'NNN' and the overheat saga

[david painter]

I wish Mercedes Benz had told me they had got there Service Schedules wrong !! I own a Independent BMW and Mercedes Benz Workshop. I Service theses cars in accordance with the Manufactures information, ESS for Mercedes and KSD for BMW. If you care to look on Mercedes ESS and put in your chassis no you will find that on a 722.6 Transmission the oil is Changed at the First 36000 miles service) but not changed again after that I did many of them when they were a lot younger with low mileage! I don't know a lot about Fords as they are a very rare through my door. I Do know that the pink OAT Antifreeze has a service life of 10 years and most manufactures use that type of antifreeze now. As for brake fluid they may be using a Silicone based fluid which is not hydrosopic, hence no requirement for changing the fluid.
Dave

[mickthefitter]

I have no doubt whatsoever David that you've got vastly greater motor trade experience and better access to technical data than I have. All I can tell you about the W202 C Class I had is that I went through the four cross-referenced handbooks that came with the car, and the car's own service book with the chassis number in the front, which was the one that contained the servicing plans at the back, and I never saw any mention of a schedule for having transmission fluid changed. If it had have been there, I feel sure I would have read it, because I wanted to know. MB may tell their service technicians stuff that they don't tell the owners. The car had 68,000 miles on it when I bought it so it was well past the 36,000 mile stage. I was its third owner. The first had it for four years, the second for just nine months, and I had it for nine and a half years, by which time it had got 140,000 on the clock, which was still quite modest mileage for a MB. The body was going on it though - not structurally, but cosmetically, despite my attempts to tidy it up each year for the last three or four years I owned it. A rusting windscreen surround cracked the windscreen and while I didn't know rust was the reason when I took the car to Autoglass for a replacement on my insurance policy, they phoned me to tell me to take the car away (minus windscreen) as they couldn't put a new screen in as the surround was rusty and they weren't authorised to repair rust! I had to de-rust and paint the surround at home, then drive the car back for a new screen. This was the car's 4th screen in my ownership. The 'original' creaked in low temperatures and was peppered with tiny chips, the second (not a genuine Sekurit MB screen) had distortion patches in my field of vision, causing me to have to argue with Autoglass to get them to fit a genuine screen, the third lasted four or five years before cracking behind the rear view mirror because of bulging rust under the screen, probably caused by bad workmanship on the part of Autoglass. Two years on from the last screen and with more rust spots on the body, a little hole in the boot floor, a broken electronic boot release, 140,000 miles on the clock and in need of another set of pads and brake discs on the front, I decided it was time for something newer, hence the Volvo C30. As for that, no idea about the kind of brake fluid its got, but the antifreeze is blue so must be ethylene glycol. After the car's second dealer service in my ownership and nothing about renewing antifreeze, I went on a Volvo forum asking questions (I'd first been told by the dealer service desk that "we only test it") asking if this was right. Somebody told me that there were two kinds of blue antifreeze used by Volvo, one a darker shade than the other, and that one had a longer life than the other. I can't remember which way round they were. I was also told on the forum that there WAS a replacement schedule for antifreeze and brake fluid within Volvo and that the dealerships were doing themselves out of legitimate revenue by not offering it. Because of experiencing minor damage to my car at two Volvo main dealers while it was in their care (which I was unable to prove) I've begun using a reputable Volvo independant specialist. To date I've not insisted he change the coolant but I was interested to see what his approach was on the car's second major, 3 year interval service. Still just testing the brake fluid and antifreeze. I might raise this with him next time I'm in contact. However you know as well as I that an awful lot of people just know how to put the keys in a car and drive it, and don't even bother to lift the bonnet to check the dip stick from service to service. I was even slightly shocked last weekend to hear my best friend's brother (who should know better) never checks his tyre pressures between services on his Kia! So there must be many, many Volvos running about with their original coolant and brake fluid if the dealers aren't saying to the owners that it needs changing.

As I said, I don't have access to motor trade issued service manuals. If I saw you face to face I could show you my Volvo service schedules printed in the book that comes with the car, and there's nothing whatsoever about coolant and brake fluid.

David, I'm getting a slight sense that you don't trust my judgement or my abilities on most matters that we are discussing here. Is this the case?

The car's gone, the handbooks have gone, the service history has gone, but I kept the Haynes manual. Nothing about 36,000 mile transmission fluid renewal in here either. As an owner/driver with marginally more enthusiasm and, I like to think, ability than the average car owner today, where am I supposed to get my information from?
Mick

[ClaytonSpeed]

Chaps,

Could we draw a line under this and get back to the issue at hand?