What oil for a 560SEC?

[Tony E]

I need to top up the oil on my '91, 113,000 miles W126 560SEC. It's down to the top of the red marker after 9 months (not too bad?). I only cover about 7,000 miles a year - a mixture of central London and motorway. Car runs great. Can someone recommend the best oil to use. I searched the internet and just ended up more confused than ever.

Thanks for your help.

Tony

 

[television]

Go for a good make of synthetic.
I change my oil every 6-7k its the cheapest protection I can get with a new filter.
Why not drain it out, get a new filter and fill up with a good synthetic.
whole job take half an hour. there is not much difference between well known brands.

Malcolm.

 

[Tony E]

Thanks. My oil knowledge is woeful. The only brand I could name is Castrol. Just been to their website and thay have a great car/oil matching search facility. Merc 126 series 560 SEC came up with GTX MAGNATEC FOR MODERN ENGINES 10W-40. Is this synthetic? And does the 10W-40 mean that the oil is OK at temperatures of -20 to +30 oC?

Any advice to help me sort this out once and for all?

Tony

 

[oilman]

Either 10w-40 semi or 5w-40 fully synthetic.

Cheers
Simon

 

[clive williams]

Thanks. My oil knowledge is woeful. The only brand I could name is Castrol. Just been to their website and thay have a great car/oil matching search facility. Merc 126 series 560 SEC came up with GTX MAGNATEC FOR MODERN ENGINES 10W-40. Is this synthetic? And does the 10W-40 mean that the oil is OK at temperatures of -20 to +30 oC?

Any advice to help me sort this out once and for all?

Tony

The Castrol synthetic oil suitable for Mercs is RS Performance 0W-40, which I purchase from Makro at £16.99+VAT for 4 litres. I used to use Mobil 1 but got fed up with paying the premium price and with the way that it found all the weak points to leak from, which does not occur with other oils. Your vehicle will require 8 litres i.e. 2 cans and a Hengst filter (obtainable from Euro Car Parts).

PS The Castrol oil maintains better oil pressure than Mobil 1 although I am assured that the Mobil oil is still performing supremely.

Clive

500E
E320CDIT210

 

[Mikesmerc]

I used to use fully synthetic on my 1990 560SEC until the hydraulic tappets started ticking, went back to non synthetic and found it quitened with slightly better oil pressure. Were these engines ever designed to run on fully synthetic?
Mike

 

[clive williams]

I used to use fully synthetic on my 1990 560SEC until the hydraulic tappets started ticking, went back to non synthetic and found it quitened with slightly better oil pressure. Were these engines ever designed to run on fully synthetic?
Mike

Mike,

What synthetic did you use? If it was Mobil 1 then my comments about it as essentially a thin oil would explain it. The 560 is a modern high pressure engine, which benefits from full synthetic. Oilman will probably advise but I would try one of the other sythetics in preference to the mineral based oils for that extra logevity

Clive

500E
E320CDIT210

 

[oilman]

The design does not make a difference to the basestock of the oil. Synthetics are merely better quality and come in all viscosities from 0w-20 to 20w-60. The most important thing is using the correct grade.

Cheers
Simon

 

[Tony E]

Thanks everyone.

Been loking at a few other forums and it seems that 0W-40 would be too thin. After reading everything I think I will go for Castrol GTX MAGNATEC FOR MODERN ENGINES 10W-40. I don't know if this is fully or semi-synthetic, but it's what Castrol themselves reckon for my particular car.

Any other 560 SEC owners got any better suggestions?

 

[oilman]

Not great quality, semi-synthetic.

Personally I would go for a proper 5w-40 fully synthetic for better cold start and less engine wear on those cold mornings.

Cheers
Simon

 

[Tony E]

Fair enough. How about Silkolene Pro S 5W-40 then?

 

[oilman]

IMHO the best you can get for quality, it may be a little overkill as we use this in 1000bhp cars etc but will not harm!

Cheers
Simon

 

[grober]

Castrol gtx magnatec 10w-40

Your initial choice of Castrol GTX MAGNATEC FOR MODERN ENGINES 10W-40. is fine for a car of that vintage. Its a semi synthetic. Its what my MB dealer put in both my 190e,s of the same vintage so has the official stamp of approval. Whats more important is regular oil and filter changes IMHO. Fully synthetics undoubted advantages are really only "required" on modern engines with their extended service intervals complex engine management systems and turbos/compressors etc. MB dealers use the fully synthetics now because the bulk of their service is concerned with modern engines and thats what MB dictate. A few years back MB in the states had a rash of warranty engine claims because dealers were using older oils with extended service intervals OOPS

 

[Mikesmerc]

Mike,

What synthetic did you use? If it was Mobil 1 then my comments about it as essentially a thin oil would explain it. The 560 is a modern high pressure engine, which benefits from full synthetic. Oilman will probably advise but I would try one of the other sythetics in preference to the mineral based oils for that extra logevity

Clive

500E
E320CDIT210

Not quiet sure but I think it was Duckhams Clive, been so long since I have driven it.:-(
Mike

 

[Tony E]

A quick look on the web tells me that Silkolene Pro S 5W-40 is about £37 for 5 litres, whereas Castrol GTX Magnatec 10W-40 is about £22 for 4.5 litres.

Also http://www.performance-oils.co.uk/Car.htm says for the Silkolene "Caution Strictly for professional racing and track use only. Some older engine designs may have inadequate oil pump capacity under race conditions to maintain full oil pressure with this low viscosity product."

As the Silkolene looks expensive, difficult to get hold of and I don't like the sound of the Caution notice it looks like Castrol for the old girl.

Unless someone can come up with a middle ground?