I will take both of your advice. My vin ends in 10522 so I thought that it was a late built car. The sales man said that they didn't have it for too long. He indicated that someone was playing around with the buttons and somehow caused the fss to report the minus number. I only had 63 miles on it when I got it. So I wouldn't think that it was a demo for too long.

Elwood

 

After reading this I'm just going to take my car to the Benz dealership for its oil change, but I think I might buy a Mobil 1 filter or K&N filter and give it to them to use. I know they cost a bit more but because of all the media inside I feel it will do a better job and let me keep it in there longer. In the owners manual it says that if your storing your car during the winter months to change the oil because of the all the condensation that builds up when it stored, so my question is this, wouldn't it make more sense to change it in the spring and get ALL the crap out and start fresh?

 

elwood my vin is 11656 and the car was built in Oct. 2003. you have a lower vin. yours was built before that. The build date is on the drivers door. Check it out.

 

Insert foot here!

You are absolutely correct! I recently purchased a new 04 and the manual does not have the correction page. I also looked at a service manual which also does not have it correct. I did my first change today and low and behold, it took 8 quarts. i guess there is one other truly useful piece of information here!

What an amazingly important thing for the manufacturer to screw up!

Thank you for pointing out my error.

 

Redline Racing Oil... 40w... 9qts... Use 8.5qts... DIY... 30 min job... And a few beers... $40.00... Reset the computer... save receipts... staple them to your maintenance manual page... PRESTO... You had a nice personal experience with your car...

 

This is excellent advice for those of you that are racing your car or are going to change your oil every 2000 miles or so. If on the other hand you don't wish to change that often, avoid ALL racing oils. They really are designed for racing, NOT general street driving. The oil companies design them for conditions not encountered in normal street driving. The most important is that they are MUCH thicker than mobil 1, because race engines are started warm and brought right up to temp (unlike you car which usually gets driven before the oil reaches 100+ degrees). In the case of the average driver, you start the car, put it in gear (usually within 30 seconds) and drive off. That's ok, because your regular oil is thin enough to start coating parts as it is, racing oil isn't. I'm not positive, but in the case of DC using racing oil may void your warranty.

 

that's about what i paid.

 

My synthetic oil changes are 80 bucks but I get free Continental Conti's for the life of the car.

 

Luckily all my oil changes are covered under the extended warranty I bought.