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I've just bought a 2 year old C270 diesel and find that it hasn't got a dipstick so you have to rely on the electrics to tell you that it either; needs no oil, needs 1 litre, or, needs 2 litres - mmm, doesn't seem that accurate to me! Is there any other way of checking the oil manually? Also, it was last served at 12000 miles and is saying it doesn't need another oil change until 30000 - which I think is a little long. Is it possible to do an oil change on these yourself? I can't even find the oil filter - is it hidden somewhere under that huge bit of plastic covering the top of the engine? Grateful for any help with this.
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I?ve just bought a 6 mth old C270 so I?m quite new to this.
Assuming yours has the same setup as mine, you can check the oil level as follows:
(this is easier in practice than it sounds!)
1) Ignition to Pos 1 ? select total mileage on the display.
2) Ignition off , then to 1 again, then, before the SRS indicator goes off, press the trip reset button (on the left of the instru panel) 3 times quickly.
3) The display will go into diagnostic mode and show the battery voltage.
4) Use the up/down arrows ro change the screen ? oil ?öl? level is at the bottom of one of the screens ? you have to switch to ignition Pos 2 to get a reading. You can drive like this and watch the oil level vary (if you like!).
Full is 6.5L, mine seems to sit at 6.1 or 6.2 (engine off). You musn't over fill and you'll get a warning when you need to add oil.
I believe that the 'standard' service interval is 14,000 miles - you probably realise that it varies with use. I guess no reason why you couldn't do it in between - many people seem to use the fast fit places which will fill with Mobil 1 for less than you can buy it for. However you'd need to take a proper Merc filter, and some of the fast fit places are funny about using customer supplied filters. Oil is generally sucked out now (including by Merc dealers) - saves removing the undertray.
Even if you didn't reset the service indicator it would stretch out the interval even more as it monitors oil quality. This *might* interfere with whatever else needs doing at service time - I'm not sure?
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Cheers Bill, this is very useful, might have a go at doing it myself as I've been quoted £130 by Mercedes. Don't suppose you know where the oil filter is located by chance ?
Regards
Alastair.
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I don't know where the filter is.
The general consensus on the Merc forums seems to be to use the fast fit places - I think they typically charge £40 (including their own filter, although you should supply a proper Merc one) for fully synthetic Mobil 1 in unlimited qty?s . Unless you have a very cheap source, you?ll pay considerably more just for the oil if you DIY.
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Are you sure Mobil 1 is recommended for a CDi?
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Well, I was using it as a generic name for branded fully synthetic oil (it is the one the fast fit places tend to use, apparently). It is MB229.5 (so beyond 229.1 and 229.3) approved, and can be used in petrol and diesel engines.
There is a Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel, but there's a school of thought that it's the same stuff in a different container. The data sheets are identical.
I'm of the opinion that this oil stuff is all a bit OTT - I'm sure any branded fully synth is fine for the Merc's variable servicing. If changing oil more frequently then lesser spec oils are fine too.
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A CF/B2-96 oil (5W-30, 10W-40) should be OK for these engines. Oil change interval is up to 22000km (13300 miles).
I don't like the 'no dipstick' idea either - sensor goes a bit wonky and you can wreck your engine. What's wrong with a dipstick - 'if it works, don't fix it'?
Oil filter does indeed sit under that bit plastic cover - which I think is meant to discourage anything but main dealer servicing!
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Although this car has no dipstick,the tube for it may be present but blanked off with a plastic bung.M-B actually do a "workshop" dipstick to check the level manually!!
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Although this car has no dipstick,the tube for it may be present but blanked off with a plastic bung.M-B actually do a "workshop" dipstick to check the level manually!!
True enough. I have heard you can actually buy one of these dipsticks too..
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Many thanks for all your help on this.
I've rang a few fast fit places (Kwik Fit and National) - they don't want to do Merc's as they're worried the bolt holding the filter canister on is liable to shearing! Going to have a go myself on the weekend. My local Halfords is selling their own brand fully syn 5w 40 half price at 14.95 for 5 litres - which I understand is Esso Ultron and has a good extended service specification.
Regards.
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"I've rang a few fast fit places (Kwik Fit and National) - they don't want to do Merc's as they're worried the bolt holding the filter canister on is liable to shearing! Going to have a go myself on the weekend."
You brave lad - take care with that bolt then!
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Reckon if I had a £20k+ Merc I would spend the £130 every 6 months or so at the main agent for an extra oil change between major services.
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I'd be happy to pay if they used a fully syn oil but they don't and,they refuse to put in any other oil. So I'm going to do it myself - tally ho.
P.S. There is a dipstick but, you've got to take the engine cover off to get at it.
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Fully synthetic oil is not always what it is cracked up to be (excuse the pun!).
Some manufactures recomend semi synth over fully synth, if for instance the recomended service intervals are 18000 miles for which the main dealer would use semi synth and you are making an additional change at 9000, half the recomended interval, then there would be no benefit is using fully synth over semi synth for this reduced period between changes.
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Hi,
I've got a C220CDI sports Coupe which is 02 reg and I've just tried my interpretation of what you have described and it doesn't work.
I: -
(a) Put the ignition to one. (single click not starting the car).
(b) Off again.
(c) then on and press the trip reset three times quickly.
(d) nothing happens.
In (a) I am leaving the car showing trip milage/totalmilage rather then any of the other displays.
What have I misunderstood? The lack of a dip-stick is one of the most frustrating things about the car. I don't want to be told (only once between services so far) to add 1l or recently 0.5l I'd rather top up to a level than let it drop so far.
(The other thing is no rear centre seat belt - OK it would be OK for a child only but there have been a couple of occasions where it would have been nice (and quicker) to carry the grandparents as child instead of them driving us.).
Where did you get the instructions from? If you can let me know I'll look to see if there are some specific ones for my car.
Thanks,
Simon
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I tried getting the oil level with the ignition switch and trip reset in the same way as you and it wouldn't work on mine either -might only work on the latest models!
Took the plastic cover off the engine and at the back on the left there is a plug siting on top of a dipstick tube with 'MB service' stamped on the top. This is obviously where the dealers stick theirs so to speak - going to ring them tomorrow to try and buy one. Will report back.
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I think the engine has to be cold and the turning the key on, switch to total mileage, and then off (wait 15 secs) then on again is a bit hit and miss.
The procedure may be different on older vehicles - I came across this on a US site:
1. Put the key in and turn to position 1
2. Press the page down (on the right) button and go to a screen other that the odometer mode on the MFD
3. Press and hold the trip meter reset button for about 40 seconds. MFD will revert to odometer mode but continue to hold a little further.
4. The oil level screen will come up.
5. Now turn the key to position 2 and the MFD will display actual level in quarts.
6. You can start the car and drive and the display will continue to update the level
In the oil level mode screen, the lines display the following information IMO.
1. The software version number
2. The hardware version number
3. A software instruction code that refers to the current funtion which is dynamic display of oil level
The above works on 2002 models it seems.
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Bill,
Thanks for this but it doesn't work on my car. I can get to 3. where the display reverts to odometer but, if i keep holding the trip, I get a loud bleep but it all stops there!
Incidently Mercedes don't want to flog me a dipstick for the engine or transmission.
Regards
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The dipstick will have a part number. If you can find the number and just ask the dealer to order that number then you'll get the dipstick. I have ordered MB workshop tools before and that is how they operate.
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The dipstick will have a part number. If you can find the number and just ask the dealer to order that number then you'll get the dipstick. I have ordered MB workshop tools before and that is how they operate.
I gather the only one they do is a larger than normal universal dipstick for all Mercs. It cost £100 ish and is calibrated in mm, so isn't generally usable anyway.
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Be careful, it might be that the service dipstick is not designed to be in place while the car is in operation.
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Thanks for this but it doesn't work on my car. I can get to 3. where the display reverts to odometer but, if i keep holding the trip, I get a loud bleep but it all stops there!
Mine is the latest version (June 2004 facelift) and, while it was fiddly to get to work first time, it now seems straightforward. I tried it this morning and all I needed to do was, from cold, put the key in, turn to Pos and quickly press the reset button 3 times. The battery voltage comes up, then I can scroll to the oil level page.
'Dyno Mode' is also in this menu set, which turns the traction control etc off for Dyno testing. If you search for 'Dyno Mode' in the Merc forums (or ask there) then you should find the answer.
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What have I misunderstood? The lack of a dip-stick is one of the most frustrating things about the car. I don't want to be told (only once between services so far) to add 1l or recently 0.5l I'd rather top up to a level than let it drop so far.
Apparently, you're not supposed to add oil until it asks for it. The oil level sensor picks up that you've added oil (as long as it's more than - I think - 0.75L) and will extend the service interval mileage.
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Did the oil change on the weekend. Quite easy really, but I removed both the car undertrays (6 bolts each) when you only need to drop the one towards the centre of the car to get at the drain plug (13mm bolt). I put a can of flushing stuff in, and I've got to say the oil that came out was really black and sticky, easily the worse I've taken out of any car. The service reminder thought it was good for another 6K though! On refiling with new synthetic oil the service reminder remained unchanged and is now dropping at the same rate as it did with the old oil, so, I'm not convinced it monitors the oil quality - I think it probably just monitors how often and for how long the car is started and run for.
It's been sugested that as I've changed to fully synthetic oil this is likely to dislodge a lot of crap within the engine and possibly block the filter, so I should change this after a 1000 miles. Any thoughts?
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The car doesn't monitor the oil quantity, as it's to difficult and expensive to have a mass spectrometer on board.
It simply measures the number of cold starts, and mileage covered below and above certain temperatures.
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The Merc doesn't monitor oil quality it should take in to account number of cold starts and amount of oil topped up in between services. In practice the I found that my 220Cdi just ran down linearly from 14K miles to next service.
Ive alos heard that low milage Mercs have had the service indicator on at exactly 2 years.
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hi i have ml270 cdi and it does exactly what mark999 states on the answer above.
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