Info needed on MB 10W/40 engine oil

[KC]

Hi, I am new to this board. I have been lurking around for a while and I must say I have learned a lot more about motor oil with the wealth of information provided by the board members. I have a question here and hope someone in this board could shed some light.

I have received from my pal five one-liter can of Mercedes Benz 10W-40 engine oil. There is no API or SAE numbers printed on the labels, except for "According to MB specifications for service products, sheet 229.1". Also printed on the cautions label states "Contains calcium phenolate, calcium sulfonate on base. May produce an allergic reaction." There is a product number below the bar code, which reads: A 000 989 33 01. It is marketed by Daimler Chrysler AG, Germany and made in Netherlands.

I intend to use this oil on my 85 BMW 323i. What I really want to find out is, whether this MB 10W/40 oil is a dino oil or a synthetic oil because it would determine my next oil change interval.

Any help on this is appreciated. Sorry could not post a photo of the label.

KC.

 

[TomJones76]

I found the Mercedes bulletin describing 229.1 along with a listing of 229.1 oils.
Most of the listed oils are synthetic. I believe there are a couple of oils on the list that are conventional motor oils, but all the ones I saw that are conventional are HDEOs (that means for diesels or semis).
The language in the bulletin saying "suitable for normal drain intervals" tells me to run your normal OCI on this oil.

This is the listing about 229.1:

"MB sheet 229.1 approved oils
for passenger cars with gas and diesel engines, minimum spec for latest (98+) engines, high detergent, dispersant spec suitable for normal drain intervals. Based on ACEA A2, A3, B2, B3. Note 229.1 oils are not recommended for MB's latest (2002+) 4 valve gas M271, M275, M285 and diesel OM646, OM647, OM648 engines."

This is followed with a list of compliant oils. I'm not posting them due to length.

I found this all at:

"http://www.whnet.com/4x4/oil.html"

 

[KC]

TJ76,

Thanks for the information provided.

The site that you mentioned did provide a very good user info on various MB specs on oil for their engines. I have also learned from an article - Engine Oil Primer - which I had stored in my PC (did not have the source of the article) that Calcium Sulfonate is some sort of detergent additive and Calcium Phenolate is an alkalinity additive, primarily for diesel engines.

As you have pointed out and also what I suspect, the 5 cans of MB 10W/40 oil that I have could well be a diesel HDEO, which I think would go well with my 376K miles engine.

KC.

 

[TomJones76]

Regarding your suspicion that this oil is appropriate for an HDEO, I believe you must be correct.
You'll note that in the text I quoted above, it says
"Based on ACEA A2, A3, B2, B3."
B2 and B3 are both specs for light-duty diesel engines under the ACEA engine oil classification system [1]. This is as opposed to the "E" series of specifications from ACEA, which would be intended for construction equipment, over-the-road semis and large generators.

[1] The ACEA spec charts are at the below link, but the categories are on pages 5 to 7: http://www.acea.be/ASB20/axidownloa...003B7577/$File/ACEA2004 oil sequences-DEF.pdf