I bought an 06 certified with 25500 odometer miles.
I understand the messaging and display system in the dash notifying the driver when certain services are due. I imagine some kind of internal calculation of the sort mileage+RPM+average speed=time to change the oil. The read-out now says-at 26600 miles- that the oil is at 80%. My type of driving is about 50/50: 25 miles/day city commute and 300 miles/week interstate driving. I don't know when the sensor was reset.

I owned a 2002 BMW 530 that had a similar gauge but became alarmed at the intervals which could go as long as 15k miles. The sludge horror stories didn't help either. In their case they were paying for the maintenance service so there was a financial incentive for extended mileage. I decided to pay for my own oil/filter changes at a 5000 mile interval.

Can anyone tell me what sort of change intervals are generated by this system and if anyone also chooses to change more frequently?

 

Figuring on a 100% system reset, we will see anywhere from 4500 miles to 7000 miles. I know it's a fairly large gap but with alot of highway driving, you will see the life increase tremendously. We actually put 5,000 miles on our oil change stickers as this seems to be the average.

 

Seems like 7,500 miles is about tops with the system. However, you don't want to go over a year without an oil change due to condensation, burn off, etc. I am from the old school and even with the monitor I will change at 5,000 miles and/or 6 months even with using full synthenic oil. The monitor usually is at 50%, but it goes down rather rapidly after that it seems. The monitor is based on operating temps, rpm's, and clock hours on the engine. Changing the oil more frequently, while not helping the environment, is the best insurance for you engine to last and be in top running order.

 

My new 2008 Mercedes R350 4Matic has 13K interval oil change and count down by the mileages.

 

Remind me not to buy MB with oil changes like that, 13k miles. That saves about $50 to $100 per year on a $60,000 car.

 

Not saving money at all. Each oil change cost you several hundred dollars at Mercedes dealer. There is no oil drain plug and you need an oil extractor to remove oil.(DIY)

 

The thing with MB or BMW's, if I'm not mistaken, their oil capacities are 8.5 or 9 quarts, if not more. With this larger capacity, they would be able to go with longer OCIs. Also I believe that MB and probably BMW, actually have sensors that check the oil condition, not just use an algorithm to figure out the oil life remaining.

 

Correct, BMW and MB use very large oil sumps, which allow them to run much longer intervals. BMW uses a computer algorithm with the newest models (system is called condition based service), while MB just uses a fixed one-year/13k interval with the 05 and newer models.

The RL's system tops out at 10k or one-year, but most drivers average between 5-7k services.

 

I would not trust it, and will most likely never buy one.

 

Why?

We have made great strides in technology over the years, and this has allowed us to go much longer between services.

 

I have not seen proof as to engine longevity with these long oil changes, it is too cheap to try to save pennies and possibility waste dollars (engines needing rebuilds before their time). Remember, MB is at the bottom of consumer reports for problems, I am not saying this is related to oil, just that I do not trust MB.

 

Hmm, that's interesting that MB came out with a 1yr/13K mile max OCI. My parents have an 02 E320 4matic and MB was saying following the MB equivalent of the MID whereas the dealer said max of 1 year or roughly 10K miles, which I think would be reasonable.

That being said, it would seem to indicate that extending the OCI beyond 1 year or 13K miles given the oil capacity of the MB's would not be good for the engines and MB was overly aggressive in their OCI schedule years ago.. Of course, a UOA would be best by an MB owner to see what the true oil condition was at the end of that 1 year/13K OCI.... Anyone?

 

I'd prefer to see some raw data (from UOA's) before coming to any conclusion..

We're talking about roughly $120 twice a year if the OCI is 6 months. I'm sure that people will say if you can afford a $40K+ car, what's $240 a year.... However, that isn't really the point. I think that if the data says that the oil is good for more mileage/time, why not? It would be an efficient use of resources.. My

 

I change my own oil on my RL and NSX, because ,1) I have the time, retired, 2) makes me feel good 3) faster than going to the dealer.
So an oil change on the RL is about $20, 3-4 times per year is so cheap and I feel good that my car has perfect oil all the time. I am the guy people like to buy a car from, I always over maintain them.
With gas prices going way up, it will cost a lot to drive to the dealer and back, things are charging very fast.

 

I've been changing oil in my parents cars and my cars, for the past 28 years, with the exception of 1 vehicle.

I do it because 1) saves us money 2) I get to look underneath the car, "getting to know it" 3) I know that I do it right, not have some kid cross thread my drain plug, which happened at a dealer 3 years ago with our Sienna (purely for warranty purposes since we bought it used from my sister-in-law)

I'd note that I went from dino oil to synthetic in the early 90's after I calculated that it would cost me only a few dollars more to go with synthetic, I would spend less time under the car, and that synthetic was better for the motor..