New A Class oil usage

[Robert K Smith]

Hi.....Can anyone confirm that the new A Class with the Renault engine has to be topped up with oil every 1000km or so. Were not told this before purchase which might have made a difference. Mercedes tell me this is 'normal' but were VERY reluctant to do so. They still haven't given an explanation, just it's 'normal'. Well it hasn't been 'normal' on the other 14 Mercs I bought over the years. Had a long chat with the sales manager at our local dealership and he admitted that they've been bad at explaining this to potential customers......or are they just hiding this until they've got the deal done?

Have written to Gary Savage about this but the response was 'no fault found' with the car. BUT, no explanation as to why this particular model needs a regular oil top up other than from very helpful technicians who agree that potential customers should be informed and about the reason why.

 

[Mark A]

Worth checking oil level on any car at least once a week, that way you can catch anything before there is too much damage done.

 

[Wighty]

Hi.....Can anyone confirm that the new A Class with the Renault engine has to be topped up with oil every 1000km or so. Were not told this before purchase which might have made a difference. Mercedes tell me this is 'normal' but were VERY reluctant to do so. They still haven't given an explanation, just it's 'normal'. Well it hasn't been 'normal' on the other 14 Mercs I bought over the years. Had a long chat with the sales manager at our local dealership and he admitted that they've been bad at explaining this to potential customers......or are they just hiding this until they've got the deal done?

Have written to Gary Savage about this but the response was 'no fault found' with the car. BUT, no explanation as to why this particular model needs a regular oil top up other than from very helpful technicians who agree that potential customers should be informed and about the reason why.

I think the back of the incar users manual should give some oil usage guidelines , if it differs from that advice that might help you . 600 miles for 1L is pretty much every time you fill the car !

 

[ajlsl600]

600 to a lit would really annoy me.. if rings and guides good where oil going ? also op does not say miles run. if new and issue recorded properly, maybe it needs to run in ? if not it must be a 2 stroke !!

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Occasionally this happens - like all manufactured goods engine tolerances vary which means that a small number of engines do use a lot more oil than others. My son has a e class 213 and it requires 1 litre every 10k miles which I would accept as normal especially in view of the fact that most of his motoring is motorway ie. high speed high temperatures. Like you I would be very unhappy with oil consumption of 600 miles to 1 litre and want something done about it, mind you manufacturers tend to cover themselves and your usage is about on the limit of what they deem as acceptable. On another note it can’t be good for the environment imagine if all cars out there were doing the same.

Hope you get somewhere with your complaint and it might be a good idea to find out what other owners are experiencing which might help your case

 

[ajlsl600]

i think that page in the owners book ,is a benz get out of jail free card .however i have previously discovered that certain engines settle at different levels on oil stick (if yr lucky enough to still have one ) and that anything you add over that level seems to vanish maybe you top and carefully let it get to that level and see if it stabilizes or continues to drop . whilst taking due care not to allow it below min.. or are you relying on the "brain/sensor "combination to advise you ? in which case establishing a safe level without continuous top ups will not be easy...... and yet another reason why there should be a manual dipstick, other that at the stealers . hope you get a satisfactory solution...

 

[Robert K Smith]

i think that page in the owners book ,is a benz get out of jail free card .however i have previously discovered that certain engines settle at different levels on oil stick (if yr lucky enough to still have one ) and that anything you add over that level seems to vanish maybe you top and carefully let it get to that level and see if it stabilizes or continues to drop . whilst taking due care not to allow it below min.. or are you relying on the "brain/sensor "combination to advise you ? in which case establishing a safe level without continuous top ups will not be easy...... and yet another reason why there should be a manual dipstick, other that at the stealers . hope you get a satisfactory solution...

Thanks....can't see any dipstick.....can't see one either on a new GLC we've taken delivery of. It seems to me that these new renault engines gobble up the oil as if they think Merc customers own a refinery. Doesn't seem to me that whoever I try and get advice from.....there is a wall of silence about his matter. Reminds me of the time I bought the very first Merc and I asked for a discount....the salesman said 'if you can't afford it, you can't have it'......Not sure I can / want to afford the new A Class with it's oil usage.

 

[Srdl]

Thanks....can't see any dipstick.....can't see one either on a new GLC we've taken delivery of. It seems to me that these new renault engines gobble up the oil as if they think Merc customers own a refinery. Doesn't seem to me that whoever I try and get advice from.....there is a wall of silence about his matter. Reminds me of the time I bought the very first Merc and I asked for a discount....the salesman said 'if you can't afford it, you can't have it'......Not sure I can / want to afford the new A Class with it's oil usage.

My GLC has a dipstick but that is a 2018 model so may be different on the facelift.

Checked my manual and it says “Depending on your driving style, the vehicle consumes up to 0.8 l of oil per 1,000 km. The oil consumption may be higher than this when the vehicle is new or if you frequently drive at high engine speeds.” That seems to be Mercedes justification for saying yours is normal. I’m on 9000 miles so far and haven’t needed to add any oil.

 

[Robert K Smith]

My GLC has a dipstick but that is a 2018 model so may be different on the facelift.

Checked my manual and it says “Depending on your driving style, the vehicle consumes up to 0.8 l of oil per 1,000 km. The oil consumption may be higher than this when the vehicle is new or if you frequently drive at high engine speeds.” That seems to be Mercedes justification for saying yours is normal. I’m on 9000 miles so far and haven’t needed to add any oil.

Thanks Steve.....Does seem it's all 'smoke and mirrors' concerning their new vehicles. Don't tell 'them' anything before we've got their money in the bank.....then deny everything behind a 'that's normal' excuse. Would just be nice for someone at Mercedes to just tell the truth......'YES, these new engines are designed to use more oil than you would reasonably expect and here is the reason why'.......etc.

 

[ajlsl600]

waitin/wonderin on the why. once its run in ? or are they runnin in till they run out .on a slightly diff note i have just interviewed one of my ride on mowers engines, was a bit surprised the barrel bore is all alli, or some alloy of. i had to re ring it because of oil use ,no ridge, but not optimistic on result looks a real throw away AGAIN..... maybe benz are at same stunt..

 

[LostKiwi]

waitin/wonderin on the why. once its run in ? or are they runnin in till they run out .on a slightly diff note i have just interviewed one of my ride on mowers engines, was a bit surprised the barrel bore is all alli, or some alloy of. i had to re ring it because of oil use ,no ridge, but not optimistic on result looks a real throw away AGAIN..... maybe benz are at same stunt..

Alloy bores are quite common these days. The M112/113 both use aluminium bores with a hardening treatment (alusil). Seems pretty robust over high mileages.
Interestingly Lancia were first to use it back in the 1920s.

 

[number six]

Robert.... I am having exactly the same experience in my new C300. One litre of oil every thousand miles, dealer showing total lack of interest, grudgingly admit "it is within spec". Can you imagine a salesman saying "these new engines drink oil like it's going out of fashion. Keep an eye on the level and be prepared to top up regularly"?
Bad for the environment, expensive, extremely inconvenient. And is all that burnt oil passing through cat. convertor and PPF likely to cause damage

 

[matthew k]

This reminds me of BMW's infamous late 90's Nickasil issue! 1L every 600 miles sounds ridiculous to me, be interesting to see how it settles down over it's first 10k.

 

[LostKiwi]

I'd be prepared to grudgingly accept 1 litre per 1000 miles but 1 litre per 1000kms is a bit much.
Even RX8s don't use that much!

 

[ajlsl600]

Alloy bores are quite common these days. The M112/113 both use aluminium bores with a hardening treatment (alusil). Seems pretty robust over high mileages.
Interestingly Lancia were first to use it back in the 1920s.

and the engine of the OP ?

 

[Wighty]

My brother recently got an engine rebuild by Audi on an 8 year old A5 , that was a high oil user , ending up using 1L in 350 miles before the work was completed (all for free !)

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

OM608

https://www.a-classforum.com/forum/...es-class-gets-renault-made-diesel-engine.html

 

[LostKiwi]

and the engine of the OP ?

Would appear to be cast iron as far as I can Google....

 

[ajlsl600]

Would appear to be cast iron as far as I can Google....

right was wondering if connection between alli bores and high/higher oil use, as in my mower...

 

[DSK]

My understanding in general, in recent years to help fuel economy figures etc, all friction areas were looked at and one area, the engines, are believed to be no longer built to the tight tolerances they once were, to cause less friction in the engine. As a result, this results in such oil usage which everyone says is common and should be normal/acceptable and additionally premature failures/shorter service lives.

In my book, such oil usage is unacceptable under normal usage conditions. Living on a race track, I'd accept it.