Best of the best oil?

[oigle]

I personally use Shell Ultra 5W/40 fully syn and run it for 2 years. This is mainly because the car usage now is low and I struggle to do 10000km in 2 years. I do try to do a longish run every so often to evaporate any condensation and fuel from the oil. When usage was high and I was towing a caravan in our hot conditions, I was changing yearly, regardless of mileage.

 

[Arudge]

You should change any oil yearly regardless of fully synthetic. Our winters cause water to condense inside the engine, in extreme cases the oil turns milky by spring.

Not a problem I suffer from.

 

[DREAMER NO2]

Well this never said what fully synthetic oil to use in the older cars .

 

[JBell]

I just couldnt bring myself to put 50 quid for 20 litres oil off ebay into a Mercedes.

So you wouldn't buy OEM Mercedes Oil sold by a Mercedes Dealer just because you perceive it to be too cheap or because you perceive everything on E-Bay to be c**p?

This is the stuff

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20-L-Genu...456975?hash=item1eb6e4a64f:g:M7UAAOSwMtxXvqL8

 

[Sylar]

I personally use Shell Ultra 5W/40 fully syn and run it for 2 years. This is mainly because the car usage now is low and I struggle to do 10000km in 2 years. I do try to do a longish run every so often to evaporate any condensation and fuel from the oil. When usage was high and I was towing a caravan in our hot conditions, I was changing yearly, regardless of mileage.

Shell Ultra 5W/40 fully synthetic it is.

As an ex seasoned Ducati owner I know how good Shells reputation is when it comes to oil. 99% of Ducati owners will only put Shell in a Ducati, im not kidding, them bikes are so fussy, anyone that puts anything else in can kiss there bottom end away......

Thanks Ian, i'll treat it to Shell.

 

[Yugguy]

I would say though that in 30 years of driving and maintaining cars myself I have found that even if it's the same grade and spec, different engines like different oils and it can make a big difference to engine noise and oil consumption.

 

[Sylar]

So you wouldn't buy OEM Mercedes Oil sold by a Mercedes Dealer just because you perceive it to be too cheap or because you perceive everything on E-Bay to be c**p?

This is the stuff

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20-L-Genu...456975?hash=item1eb6e4a64f:g:M7UAAOSwMtxXvqL8

I dont think ebays crap, i do wonder about Mercedes dealers though. Im new to a merc- sort of... and have been shocked by the problems you all deal with.

 

[JBell]

According to the Opie Oils site you need MB229.3 spec which is Shell Helix Ultra

Options here

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/c-2354-lo...828:0,98527:0,98320:0,98438:0&yearFilter=2006

 

[JBell]

I dont think ebays crap, i do wonder about Mercedes dealers though. Im new to a merc- sort of... and have been shocked by the problems you all deal with.

Newcastle and Grangemouth Merc are both well trusted on the forum, they give excellent deals to members all the time, Grangemouth currently have a service offer on for filters with free oil

 

[DREAMER NO2]

Just been on to the Castrol web site, and put my reg in . The oil recomended for my M103 engine is not fully synthetic . Have information to say - the oil i should use is Castrol Magnatec S/synthetic 10W40 . Wel i have been uesing this for sme time now And Castrol dont recomend a fully synthetic oil to use in my case.

 

[Arudge]

I dont think ebays crap, i do wonder about Mercedes dealers though. Im new to a merc- sort of... and have been shocked by the problems you all deal with.

You wait till your transmission goes tits up.....

 

[Arudge]

Well this never said what fully synthetic oil to use in the older cars .

What we mean by older cars is pre 1993 befor catalytic converters. Then it's only the weight of the oil you need to consider, which I'd probably use 10w40 fully synthetic. Any 10w40 fully synthetic would be more than good enough.

 

[Sylar]

Newcastle and Grangemouth Merc are both well trusted on the forum, they give excellent deals to members all the time, Grangemouth currently have a service offer on for filters with free oil

i can see why the oils free.

 

[M80]

I just couldnt bring myself to put 50 quid for 20 litres oil off ebay into a Mercedes. Maybe for my lawnmower and gate hinges Actually, scrap that, just the gate hinges......

On that principle a 2nd hand buy with a maintenance record from a main MB dealer is no indication of the car being looked after correctly, as they might well have used the oil being sold on Ebay. But most buyers would prefer a main dealer service record.

My thoughts are that fleet vehicles will be serviced as prescribed by the manufacturer. The service intervals wont be reduced by the fleet managers, and materials used will be decided by the maintenance depot carrying out the service. I would generally expect this to be a main agent.

As we see many MB's here with stella mileages and many, if not most, will be ex company cars I'm happy to carry on servicing my motors to the same spec.



Ian thanks for the response that's interesting. My mileage is generally around 15k miles p.a., the Vito (Viano) is good for approx 23k miles between services so I'm changing the oil at a little less than 2 year intervals.

Larisa's mileage (2.7 MB engined Gr Cherokee) is closer to 6k p.a. and this means her oil changes are in practice a little over 2 years. The only real journey it ever sees is if I take it somewhere for a day.

They both get 229.51 spec, it used to be Castrol Edge 5w - 40 but nowadays is becoming the £53 for 20 litres oil from MB Newcastle. Up here we can have Scottish style winters and at oil changes I've never experienced anything but pure black oil coming out, never a sign of condensation on either, but I will be looking for signs.
The Vito is now up to 338k miles and drives like it's a freight train. I have the full service record of it and in previous ownership it seems 2 oil changes were left longer than I would have liked. If the Viano (now at 144k miles, regularly serviced) can achieve the same mileage as the Vito there is another 12 years+ motoring at my usage, that'll do me.

 

[Wighty]

i can see why the oils free.

Isn't this the same oil that is the factory fill in a new Merc , and used by MB dealers for servicing ?

 

[DREAMER NO2]

What we mean by older cars is pre 1993 befor catalytic converters. Then it's only the weight of the oil you need to consider, which I'd probably use 10w40 fully synthetic. Any 10w40 fully synthetic would be more than good enough.

I can only find recomended oil in 10W40 semi synthetic .No other fully synthetic as been recomended by any oil company as yet.

 

[Droverunner]

>>>I thought...The base stock of synthetic oil was either actually synthetic or chemically altered to behave as synthetic.

>>>Nope. Base oil is mineral.

oigle you will have to expand on that for me to get my head round your comments. If synthetic oil is mineral why is it called synthetic... and if synthetic is only mineral oil why do you use Shell Ultra 5W/40 fully syn?

>>>couldnt bring myself to put 50 quid for 20 litres oil off ebay into a Mercedes. Maybe for my lawnmower and gate hinges Actually, scrap that, just the gate hinges......

Well the first part of that has been addressed but I can save you some cash for maintaining gate hinges... a 10/40 semi-synthetic is good enough for such applications... it's what's in my trigger can.

 

[Yugguy]

Well you pays yer money and you takes yer choice.

I'm happy with genuine mb oil and filters and happy they don't cost more than genuine ford or VX stuff.

 

[Wighty]

>>>I thought...The base stock of synthetic oil was either actually synthetic or chemically altered to behave as synthetic.

>>>Nope. Base oil is mineral.

oigle you will have to expand on that for me to get my head round your comments. If synthetic oil is mineral why is it called synthetic... and if synthetic is only mineral oil why to you use Shell Ultra 5W/40 fully syn?

>>>couldnt bring myself to put 50 quid for 20 litres oil off ebay into a Mercedes. Maybe for my lawnmower and gate hinges Actually, scrap that, just the gate hinges......

Well the first part of that has been addressed but I can save you some cash for maintaining gate hinges... a 10/40 semi-synthetic is good enough for such applications... it's what's in my trigger can.

I'm loving the thread but confused , are you saying the £50 for £20L of MB oil , in MB containers sold by MB on eBay is somehow not the best for my Merc ?

 

[Droverunner]

>>>I'm loving the thread but confused

I'm just heading off to see if there is somewhere to discuss vinyl vs digital!