Hello,

I am a little confused about the FSS in my car. I recently purchased a Demo Crossfire Coupe with a build date 11/03 with only 197 km's on it... Great Price The car had only been registered for 2.5 months when I took delivery. The FSS displays (-277) on it. what does this mean? 277 days till next service or 277 days over due. Please throw some light on this for me... very confused...!


Regards,
Scott.

 

Since the FSS can determine service needs based upon time or distance driven since last service I would say that your car is 277 days overdue. I would check the owner's manual to verify this but I'm pretty sure I'm correct.
If you just bought the car you might want to consider bringing it back to the dealer (I'm assuming you bought it from a D/C dealer) and ask them to perform the service for you for free since the car has obviously needed the service for much longer than you have owned it.

Just my humble opinion...

 

Either that or they didn't reset it when they did it themselves...

 

It reads miles or kms in this case. Which doesn't really make sense since he said the car only had 197 kms on it, but the FSS says it's 277 kms overdue for service. I would guess the thing was never set from the factory...

 

How many km's equal 7,500 miles? When was the last oil change? That's what I would worry about, but check your oil just in case. But just make sure the next time you take your car in for an oil change have them reset it, and you'll be good to go another 7,500 miles before it says -. Or you can do it your self, it's in the manual.

 

277 days over due. ask them to change the oil for you and reset it.
the car has low mileage so you could get away with just resetting it.

 

days? its miles/kms, drive the car, stop, turn it off, and then start it back up. the -277 should now be 288+ depending on how far you go (go at least a mile/km) and it should flash for 30 seconds. its miles/kms.

 

I bought a left over '04 and mine was over due by days, only had 60 miles on it. It is in the owners manual.

 

I bought this up with the dealer 2 days ago.... telling them I am pissed about them selling me a car that's so far out of service schedule. The dealer quickly backed down and offered to change the oil and reset the FSS free of charge. Thanks for the advice.

 

The FSS initially shows miles/kilometers but it senses if the cars hasn't been driven for a while and then goes to days till next service.
Mine was in an accident and the body shop had it for 75 days. Before the accident I had 3,400 miles on it and it showed 3,600 left till next service. When I got it back it showed 20 DAYS till next service and kept counting down each day whether driven or not till it was in minus days. It says it in the manual that it does that automatically when the car isn't driven very often. I guess they want to make sure you don't go 4 years without an oil change if it's your Sunday car.
I just rest the FSS myself. I'll get my oil changed at maybe 6,000 miles to be safe but I don't think it's that bad for your car.
I have family in Europe and they don't change oil as frequently as Americans do. Granted, they don't put as much mileage on either but they do mostly the schedule b driving (stop and go, city driving) My mom had a car for 10 years and maybe changed the oil once. Never a problem.

 

CHOCOHOLIC_TOO, You wouldn't happen to have the serial # of your Moms old car handy would you? I'd just like to be able to "identify" it if I should ever come across it while used car shopping. If it's in Europe, then never mind.

 

Don't worry, some sucker already bought it...

 

Mine wasn't set from the factory and it read - something or another too!

 

I posted this a while back to clarify issues people were having with their FSS system.

The wrench is part of the Mercedes-Benz FSS system which is adaptive to your driving style and ambient conditions and time, it varies for everyone. The wrench will start appearing reminding you of upcoming service with the mileage left for that service showing next to the wrench. Example; when the wrench shows up with a reading of about 300 miles that means that in 300 miles service A will be needed.

If you buy your car new but its like an '04 model with low low miles like 1,000 and already requires service A, it is nothing more than that the FSS system also monitors the time the car has sat without use. So if your car has sat for a long time at a dealer prior to you purchasing it the system will also calculate that oil life sitting in your oil pan and countdown from the reset much faster.

Also the FSS system monitors your driving style and ambient conditions. If your driving style is aggressive you will see the countdown go suddenly from say 6,000 to maybe 5,300 in only 300 miles of driving. If you drive very conservatively then you will see the countdown parallel with the miles driven. Also if you live in a dusty climate it will also perform a faster countdown as opposed to a cleaner climate however the system will always calculate the time the oil has been there unchanged as well. In other words it has a life of its own when it tells you its due then its due.