'98 C230 Mysterious Code on Dashboard

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Dan Behr - 29 Sep 2004 07:21 GMT

Fellow listers,

My father-in-law has a '98 C230 that has a mysterious code in the bottom
center of the dash. When you start the car, a graphic symbol of a
wrench, which blinks and a negative number, which starts at -27 and
counts down appears.

What does this mean? Is this another excuse to get you into the dealer?

On another topic, I currently have a Volvo 850, which I've been very
satisfied with. However, it's gettting up in miles (282,000) and I'm
thinking about a newer car. The one thing I do not want is proprietary
OBD codes for diagnostics, meaning only the dealer has access to the
device to read fault codes. I'm not a guy who tolerates being corralled,
so the question is does Mercedes have the same proprietary practices or
can you get the codes by plugging in a standard OBD device/reader?

Thanks....

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Tiger - 29 Sep 2004 14:36 GMT

By federal law, all car must be able to be read by generic OBD-II reader
since 1996. Here in USA that is. So, yes, you can use generic OBD-II reader
to pull code and then decipher that information.

MB also integrated proprietary OBD-II capability to further diagnose the car
as far as the body, AC, ABS, tranny, etc. But has no bearing on the regular
OBD-II

As for your problem, I think the issue is that your car has not been
serviced for oil change when it stated it needs to be... If you changed your
oil, then it is time to reset your service indicator. Your owner's manual
will tell you how to do that.

OBD-II scanner will only tell you the problem if the check engine light is
on.

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Sherman Kaplan - 29 Sep 2004 14:44 GMT

that is a reminder from the flexible service system (fss) that routine
service on the car is 2700 miles overdue. I have the same model as your
father-in-law and follow the fss warnings to have my car serviced. btw, I
urge your f-i-l to use a synthetic motor oil which will allow him to go at
least 10k between service jobs. one more note: MB recommends alternating
between what it calls Type A and Type B service procedures. Type A is fairly
basic, Type B is more involved. Here's a link for more info from edmunds

http://applications.edmunds.com/maintenance/maintenance.do

with this info in hand, you can take your MB to a trusted mechanic, though
he may not be able to reset the FSS, as the dealer can do. FSS reads the
quality of your motor oil based on how the car is driven. Extreme conditions
would most likely reduce service intervals.

> Fellow listers,
>
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> Thanks....

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