Mark: Hi, it's Mark Bossert. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, Vancouver's favourite and best auto service experience. And we're talking cars. How you doing Bernie?
Bernie: Doing very well.
So we're revisiting a 2013 Mercedes ML350 diesel vehicle. What was going on with this car?
Bernie: The vehicle came to our shop with a couple of concerns and one thing we found in doing our complimentary inspection on the vehicle is that the engine oil was incredibly sludgy. Now, how did we know that?
We basically removed the oil filler cap and just noted that there was just an incredible amount of sludge on the oil filler cap, which is not a good thing. There was also no record you know, no window sticker on the vehicle. And talked with the client and they indicated the oil hadn't been changed in quite a long time. They probably didn't really know exactly when it had been done.
If you look at this picture of this oil filler cap, makes sense. Now, I probably should have taken a picture of the cap after it was cleaned so you can get a reference. But all that black stuff on there, we're not talking about the hard plastic edge but all that black stuff there, that is just oil that's turned into sludge. It's kind of turning into tar slowly, which is a very, very, very bad thing in an engine. And it's indicative of not having changed the oil for a very, very long time.
Mark: So if you go by a car and you pull the oil filler cap off and you see this. Run.
Bernie: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Put the cap on and tell the person, thank you very much and have a nice day. You do not want to have a vehicle like this.
Now this is a picture of the oil filter. If you look on the left side, where it's sort of glittering, that is sludge inside the oil filter. Plus of course, the rest of the pleats are covered in absolutely black. I mean, diesel oil and diesels does get dark after a time, but this is beyond, you know, anything you'd normally ever see. So this filter is just full of crap.
I didn't do the job personally, but I asked my technician, you know, what came out when you changed the oil? He said, at first, it didn't come out very fast and then eventually the oil came out.
So this is, again, what's sitting in the rest of this engine is a lot of sludge. And really, I hate to say it for, you know, it's a ticking time bomb for the owner of the vehicle. It's not going to last long.
Mark: So we've talked about this before on these three litre diesels. We've talked about engine changes where people didn't change their oil and had to replace their engine. The odds are that this is going to happen fairly quick with this engine, even after you guys changed the oil and tried to repair as much as you could, in the simplest manner as possible?
Bernie: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, who knows how long this engine will last. Maybe it'll get lucky and it'll go for a while. You know, the only other times I've seen engines with this kind of sludge in it is when we're doing an engine replacement where the engine is either seized up or it's knocking so badly that it doesn't work.
Mark: So almost black basically contains a tremendous amount of metal particles that's worn the crap out of this engine. It's way beyond what you would normally expect.
Bernie: Yeah, exactly. Now, I don't know how much metal is in this, but that sludge is basically the oil has changed in chemical composition from being a liquid to being a semi solid. So it's not, it's not, yeah, it's like a, it's a gel. Exactly. So it's Yeah. It's not a good state to be in. And you know, how long this has been, it may be, this vehicle had about 110 ish thousand kilometres and maybe that it never had the oil changed.
Mark: Wow.
Bernie: We have access to Carfax. And any shop that has Carfax, like every job we do, the job will get posted on Carfax and it keeps a history. So if you go to another, repair shop that has Carfax, they'll know that, hey, this Pawlik Automotive or there was a service done at this mileage of these particular items. However, our shop program does it. We couldn't find any Carfax history on this vehicle at all. Now I'm certain the Mercedes dealership would be linked to Carfax.
So it has no history of any Mercedes service. Now, whether someone did backyard oil changes, we don't know. But we could say that it may have gone the last 110 ish thousand kilometres, no oil change. It's possible.
Mark: So we're reiterating in a way that especially, well, any diesel, any internal combustion engine, diesels even more, Mercedes three litre diesels, even more, change your oil regularly. Or you're going to kill your engine.
Bernie: This is not a cheap job. I mean, last time we did one was 20 something thousand dollars. It's you know, with inflation and things like that is probably a, you know, even trying to do it on the cheap with a used engine is probably at least 15,000 bucks. If you can find one. It could well be you know, 30,000 job. So it's very important. Oil changes are cheap. Even a two or 300 dollar oil change. I mean, these aren't cheap to change oil on, but that's cheap.
Mark: Pay me now or pay me later.
Bernie: Yeah, that's right. Pay me now or pay me later. Exactly.
Mark: So if you're looking for service for your Mercedes Diesel in Vancouver, get in to see Pawlik Automotive. If you haven't had an oil change recently, get it in there. Get the oil changed. You can reach them online at pawlikautomotive.com. You can book there, or you can call them at (604) 327-7112. They'll call you back. They'll get ready for your appointment, but you have to book ahead. They're always busy. Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Thanks Bernie.
Bernie: Thanks Mark. Yeah. Thanks for watching.
