Mercedes-Benz R350 Forum : “get rid of service D needed on screen”

There are many different levels of services for your car based on mileage and or time. Service B was probably a minor service and oil change. When you go into the service menu in your instrument cluster it lists the needed services by numbers 1-20. The service center may have only cleared part of the service that was due at that time or it may just happen that the time interval came up for addittional services after those were performed.

It's also possible they didn't reset the service indicator properly.

The Mercedes Flexible Service System (FSS) is designed to keep track of tons of calculations including distance driven, cold starts, engine rpm, air quality, etc... If you took your R-class in for an oil change else where and didn't reset the indicator, the FSS computer sees that the oil was replenished but doesn't know that the filter or other things were done.

There is a very good reason for all of this. You only need to service your truck 1-time a year, that's pretty damn good. When you take your truck in for service at a Mercedes-Benz dealership, they're going to look everything over like the shocks that always blow out in the back of these, or the front sway-bar links or to recommend the tires and brakes that these trucks rip through every 20,000 miles. Not to mention all the recalls they take care of. If you don't want to pay for the full service at the dealership, at least go there for the oil change so they put the engine oil and filter that's suppose to be in there. I can't count the number of $30,000 engine jobs I've done because guys like you won't pay the $300 a year to have your truck serviced once.

It is not helpful to be dismissive of others difficulties with these issues just because Mercedes screwed up. The schedules in many M-B owners manuals with numbering versus the somewhat alarming messages and non-corresponding lettering appearing in your face every time you start your car are an unwarranted invitation to be so concerned as to simply throw away money to an eager/hungry or poorly informed/informing dealer. We, the great un-washed, have suspicions about the motives and capabilities of most automotive servicing facilities - for very valid well-documented reasons. While it may not apply to you, Robert, there are a lot scruple challenged automotive businesses in the world, including Mercedes World. The "Service Adviser's" job is to soft sell as much service to you "as needed," but for what or whom?

One does have to change the fluids and filters, etc. with quality parts "as needed," which the FSS was supposed to help you to do. But, accessing and evaluating the information is beyond most owners capabilities, and also apparently that of many "certified" service technicians. The owners who realize this discrepancy are here asking for help. FYI - inside the hood it often says on an applied sticker to use only Mobil 1, but in the manual there is different information if you search a little, and many other oil types and brands meeting the factory service designations are available, or becoming available as product development moves forward, and are perfectly satisfactory - some at a much lower cost for those willing and able to take charge of servicing themselves. Please, you obviously know a lot more than we do, so be nice to those of us who are searching for these kinds of answers.