Hello all, I have the following doubt. I got my Fortwo passion less than 4 months ago, currently it has 4444 kmts on it, which means an average of 1000 kmts a month and it is requiring the service now, actually it shows -3 days over due.
It come to a surprise to me, I have not had cars with less than 5000 kmt service intervals, how can this be possible?, with the current oils, materials, etc.
One thing I am thinking is that the car was build 6 months before I purchased, perhaps the time has to do with this, I am really surprised, any thoughts? JAS
It come to a surprise to me, I have not had cars with less than 5000 kmt service intervals, how can this be possible?, with the current oils, materials, etc.
One thing I am thinking is that the car was build 6 months before I purchased, perhaps the time has to do with this, I am really surprised, any thoughts? JAS
Replies to This Discussion
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in the US, we get service at 10,000 mile intervals, i was doing 5000 mile oil changes, but may switch to 7500 mile intervals.
the service clocks are set at time of manufacture, your car may have sat around a bit somewhere, wait until you hit 10,000 miles or it's equivalent
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The manuals make references to 15,000 kmts thats why I was surprised to see the indicator
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The "clock" that decides when service is due is set at the factory, not when the car is sold. It has nothing to do with when you bought it or how many km's are on it, it's determined by the calendar. If you take it to your dealership they will run the scheduled diagnostics and reset the clock.
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Yes Julie, I was suspecting that the clock was set at the factory and it just had its birdthday, being this the reason for the signal, question is should I change it or not. I personally believe it is too soon.
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Well, at any rate, it's covered by the warranty. And you might want to take it in to make sure the service clock is functioning properly.
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The service interval is set to be 15,000km OR 12 months from the date the service guys set the start interval.
In my case, the car took 3 months to be delivered from France to Australia. The service interval was set for the delivery day, so I had a fresh start. When I had the first service a few weeks short of 12 months, at about 12,000 km, it was reset to be 15,000km or 12 months afresh.
My smart has a build date on the compliance date... does your car have such a plate in the drivers door opening? Is your car 12 months old from that date?
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Hello Ian.
Perhaps the the date is encoded in the door plate, I will take a look a it when I go home tonight, however when I bougth it and as I ordered with a Mercedes dealer friend I did took a look at the date of manufacting being reported on the screen and it was Nov 18 2008, as of yesterday it had -7 on the display, I am asumming 7 days over the year of manufacture and this being the reason after only 4500 kmts.
I personally think is a waste of resources to change the oil too soon, thinking on the world environment, unless you recommend to change it I will not do it until a year or close to recommended kmts interval which is 15,000 kmts,
What do you think?
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Yep... it is simply becasue the car had it's service interval set by the factory on it's build date, November last year, that the service interval has flagged 12 months. Distance travelled is overruled by the 12 months period.
It is debatable whether or not it's worth having the service done. If the dealer had reset the service interval when the car was delivered, you wouldn't see it pop up now.
You may reset the indicator yourself... see: http://www.evilution.co.uk/index.php?id=458
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Plenty of folks have chainged their oil the first time way before the scheduled requirements just to get the initial gung out from manufacturing. It realy can't hurt to get it done, But its not going to realy hurt anything to wait either.
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