"Mercedes-Benz" is a trademark of Mercedes-Benz of North America, Mercedes-Benz USA LLC and other Mercedes-Benz corporations. The word "Mercedes-Benz" is solely used to identify a make of automobile. It does not imply or indicate any affiliation or relationship between Stephens Service Center and the manufacturer or its dealers.
Everything has changed.... and nothing has changed
For the last decade Mercedes-Benz has experienced record sales. About 70% of those cars were leased. A large number of the remaining sales were financed with the equity in the buyers home. Obviously things have changed for all of us. One thing we're seeing a lot right now, is owners wanting to get back to the traditional reasons that made them buy their Mercedes-Benz in the first place. People are rediscovering the fundamentals. If you buy quality things and take care of them; they repay your investment many times over. It's no longer quite so easy to walk away from your car one at the first sign of trouble. People have rediscovered that "depreciation" is a financial reality. Weather you leased the car or bought it, someone really does pay for the depreciation. Most cars loose half their equity in the first three years. Mercedes is better then most, but whatever the final number is, it isn't pretty. If you think loosening all that depreciation is bad, it's even worse when you've lost all that value and have a car that hasn't been serviced. Every day we meet new customers that though their car was being serviced. Then we give them the bad news and show them how to actually read their old Repair Orders. We're certainly not getting any joy out of this. You may want to take a look without our help. Simply check the parts that are billed out, and that will tell you what was actually done. If you don't see Spark Plugs, Transmission Filters, Rear Axle oil and the rest of the major service parts, it wasn't serviced. If you see the phrase "Serviced as per the manufactures recommendations", you probably didn't get a major service. You also can't trust the "B-Service". Even your owners manual says it is a "major service". Simply look for the parts billed out. Do you really think they give the parts away for free? Customers have shown us countless Repair Orders that say the car got a "B-Service / Major Service", and the only parts billed out are the Oil and Filter. It's a Oil Change.
Frankly, we're amazed at how long people have been willing to put up with this treatment. It seems as though some people just want to close their eyes and hope it's not true. Car repairs frustrate most people because it's complicated and difficult to understand. Most people just want to trust someone and not be deceived. They think that someone must be looking out for the consumer and a major car company wouldn't let this happen. Right! The customers we see each day just want to know in plane English; what their car legitimately needs.
Here is the short version of what every car needs to be maintained in the most cost effective way. It doesn't really matter what year or model you own, the same basic things need to be done to each model. A few models have special systems that need additional service, but those exceptions and are dealt with on a case by case basis. This is the same system Mercedes has advocated, they just don't spell it out in a concise manner. They've publish it in various Service Bulletins, Workshop Information System, Administrative Messages, Maintenance Manuals, and so forth. When you boil it all down, this is what your car needs.
CHANGE THE ENGINE OIL EVERY 6000 MILES (A-SERVICE)
MINOR MAINTENANCE SERVICE EVERY OTHER 30,000 MILES This service includes changing the Engine oil, changing the
Transmission oil, changing the Power Steering oil, and changing the Air Filter. There are a few other things, but these are the main things.
MAJOR MAINTENANCE SERVICE EVERY 60,000 MILES A 60000 mile service, includes the 30000 mile service, plus the Spark Plugs,
Fuel Filter, Hydraulic System Flush, and the Rear Axle oil are all changed. This is the biggest service the car ever gets.
CABIN FILTER EVERY 45,000 MILES
BRAKE FLUID FLUSH EVERY 2 YEARS
ANTIFREEZE FLUSH EVERY 3 YEARS
That's it. It's not so mysterious. If you follow it, you will have a very nice car for a very long time. It will hold its value and you'll not feel the need to trade it in every 4 years.
5600 Elvas Ave
Sacramento CA 95819
916.452.5067
stephensservice@surewest.net
Just how much is 40 years of Experience Worth?
We had a new customer recently, that had been to several shops trying to solve a rough running problem. They had spent over $7000 on the problem, but it still wasn't fixed. All of the normal things that causes rough running had been tried.
This car is a perfect example of how technology has changed & whole lot of technicians haven't kept up with the changes. Vehicles built over the last 10 years are much more complicated then they ever were in the past. It's imperative for the technician really understand how modern computer systems work. The simplest things don't work like they did in the past. In particular this case, there were no Fault Codes for the engine and the Check Engine light.
We have the same diagnostic equipment the Dealer has and we get the same monthly updates. It is impossible to fix modern cars without it. The tester allows us to see the live data the engine is creating as it runs. This live data showed us that there was no throttle signal to the engine computer. No signal caused it to idle to slow. We did a search for Fault Codes in other systems and saw one in the transmission control module. It said the Neutral Safety Switch was faulty, but not specifically what the problem was. (The Neutral Safety Switch's main job is to prevent you from starting the car in gear and running over your lawn mower. It also does other things.) With further testing, we found the switch was not telling the engine's computer that the transmission was in Park. We looked closer and found it was corroded with water. Above the switch is located the drain for the A/C condensation. It had been dripping into the switch. All of the electrical components are linked together through a sophisticated high speed data transfer system (CAN) which keeps all of these parts in constant communication with each other. The switch was so corroded inside that the network was interrupted. Since the engine computer didn't get a signal from the switch, it went to a default setting that was slower then normal. The engineers do not want the engine to ever have "unintended acceleration". Since it idled much slower then normal, it was rough. We put in a new neutral safety switch and rerouted the A/C drain tube. Once the engine's computer got all of the signals it needed the engine ran normal.
A sizable sum of money was wasted by mechanics that really didn't understand how the system worked. They think that plugging the computer tester into the car will tell them what to do. The tester gives out data. The human brain has to determine what the data means. You still have to understand how the system works.
So how much is 43 years of Mercedes-Benz experience worth? In this case, $6800.
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It's been said, that no one is easier to deceive then one's self. For what we wish were true, we readily believe to be true. We wish to convey to our customers a openness to listen to their concerns. You'll never have to hunt us down to take care of a problem. We personally answer every phone call. We despise Voice Mail. You'll never have to leave us a message & hope we return the call. We assume our customers get just as annoyed with this all to common of a practice as we do. We think that if someone wants your business, the very least they should do is answer the phone. We want our customers to know that by choosing Stephens Service Center to service their Mercedes-Benz, they have made the wisest choice among many alternatives. It is our sincere hope that our customers realize that they can come to us for the little things that come up in the life of a car. Hopefully they know that we're not going to charge them every time we have to replace a light bulb or check for the reason "Check Engine Light" came on. We want them to come to us when a tire needs some air. Cars just don't always need big repairs. As with many things in life, it's the little things that count. We want them to trust us when we tell them something needs to be fixed as well as when it's time to stop fixing the car & get a new one. Customers are not a interruption to our day. They are the reason we are here.
Think of us as a seatbelt for your wallet!
