[paulbob]

Had it for a couple of weeks. It has been stored last winter and a mouse took up residence so I spent a lot of time with the rear panels off for soap and water cleaning and an ozone generator took car of the rest. Smells fresh as a daisy now.

38,000 miles so I changed the oil and replaced original cabin filter, air filter and spark plugs. Service on this car is sooooo easy!

PB

 

[jwight]

Welcome to SCoA!

 

[twcom]

Lube up all the chassis pivot points. I too am finding my 2014 Smart to be easy to maintain. Its positive reaction to every little tweak has made it a smooth year and a half together. Good to here from you.

 

[penzy]

Lube up all the chassis pivot points. I too am finding my 2014 Smart to be easy to maintain. Its positive reaction to every little tweak has made it a smooth year and a half together. Good to here from you.

Is this important. I have a 2013 with 13,000 miles. I can't find any info on how to do this. What is the benefit?

Thanks

 

[Miss Mercedes]

Welcome from the WI-IL border!!!

Is this important. I have a 2013 with 13,000 miles. I can't find any info on how to do this. What is the benefit?

Thanks

It's only important if you desire more ride comfort and/or a quieter suspension. IIRC twcom instructs to basically lube everything under the car that moves or has something that moves on it.

 

[jimvw57]

Welcome from the Mn-WI border....

 

[twcom]

Its like walking with your knees locked out...

Whats supposed to flex makes the car function softer if it does flex. over time these pivot points benefit from lube. Remember if you can when cars went in for an oil change and lube job. They went hand and hand and oil changes were even more often. Smart chassis are dry a little lube gets there "knees" bending again.

I can of silicone spray lube inexpensive enough for very little risk to reward.

 

[Richnjohn]

I have only had our 453 for a month and am new to these cars. I prefer to do my own maintenance and would like to find a good repair manual. Does anyone have a recommendation for a repair/maintenance manual?

 

[jwight]

There is no paper repair manual. All the Mercedes maintenance information is online, for a fee, at: https://www.startekinfo.com/StarTek/

 

[Richnjohn]

There is no paper repair manual. All the Mercedes maintenance information is online, for a fee, at: https://www.startekinfo.com/StarTek/

OMG! $3098 per year to subscribe, more expensive than having Mercedes do the work. Thanks for the info. though and I will save the link just incase I run up against something that stumps me. I see they offer a 24 hour access for $60, it might be well worth that amount to get the proper directions.

 

[jzchen]

Richnjohn, with the $60 subscription I try to use PDF Creator to print to .pdf what I need for my own personal repair manual...

 

[paulbob]

Let us know how that works. I'm thinking of trying the same thing.

PB

 

[Yoast]

Hello! how do you prevent it from happening again? I don't want my car to be a nest for some filthy rodents

 

[paulbob]

Hello! how do you prevent it from happening again? I don't want my car to be a nest for some filthy rodents

We'll, if you and I could answer this question we'd be very wealthy! My best answer is cats. I have one on my lap right now and despite her not being a hunter she seems to keep them away. She pees like a dog around the outside of the house and I suspect they smell it.

This being Wisconsin, my Smart was stored in a barn before I bought it. Lots of mice, I guess, but it took me a few days of scrubbing to get the smell out from what was probably just one mouse. Trust me, you don't want rodents in the car.

When I first bought this house I didn't think I would have rodent troubles because I'm downtown. However, a river and a railroad are in my backyard and all sorts of creatures seem to use those as freeways. In the past I had problems with mice chewing wiring harnesses but the mouse that set up camp in my 2013 did not chew the carpet or the wiring. I'm not sure where it was getting its food. Some cars have wiring that is particularly attractive to rodents to the point where Honda introduced into its repair parts inventory a type of electrical tape that has in it the same ingredient as hot peppers. The mice don't like it.

PB

 

[Richnjohn]

I read that they don't like Irish Spring soap, I put bars in the compartments of our RV and haven't had a rodent problem. However, I don't know if that's because of the soap or because we don't have a rodent problem generally.