Car maintenance is an essential part of owning a Mercedes-Benz. However, due to the poor economic climate, there are many hard-up motorists in the UK that will avoid booking their car in for a service in 2015. What many people don’t consider when they own a Mercedes, is that by skipping an annual service, your car could suffer a variety of mechanical complications, and in the long run, this could prove to be a costly, and in extreme cases, deadly error.
No matter who manufactured your Mercedes-Benz, or how much it cost you to purchase, its important to remember that any motor vehicle is a highly sophisticated piece of machinery that is made up from literally hundreds of different mechanical parts. A cars main purpose is to safely transport its passengers from A to B and if you fail to keep up the maintenance, you are putting both yourself and your passengers at risk.
Here are just 4 things that could go wrong with your Mercedes-Benz if you fail to keep it maintained, with two of these problems being potentially life threatening situations.
1) Your Air Conditioner Could Stop Working
Most in-car air conditioners malfunction due to compressor failure. This usually occurs when the compressor belt has worn or the condenser filters become clogged-up with grit and dirt. This leads to an overworking air conditioning motor which will eventually fail. If you have your Mercedes-Benz serviced at regular intervals, one of our servicing technicians can replace the worn belt and clean the dirt from the system allowing you to avoid this costly damage.
2) Your Transmission Could Start Leaking
The most common problem found with faulty transmissions is a fluid leak. They are easy to spot because if your car has been parked anywhere for a certain degree of time, you will notice a clear pinkish fluid mark on the ground. If this leak is ignored, it could result in transmission failure. Your Mercedes could also run out of transmission fluid or even become clogged with dirt. You can avoid all of these problems by ensuring that your car is serviced regularly.
3) Your Brakes Could Fail
One of the scarier things that could happen by avoiding regular car maintenance is that your car brakes could fail. Many drivers tell themselves that they would know when their brakes are beginning to wear, but what they do not appear to comprehend is that damage to car brakes occurs gradually over time. This makes it incredibly difficult for the driver to notice any difference in the brakes. Therefore it goes without saying that if you don’t have your Mercedes-Benz brake pads, drums and calipers checked by a mechanic regularly, the results could be catastrophic.
4) Your Engine Could Overheat/Catch on Fire
The engine of your Mercedes-Benz is it’s mechanical heart. It is the most important mechanical component under the bonnet that allows it to run properly. Unfortunately there are lots of things that can go wrong with it too. The air filter can become clogged, this is one of the main causes of an engine breakdown. The engine could also run low on any of the essential fluids that it requires to operate normally causing it to overheat, or it could even develop what is known as an evaporative leak, which causes the petrol to leak creating a potential fire hazard.
So whilst you feel you may be saving money by avoiding car maintenance or regular Mercedes-Benz servicing, the real truth is that you could end up paying out a much larger sum of cash in the long run if you wait for something to go seriously wrong. The price people pay isn’t always monetary either, sometimes it’s paid in lives.
Hayley has been an automotive writer for almost a decade, and is the editor of a popular UK motoring blog, as well as writing for DDR Surrey Mercedes Specialist. She specialises in Mercedes-Benz and dreams of one day owning a Mercedes AMG A45.