Walked the dog, helped a neighbor with his MB

[Revving2Redline]

Originally Posted by LotI
Neighbor was out today changing the oil in his new-ish C-Class Merc. He didn't have ramps so he was one wheel on the curb crawling on the ground. I glanced at his choice of oil and noticed he had Mobil Super 5w-30.

I asked if I could offer some advice and told him about MB requiring the use of certain oils and I mentioned that I believe his car needed a 229.5 oil since it was the gas V6. I also mentioned that a good use of $50 was on some ramps. Since he already drained the oil my offer to use mine was for naught.

It was only a block from my house so I took the dog home and eyed up my stash. Grabbing 2 jugs of Valvoline MST bought recently from WM for $10.47/jug and my funnel, I went back. He still had the receipt for the Autozone purchase of 8 qts of Mobil Super so I offered to sell him the Valvoline for $20. I showed the back of the jug with all the MB, VW, BMW, and Porsche approvals and he agreed it was the right choice. I lost a couple bucks but know there's a healthier Mercedes on the road.

A couple weeks ago he told me he was doing it himself because the dealer wanted $100 for an oil change. He told me he paid $80 for the oil and M1 filter at AZ (

)so I explained that Amazon and Walmart are your better choices.

I told him to get two more things to make life easier...rubber gloves and the cheap pick set from Harbor Freight to get those o-rings off the filter housing.

I left feeling like a Boy Scout.


Good looking out. Feels good helping out your fellow man. Restores my hope/faith in humanity.

 

[edyvw]

Quote
It's best selling for a luxury SUV, but the numbers were low compared to an E class or C class. It's also a GLS now, the last GL was in 2016. Some of the forums go through spurts, they can die for a little while as people trade in their old ones and you don't get new blood in the forums. That's why you have to raid some other car forums that used the same engine/transmission. And then some issues like keyless go apply to multiple car lines and you try some of the other forums.

Yeah I know it is GLS.
Still, not a lot. Each mfrs have their own trajectory.
MB: Discussing prices mostly and dealers.
Audi: Tunning, tunning, tunning.
BMW: DIY mostly (of all BMW is most useful by far).
Toyota: Self congratulating on buying Toyota. No criticism allowed, if problem, it has to be lemon.
VW; Mixed, some good info could be found.

 

[barryh]

Next bit of education that neighbor needs is to quit crawling underneath it and pump the oil out from above. MB's are designed for it and it's what the dealer would do.

 

[Bailes1992]

Unless someone specifically asks me or I'm doing the oil change I don't recommend anything to anyone. If the engine decided to spit a rod a few months later or a HG failed you can guarantee they would blame you.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted by tomcat27
You did good. He's the moron that buys a Mercedes but doesn't wanna spend 100 on an oil change. If he used the wrong oil and had problems he woulda blamed MB
If the dealers only charged $100 for an oil change...

 

[TiGeo]

$100 is normal sounding for a Euro car's oil change. My VW dealer charges ~$120 for an oil change/tire rotation and at 1-2 a year...that's really not bad. My DIY is close to $65 but I don't use the sale/rebate/Wally world oil so could be cheaper if I wanted.

 

[TiGeo]

Isn't that "Mobil Super 5W30" listed on the approved MB list that a link was posted to in this thread or is that a different oil?

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted by edyvw
True, but still, compared to BMW, Audi etc. it is really not helpful.

I can't say for BMW so much since I haven't looked, but there was definitely a lot out for the Audi. With my god daughter's MB, I was able to find a fair number of things on the forums but the bulk of it was at Pelican.

TiGeo: There is a bulk product that is a Mobil Super. It's not the same Mobil Super you'll find at the stores.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Nice gesture! FWIW I admit that over the years I more than once contemplated a "curb side" OCI myself.

 

[Red91]

I'm struggling with the fact that the guy with a new Mercedes curb hopped it to do an oil change. Wonder how difficult it was to get the gravel shield down from that position.

 

[JunkdrawerDog]

You see this stuff occasionally. Walked into a Walmart TLE once to find a guy price haggling over an oil change on his Bentley. Car looked almost new.

 

[MaximaGuy]

$150 is the running rate for MBs at the dealership. OP was a true Boy Scout helping his neighbor and hope he takes your recommendation and get the tools to do the job right.
Hope I had one near my home - good job OP!! Yes, it has been a heartburn to get the MB numbering scheme comprehended, there is a reason Euro zone is heading to the toilet, a few lessons to learn from US on how to number things.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by edyvw
Quote
It's best selling for a luxury SUV, but the numbers were low compared to an E class or C class. It's also a GLS now, the last GL was in 2016. Some of the forums go through spurts, they can die for a little while as people trade in their old ones and you don't get new blood in the forums. That's why you have to raid some other car forums that used the same engine/transmission. And then some issues like keyless go apply to multiple car lines and you try some of the other forums.

Yeah I know it is GLS.
Still, not a lot. Each mfrs have their own trajectory.
MB: Discussing prices mostly and dealers.
Audi: Tunning, tunning, tunning.
BMW: DIY mostly (of all BMW is most useful by far).
Toyota: Self congratulating on buying Toyota. No criticism allowed, if problem, it has to be lemon.
VW; Mixed, some good info could be found.


What year GL were you looking at? You don't really find people doing DIY stuff til after 4+ years. And sometimes not even that much. The GL basically only sold around 30k units a year much lower than other mainstream cars/trucks which might sell anywhere from 100-400k a year. You're going to get much lower activity on a niche car like that. You kinda get the same thing with the S class, only a few people seem to DIY stuff on there. However, there is a konigstiger out there who seems to answer the more complex questions, seems like he works for a dealer or MB so sometimes he has really good answers to very specific problems.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by 2015_PSD
Originally Posted by tomcat27
You did good. He's the moron that buys a Mercedes but doesn't wanna spend 100 on an oil change. If he used the wrong oil and had problems he woulda blamed MB
If the dealers only charged $100 for an oil change...


It's about $100 for just an oil change at the MB dealer. Mine uses 8.5 quarts of synthetic oil and the cartridge filter is usually at least $7 online, at the local stores they're usually $15-$20 so it's not too bad a deal. That usually includes a car wash, free snacks, etc.

Normally they try to make you do Service A which is around $250-$300 which is basically just an oil change plus checking a bunch of stuff and maybe changing some filters/wipers, but you could decline and just tell them to change the oil and it'd be in the $100 range. Occasionally they run specials where they take off $120-$140 on service over $200-$250 so it can make for a pretty cheap Service A.

Originally Posted by TiGeo
Isn't that "Mobil Super 5W30" listed on the approved MB list that a link was posted to in this thread or is that a different oil?


It depends on exactly which Super it was. There's Super 3000 Formula M, Super 3000 X4 5w30 that meets the 229.5 spec. However there could be a regular Super 5w30 that doesn't meet spec. Too many flavors out there today. Only way to tell is to look at the back of the bottle and see if it says 229.5. My guess was that it didn't say it.

https://bevo.mercedes-benz.com/bevolisten/229.5_en.html

 

[Garak]

The Super 3000 in North America is usually dealer bulk, sold in quantities only attractive to dealers.

 

[MCompact]

An oil change on my F22 is usually under $80 at my BMW dealer; I usually have a coupon from either the dealer or BMW USA that knocks it down a bit further.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by 2015_PSD
Originally Posted by tomcat27
You did good. He's the moron that buys a Mercedes but doesn't wanna spend 100 on an oil change. If he used the wrong oil and had problems he woulda blamed MB
If the dealers only charged $100 for an oil change...


It's about $100 for just an oil change at the MB dealer. Mine uses 8.5 quarts of synthetic oil and the cartridge filter is usually at least $7 online, at the local stores they're usually $15-$20 so it's not too bad a deal. That usually includes a car wash, free snacks, etc.

Normally they try to make you do Service A which is around $250-$300 which is basically just an oil change plus checking a bunch of stuff and maybe changing some filters/wipers, but you could decline and just tell them to change the oil and it'd be in the $100 range. Occasionally they run specials where they take off $120-$140 on service over $200-$250 so it can make for a pretty cheap Service A.
I change my own at about $45; I have no desire to pay double or more for an oil change and then have to wonder what oil was used and what they may have messed up. The belly pan bolts and speed nuts were all stripped on my wife's C300 when they performed an alignment. I made them replace all of them and hand tighten instead of using the @&$#* air tools they did. Mercedes dealers are no different than the others...they just charge more.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by 2015_PSD
Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by 2015_PSD
Originally Posted by tomcat27
You did good. He's the moron that buys a Mercedes but doesn't wanna spend 100 on an oil change. If he used the wrong oil and had problems he woulda blamed MB
If the dealers only charged $100 for an oil change...


It's about $100 for just an oil change at the MB dealer. Mine uses 8.5 quarts of synthetic oil and the cartridge filter is usually at least $7 online, at the local stores they're usually $15-$20 so it's not too bad a deal. That usually includes a car wash, free snacks, etc.

Normally they try to make you do Service A which is around $250-$300 which is basically just an oil change plus checking a bunch of stuff and maybe changing some filters/wipers, but you could decline and just tell them to change the oil and it'd be in the $100 range. Occasionally they run specials where they take off $120-$140 on service over $200-$250 so it can make for a pretty cheap Service A.
I change my own at about $45; I have no desire to pay double or more for an oil change and then have to wonder what oil was used and what they may have messed up. The belly pan bolts and speed nuts were all stripped on my wife's C300 when they performed an alignment. I made them replace all of them and hand tighten instead of using the @&$#* air tools they did. Mercedes dealers are no different than the others...they just charge more.


Yeah, I do mine also, cost me about $25 but that's because I picked up oil for about $2/quart. You can still do that now with Mobil 1 0w40 and it's about $23 at Walmart with the $12 Mobil rebate. So about $17 for the 8.5 quarts of oil and about 7+ for the Mann filter and I'm at about $25 per oil change. DIY time is a wash because it would take that long to drive to the dealer.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Yeah, I do mine also, cost me about $25 but that's because I picked up oil for about $2/quart. You can still do that now with Mobil 1 0w40 and it's about $23 at Walmart with the $12 Mobil rebate. So about $17 for the 8.5 quarts of oil and about 7+ for the Mann filter and I'm at about $25 per oil change. DIY time is a wash because it would take that long to drive to the dealer.
I overestimated to keep it "honest". I bought about 2 dozen jugs of Castrol Edge Euro 0W-40 for about $18 per jug and Mann filters from Rock Auto for about $6 each. So the actual math is likely closer to $32 per OC--far below what MB charges and I know what oil was used and it is done right.

 

[pezzy669]

I agree with the poster above is show him about the topside suction method - just make sure is large enough for the massive sump (~8 some odd quarts on the M272, think its a little less with the Pentastar cousin M276). Only requires removing the front portion of the engine cover on the M272 to access the filter.

$100 for a dealer oil change - I would take that in a heartbeat! My local dealer was a "deal" around here for $129, sometime last year they jacked it up to $169 or $189.