deteriation of oil quality.
If an oil change is done half way through a service cycle and the indicator is not reset, the the number of miles left to next service will increase on the display as a result of the sensor detecting an improvement in oil quality.
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The longlife system on my year 2000 Audi calls for a service about ever year at 7.5k miles , i do mainly 5m journeys so this sounds about right to me , as does yours.
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