engine oil and electronic dipsticks

[zeeshh]

Thanks all. However in case if this brand new engine is turning oil / asking for more, the how establish that engine is weak now?

 

[V6Matty]

Thanks all. However in case if this brand new engine is turning oil / asking for more, the how establish that engine is weak now?

Your still over thinking it, newer engines seem to want much more oil than their older counterparts. The smaller engines are also much thirstier, for example my wife’s 169 wants about a litre between services (about 10k between then currently), where as my 212 wont ever need more than about a quarter and service intervals are 14k at the moment.

 

[Blobcat]

Thanks all. However in case if this brand new engine is turning oil / asking for more, the how establish that engine is weak now?

It's not weak, how many miles on it? still bedding in

 

[zeeshh]

28 is current mileage, 2.5 yr old

 

[LostKiwi]

Mercedes will tell you that up to 1 litre per 1000 miles is acceptable.
Is it repeatedly asking for top ups or are you topping up each time it gets to minimum or are you just concerned it's always at minimum?
Every engine I've had has had its own unique behaviour with oil. Some will sit on max for all the mileage between services. Some will start at max then stabilise at a level (could be half way or higher or lower) and if you top it up again it just goes back to whatever that point is. Some will drink a little oil all the time.
Unless the consumption is more than acceptable and doesn't settle at its own level there isn't an issue.

 

[zeeshh]

I m actually concerned that oil level is dropping. You r right, this is my 4th E class never saw this behaviour in earlier models. MB told me the same thing that 1 litre per 1000 miles is ok, but in had 12k done from Service A , so should have put 10-12 litre in it , where total oil capacity is 6.4 litre.
I have booked appointment for Fri, let's see what they say this time.

 

[LostKiwi]

It doesn't matter what the total oil capacity is. If it's using less than 1 litre per thousand miles MB will say it's acceptable.
It isn't unusual for an engine to use a little oil (and it's not unhealthy either). I'd rather use a little oil than none at all.

How many times have you topped up?

 

[Blobcat]

My 213 would go from full to needing between services - never actually topped it up though as that was for the dealer (Service plan)

 

[zeeshh]

I didn't top it up and I stead MB did the B sevice early, few weeks. But now after B service its getting nearer to Min after 4k miles in less than 5 months.

Ideally as earlier I expect the level goes down but not below Min in 12-14k miles and the servicing will bring it to the Max. Never had to add oil

It doesn't matter what the total oil capacity is. If it's using less than 1 litre per thousand miles MB will say it's acceptable.
It isn't unusual for an engine to use a little oil (and it's not unhealthy either). I'd rather use a little oil than none at all.

How many times have you topped up?

 

[LostKiwi]

Ok so min to max is usually 1 litre. That means 4-5000 miles per litre which is well under the maximum consumption permitted.
I seriously doubt MB will be concerned or will do anything.
As I've said before, I wouldn't be overly concerned unless it gets much worse.

 

[rf065]

In a lot of these posts folk mention the electronic measurements are ‘unreliable ‘ .....any actual evidence ?
Personally as above, if the car asks for oil, give it some and if not leave it ....

I've got evidence from experimenting on my CLK. I bought a dipstick for it and did my own oil changes inbetween services. Got fed up with "oil level too high" messages when the dipstick showed the oil level was not too high, so just ignored them after that.
I used to measure the oil level after draining the sump and the car told me it still had 1.4 litres even though the sump was empty.
When filling with fresh oil, the engine was to get 6.4 litres, I experimented by adding more oil to see what it would say, and after 6.8 litres was shown on the dash you could add as much as you liked, it would not register more than that.
So for me, the dipstick was 100% reliable, would never trust the electronic method though.

 

[zeeshh]

MB just called me that everything is fine with the engine and they have added 0.5 litre oil and the electronic display did move up. Also, they said the electronic meter is not reliable and doesn't reflect the actual oil quantity, it just tells that enough oil is present and shows green bar between Min & Max.

Well, since I (and hopefully all of you) have seen the electronic green bar touching the Max mark, so i'm not very satisfied with their explanation. but shall pick the car up after work and let's see if it given low oil level alarm before 3rd service.
thanks all for your inputs

 

[number six]

So it turns my lovely new C300 now at 3,000 miles is using 1 litre of engine oil every thousand miles. Predictable unsympathetic response from MB: "It is normal for these engines to use 1 litre of oil every 800 to 1,000 miles or even more when new". I find this very hard to accept. Does this mean some, most or all cars? Surely if it was that common MB would be swamped with complaints from unhappy customers (perhaps they are?). Presumably oil is getting past the piston rings, so will this gradually settle down? I thought the bedding in process occurred in the first few hundred miles, so should be well past by now. Am I worrying unnecessarily? Would you be happy with a brand new car drinking oil like this?

I have driven the car exactly as advised from new, keeping revs down for first thousand miles, gradually thereafter increasing throttle openings and rev range. I have never driven the car harshly or aggressively and only fairly recently taken it up to 3-4000 revs a few times. It now feels more responsive and powerful than it did when new, so should surely be sufficiently run-in.

As usual it has proven impossible to get any useful help or information from MB customer services or mobile assistance, supplying main dealer will not allow me to speak to a technician despite waiting in their "lounge" (yuk!) for an hour. "Sorry, no-one available". Very disappointed with this can't-be-bothered attitude. I had hoped giving my hard-earned cash to a local dealer (brokers were couple of thousand cheaper) would prove beneficial if something went wrong.

 

[umblecumbuz]

Am I worrying unnecessarily? Would you be happy with a brand new car drinking oil like this?
.... I have never driven the car harshly or aggressively and only fairly recently taken it up to 3-4000 revs a few times.
..... I had hoped giving my hard-earned cash to a local dealer (brokers were couple of thousand cheaper) would prove beneficial if something went wrong.

Yes, I feel you are worrying over nothing.

Time to give it some welly. Engines today do not reward well if they are cosseted. You may be building up trouble further down the line by pampering the machine too much.

The name 'Mercedes' is no magic bullet. They assemble parts from a myriad suppliers and sell the results. Their main purpose in doing this is to make money. Don't buy into the 'But it's a Mercedes' marketing spiel. In this, they are no different from Dyson, Apple or Ford.

 

[ajlsl600]

electronic meter for oil not accurate ! as much use as a chocolate fireguard ....

ref oil levels .i have sometimes found that topping up just causes that top up to disappear and one tops again and the cycle continues . on occasions i have also noted that once it has dropped a bit it stays at that level without incident and topping becomes unnecessary .. as LK says not all engines behave in the same way. this issues is not helped by the electronic crap under the bonnet cause and effect of some D/H trying to reinvent the wheel .simple ,effective ,easy to use old fashioned dipstick all thats needed .no confusion, NO further costs .simple. however it work on the assumption that one is capable of understanding how to find/use it ??? IF we can no longer assume this we are at a real low....

 

[Oldspanners]

Back a lot of years ago I had five GTI VW engined cars in a row 3 of which never showed signs of using oil, of the other two one used a litre between changes and the last a litre every 900 miles. I pointed this out and got the same reply a litre every 800-1000 miles is acceptable and I was using VW's own oil in all of them. Never noticed any difference in performance, mpg or any other issues.
Just changed the oil on my C180, sucked out about five and a half litres which is what was put in 7,000kms ago. Refilled with the same amount and then used the "hidden menu" to measure it, 5.4 litres it said which allowing for the filter is about spot on.
All engines have tolerances and if you have one assembled with parts on the wrong end of these you'll have one which uses more oil, just were the acceptable limits are is what the dealer will tell you unfortunately.

 

[Blobcat]

Yes, I feel you are worrying over nothing.

Time to give it some welly. Engines today do not reward well if they are cosseted. You may be building up trouble further down the line by pampering the machine too much.

The name 'Mercedes' is no magic bullet. They assemble parts from a myriad suppliers and sell the results. Their main purpose in doing this is to make money. Don't buy into the 'But it's a Mercedes' marketing spiel. In this, they are no different from Dyson, Apple or Ford.

I agree with that, getting it fully warm and working it hard is what I'd be doing with your car.

My first 320di had 21,000 miles on when I got it and was very "tight" when I sold it at 139,000 it was running beautifully and using no oil whatsoever.

 

[number six]

OK thanks for advice. Hopefully engine will benefit from some heavier right foot

 

[Botus]

Is a new engine likely to have used any oil at 2,000 miles?

it all depends upon a number of factors

1) the luck of manu tolerances means you have no idea if you get a good engine, an average one, or a crap one
2) the type of driving the vehicle gets before the first owner gets change to influence it. most delivery boys and mechs treat them like **** and if it got moved a few hundred times before the tech at your place tried to wrecked it who knows
3) the type of use it gets when cold and the stupid use of stop start (AKA break my engine)
4) how the vehicle is "broken in". This is complex balance and an understanding of engineering principles

the piston rings need an appropriate level of abuse to get them to bed in and seal.... what's needed depends on the engine design and the tolerance a specific engine ended up with.

Too gentle an approach and the engine may use oil and perform more slowly than another. To much abuse and it'll do the same. And making it worse we get in conflict with other parts of the engine. if the engine is tight on bearing clearances on the crank, then gentle use here is essential and it conflicts with the need to bed in the piston rings.... ( so you might have made performance and oil consumption good, but trashed the bottom end doing it....)

Low revs and high torque is a mistake
Drive flat out from the get go is also very stupid.
Varying the revs, light throttle application and the odd short burst of hard acceleration will better break things in than following some clap trap about don't do more than x revs for y miles.
Not that its the same engine, but one motocross 2 stroke method I read years back the idea was to ride gently till full operating temp... then ride flat out for 20 seconds and turn off the engine… when fully cold do the same again. And that was it job done... The idea was to bed in the rings for max power and allow hot spots to cool before things get upset

 

[LostKiwi]

Not that its the same engine, but on one motocross 2 stroke method I read years back the idea was to ride gently till full operating temp... then ride flat out for 20 seconds and turn off the engine… when fully cold do the same again. And that was it job done...

Similar to the method we used to use to break in racing engines until we got an engine dynamometer.