{"id":6412,"date":"2012-09-21T17:14:27","date_gmt":"2012-09-21T22:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/?p=6412"},"modified":"2012-09-21T17:32:23","modified_gmt":"2012-09-21T22:32:23","slug":"thank-you-for-choosing-a-mercedes-benz-now-take-care-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/6412","title":{"rendered":"Thank You For Choosing A Mercedes-Benz…NOW TAKE CARE OF IT!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just received in the mail today a nice letter from Mercedes-Benz USA, all done up on Very Nice stationary, thanking me for “choosing one of the most advanced diesel automobiles in the world…<\/em>” and then just about screaming at me to stick to the factory maintenance schedule.<\/p>\n

It is critical that you follow the service interval requirements of not more then 10,000 miles or one (1) year, whichever comes first. \u00a0 Permanent engine damage can occur if the interval is not closely followed<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Emphasis theirs!) \u00a0 Followed by two more pages of Very Nice stationary detailing the maintenance schedule. As if I’d buy a car this expensive and not read the service book. \u00a0 You best believe I read the service book. \u00a0 Like a seminarian studying the holy writ I read the service book.<\/p>\n

But I get their concern. \u00a0 I don’t think American drivers understand diesels. \u00a0 I wonder sometimes if one reason the Germans don’t import many of their diesel models into this country is because most American drivers just don’t know how to take care of one. \u00a0 The reputation of diesels, particularly Mercedes diesels, for \u00c3\u00bcber longevity probably doesn’t help any. \u00a0 People think hey…it’s a diesel…they’re tough.<\/em> Well…yes. \u00a0 They’ll outlast a gasoline burner every time. \u00a0 But you have to do the maintenance<\/em>. \u00a0 Oh…and don’t stomp on the accelerator in a futile attempt to get gasoline engine acceleration out of one because it isn’t in there.<\/p>\n

The simplest routine thing you do for a car’s engine, the oil change, is absolutely vital for a diesel engine. \u00a0 That’s because the compression ratios on a diesel are greatly higher then even a high performance sports car’s is. \u00a0 Compression is how a diesel ignites its fuel. They work on the principle that compressing air heats it up. \u00a0 So at operating temperature a diesel gulps down a bunch of air, compresses it to temperature, and then at the right moment injectors squirt in the fuel and it ignites and you get your power stroke. \u00a0 For that to work compression has to be high enough to heat the air enough. (when starting cold, diesels use either glow plugs or pre-heat the fuel before it is injected.)<\/p>\n

Compare: The Corvette LS9 6.2 liter V-8 with an Eaton four-lobe Roots type supercharger has a power output of 638 bhp at 6500 rpm and 604 lb \u00b7ft at 3800 rpm and a compression ratio of 9.1:1. \u00a0 My 3 liter V-6 twin turbocharged Mercedes diesel on the other hand has a compression ratio of 17:1. \u00a0 In diesel fashion it only generates 240 bhp at a red line of 4500 rpm…about a third the Vette’s. \u00a0 However it generates 400 lb \u00b7ft at 1800 rpm. \u00a0 So the Vette engine has it on torque and horsepower, but the diesel is less then half its displacement, still has 2\/3rds its torque and look at where the torque Is<\/em>.<\/p>\n

These engines are not racehorses, they’re draft horses and they will go any distance and bear loads that would give a gasoline burner of equal size a heart attack. \u00a0 But you absolutely have to do the maintenance. \u00a0 You can slack on the oil changes in a gasoline burner or cheap out on the grade of oil used and still get good service out of one for quite a while before it catches up with you and gets expensive. \u00a0 A diesel can be completely destroyed in a very, Very<\/em> short time if you do that. \u00a0 Like in under 30k. \u00a0 Try this wee experiment: look at the dipstick right after you’ve given a diesel engine an oil change. \u00a0 See how nice and golden the oil is? \u00a0 Look at it again at 100 miles. \u00a0 Looks dirty as hell doesn’t it? \u00a0 17:1 and running on diesel oil not lightweight gasoline will do that.<\/p>\n

This is the big reason why I never bought one second hand though I’ve wanted one since I was a teenager. \u00a0 By the time I was old enough and making enough to afford a second hand Mercedes diesel I’d seen tragically what your typical American driver does to a diesel engine. \u00a0 Yes, they’ll last practically forever. \u00a0 You can’t build 17:1 ignition-by-compression on the cheap and expect it to outlast the warranty. \u00a0 And the routine maintenance isn’t expensive. \u00a0 But you have to do it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And I would recommend changing the oil twice as often as the factory recommends on any car. \u00a0 I’ve done that on every car I’ve ever owned and never had any engine problems. \u00a0 But it’s especially critical for a diesel. \u00a0 Daimler gives its engines very large oil reservoirs…something around nine quarts in the V-6s (compared to around 6 in an American V-8) and they say change every 10k. \u00a0 I change at five. \u00a0 The other service gets done on schedule.<\/p>\n

So anyway…I’m looking at this very nice letter from Mercedes-Benz USA printed on Very Nice stationary and what I’m seeing is evidence that Americans just don’t know how to take care of a diesel. \u00a0 And these aren’t just any diesels. \u00a0 These are Mercedes-Benz. \u00a0 These are magnificent automobiles, they are expensive, they are exceptionally well made, and it is so embarrassing to see how MBUSA needs to gently remind its customers…it’s presumably well to do customers…on Very Nice stationary, to take fucking care of their cars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just received in the mail today a nice letter from Mercedes-Benz USA, all done up on Very Nice stationary, thanking me for “choosing one of the most advanced diesel automobiles in the world…” and then just about screaming at me to stick to the factory maintenance schedule. It is critical that you follow the service […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[84,55],"class_list":["post-6412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-mercedes-love","tag-this-and-that"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6412\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}