i would welcome any maintainance advice that you guys can give me for my 2001 C240. i like to take care of the car and keep it in shape

thank you

 

Wow. That's a great question, but there are going to be as many opinions on this one as there are people out there, as you might have guessed. But....if it were mine, I would religiously change the oil and filter regularly (don't ask me how often or that will start another huge debate here! ha!), make sure the transmission fluid and filter are changed regardless of what anybody tells you (every 50-60K in my humble opinion) and normal things like coolant change, brakes and brake fluid flush, tires, etc. you know the rest I'm sure. Cabin filter, air filter, etc. Some are very easy. If you want you can do a fuel filter too.
These things apply to just about any car these days, especially if it's an older one or you are going to keep it. Taking care of cars pays off in the long run. Yeah? OK. PS>use Mobil 1 fully synthetic oil and you can use the weight of your choice pretty much.

 

first of all i want to thank you for posting in my thread. i know that mobil 1 synthetic is the best oil car to use. i did a research and i couldn't find what weight to use for my car. do you have any idea which one should be the best? i also want to combine the oil with the oil filter. which is the mobile 1 oil filter for this model because my reasearch resulted that there isnt any.

thank you

 

OK, this is an easy one. Whew! First the oil. Most people would agree (imagine that!) that oil weight is dependent on what kind of a climate you live in. But any of the common weight oils they sell will be fine in your car....the 0-30, 10-30, etc. Don't worry about that so much as just getting it and the filter changed regularly. If you are looking for a Mobil 1 filter for your car, stop looking. They don't make it. Your car has a "cartridge" type filter, meaning it's a paper-like element that fits inside a canister thingy under the hood with a screw top on it.
The top screws off, you lift the old cartridge out, put the new one in with new 0-rings, put the top back on, and you're good to go. Mercedes dealers do not pull the drain plug to drain the oil. They have a gizmo that sucks the oil out of a tube coming up into the engine compartment. This eliminates time and labor for them. They don't even have to jack up the car or loosen any plugs, take off any belly pans, etc. Most other places don't do it this way, but some shops do. I don't. I do my own and drain it out the pan. So there you go. If you want to see your filter options, go to: www.autohausaz.com and type in your car year, make and model and then enter "oil filter kit" in the search box. You will see your filter options and I have to tell you, some of the best advice free here on this site as well. This company has got their act together all around, and no, I am not affiliated with it in ANY way. I happen to live in Arizona and tried them a long time ago, and they are simply the best for shipping and customer service. Prices are good too, as you see. Go to "CAR CARE" on their site and click on Gasoline Alley and look at all the great tips! I've learned a lot from that and I have been working on cars for almost 45 years. Hope this helps.

 

mrcoyote,
thanks for that website. i logged in and already registered both my cars. its a great idea for a website!

 

I'm about to do the maintainance on my '02 C240 before the dead of winter arrives. I've got over 100K on her now, so I'm looking to change the oil/filter, fuel filter, O2 sensors, spark plugs, coolant, and tranny. I'm pretty sure it's going to put a dent in the wallet, but probably not as big of a dent as not maintaining it would do.

 

I went to my Mercedes mechanic today for a quote on my scheduled maintainance and then some. He didn't recommend changing the O2 sensors or fuel filter unless I was throwing a code, which I'm not. It's going to run $250 for new plugs (Bosch or NGK), $400 for a Schedule B service (synthetic oil, filter, etc.), and $450 for a full synthetic tranny service (including draining the torque converter). Not too bad really, considering what repairs would cost for not doing the preventative maintainance.