Oil Types used by dealers

[Stevie A]

I've been reading the other threads about dealers and cost and read about people mentioning oil types.

The local MB dealer, who has been excellent, told me this: "we used Castrol oil for years but now use Mobil and that is only because of the Formula One sponsorship". So if you know when the MB - Mobil link came in then you know if your car is older than that year then it probably came with Castrol in it. I presume the same for the transmission oil etc.

Castrol is perfectly good for an older Benz then.

 

[DC_insider]

So if you know when the MB - Mobil link came in...

1995 if I remember correctly - the same time MB linked up with McLaren.

 

[jberks]

All the makes are pretty much the same I suspect but the types aren't. E.g. My dealer uses Castrol Magnatec which isn't fully synthetic, whereas others, such as my local Indie use Mobil1 which is. The downside of the Magnatec appears to be shorter service intervals and whilst it is 1/2 the price of the synthetic version, I've never been given the choice. On my E240, when I topped up with a litre of synthetic, I got an extra 1500 miles on the service interval. I've just put 1l of magnatec in and it made no difference whatsoever. Not sure whether that is the oil or the engine though.

 

[MIW615]

All the makes are pretty much the same I suspect but the types aren't. E.g. My dealer uses Castrol Magnatec which isn't fully synthetic, whereas others, such as my local Indie use Mobil1 which is. The downside of the Magnatec appears to be shorter service intervals and whilst it is 1/2 the price of the synthetic version, I've never been given the choice. On my E240, when I topped up with a litre of synthetic, I got an extra 1500 miles on the service interval. I've just put 1l of magnatec in and it made no difference whatsoever. Not sure whether that is the oil or the engine though.

What is the viscosity of the castrol magnatec?