Oil recommendation for Mercedes M113 V8

[M104]

Hi everyone,

My cousin just bought a very nice 99 Mercedes W208 CLK430 which has the M113 4.3 V8 engine. I am the one doing all the mechanical work on the car and i'll get to drive it quite a lot too. I've heard that these engines are picky on oil. I've read that that lifters can get noisy with oil on the ticker side of the w40 spectrum.

I guess there are still some of you driving one around in a E, S or ML class with high miles and years of ownership. I'd love to know what your experience has been with this engine. So far i am addicted to the V8 torque and sound, it makes the car feel so light and effortless. Gas mileage is quite good for what it is too, maybe a bit better than my straight 6!

 

[Astro14]

Anything 229.5

Whoever told you that they are picky was wrong. They are not picky - but owners don’t read the manual and don’t use an oil that meets MB 229.5 - and they end up with problems as a result - which they blame on the engine. When the problem is ignorance, not the engine.

 

[trd1zz]

I guess there are still some of you driving one around in a E, S or ML class with high miles and years of ownership. I'd love to know what your experience has been with this engine. So far i am addicted to the V8 torque and sound, it makes the car feel so light and effortless. Gas mileage is quite good for what it is too, maybe a bit better than my straight 6!

You guess wrong.

Maybe it's different in Europe, but in the USA this era of MB cars are at the bottom of the barrel. Unless you don't care about your time and/or money it doesn't make any sense to upkeep these cars in running condition. Except for low mileage wagons, these cars are absolutely worthless on the used market.

The motor is actually the high point of these cars. And that's saying something - because the M112/M113's gaskets and seals are likely to fail everywhere by this time. Valve covers, rear main, front crank, breather hoses, valve stems, oil pump seal, and internal timing cover seals and o-rings (this one is catastrophic as it mixes oil with coolant, engine out job).

Enjoy it (or sell it) while it's still running.

 

[M104]

Strange, they're considered very reliable here (for sure much much better than anything new) and prices are skyrocketing. While it was possible to get a decent one for about 3k€ a few years back, a nice one is now about 10k and and it will likely continue to rise as they were the last era of simple, easy to work on V8s in europe. V8s are much more rare here than they are in north america and are very sought after. Everything sold here nowadays are stupidly fragile 3 cyl downsized engines, hybrids and EVs.

Out of all the car i've owned and maintain, this era of Mercedes is by far the most durable cars along with Toyota and Honda. French cars have very solid drive trains but the rest of the car quickly falls apart and they are plain boring 4 cyl engines most of the time.

 

[Dino01]

I have an m113 with a 722.6 transmission, it’s a very durable combination.

The M113 will leak with age, similar to a J series Honda v6, but they will run forever.

As for oil, the cheapest 229.5 0/5w40 is all they need, you’ll be chasing more stupid gremlins in the rest of the car (blower motors, climate control panels, window regulators , etc) but the engines are stupidly reliable

 

[FranklinJL]

I have an m113 with a 722.6 transmission, it’s a very durable combination.

The M113 will leak with age, similar to a J series Honda v6, but they will run forever.

As for oil, the cheapest 229.5 0/5w40 is all they need, you’ll be chasing more stupid gremlins in the rest of the car (blower motors, climate control panels, window regulators , etc) but the engines are stupidly reliable

Anything 229.5 approved works. You live in France? If so just run Ravenol 5w40 VST.....should be cheap over there, and its a excellent oil, just to costly here in the US. Rowe 5w40 Synth RS is also top notch.....

 

[CleanSump]

The engines and transmissionmissions are very reliable and not picky as long as you stick to the recommended specs and change them on time. I ran one to over 340k miles/500k kilometers. Just be sure to change the transmission fluid every 40k to 60k miles too!
The weak spot in the drive trains of my '90s era MBs was the driveshaft Guibos and center bearing. The rubber degrades/cracks over time. The driveshaft center bearing is mounted in rubber support and that will eventually go soft or crack. If you get driveline "clunk" it's time to check the Guibos and center bearing support.
Solid bodies, they rust out here in the US before the drivetrain dies.
Unfortunately, the AC/Heat system doors are controlled by vacuum pods that fail at age too. They've become unobtainable here in the US.

 

[trd1zz]

Strange, they're considered very reliable here (for sure much much better than anything new) and prices are skyrocketing. While it was possible to get a decent one for about 3k€ a few years back, a nice one is now about 10k and and it will likely continue to rise as they were the last era of simple, easy to work on V8s in europe. V8s are much more rare here than they are in north america and are very sought after. Everything sold here nowadays are stupidly fragile 3 cyl downsized engines, hybrids and EVs.

Out of all the car i've owned and maintain, this era of Mercedes is by far the most durable cars along with Toyota and Honda. French cars have very solid drive trains but the rest of the car quickly falls apart and they are plain boring 4 cyl engines most of the time.

Ok, yeah, completely different where you are then.

In no world are M112/M113 Mercedes cars skyrocketing in price in the USA. These cars are dumpster dives here.

While this era of MB is more reliable than other more recent MB (which isn't saying much), to compare the reliability of these MB cars to the Toyotas (or even Hondas) of this era is laughable.

 

[M104]

The issues with these cars are almost always AC issues, rust and leaks after 25+ years. Keep in mind that most of these cars are much more entry evel here than they are in the US. It's not uncommon for a 96-01 E-class to have manual AC, cloth interior, electric windows, manual transmission, no sunroof, no electric seats, no nothing.

90% of these cars where bought with 4 and 6 cyl diesels, the rest with M111 or M112 engines mostly. There's not a single one with less than 350,000 km on the odo around me as i speak and none have had serious issues. I know of a few severely neglected ones and they're still driving around after years without ANY maintenance.

The rest of the cars falls apart quicker than a Toyota with some owners but keep in mind Euro and US Mercedes of that era were very different cars. W210s weren't as good as the 124 series but still much better than anything that came after. W211s are not that good in comparison and owners always have electrical issues. When someone brings me a 210 to do some maintenance it's always the same things: glowplugs, flex discs, motor mounts, shot suspension, leaks, basically anything rubber is shot with age.

 

[Andyd95]

0W40 M1/Mann filter

 

[M104]

but owners don’t read the manual and don’t use an oil that meets MB 229.5 - and they end up with problems as a result - which they blame on the engine. When the problem is ignorance, not the engine.

I'm going through the history of the car to check what oil they used in the past and it was 5W40 C3 229.51! Why even shops can't get this right and use the right oil?

 

[Astro14]

Well, the 229.51 is not a bad choice - it’s a mid/low SAPS (I think) oil that meets some of the same requirements as the 229.5, but is designed to protect a DPF and modern emissions equipment - and it would be the oil for a much newer MB. A shop servicing a variety of MBs would have this in stock for the newer cars.

At least it met some specification. But there isn’t a need to use the 229.51 in this, when it still calls for a 229.5, which is the better choice for the older engine, with more of the anti-wear and detergent additives.

 

[edyvw]

You guess wrong.

Maybe it's different in Europe, but in the USA this era of MB cars are at the bottom of the barrel. Unless you don't care about your time and/or money it doesn't make any sense to upkeep these cars in running condition. Except for low mileage wagons, these cars are absolutely worthless on the used market.

The motor is actually the high point of these cars. And that's saying something - because the M112/M113's gaskets and seals are likely to fail everywhere by this time. Valve covers, rear main, front crank, breather hoses, valve stems, oil pump seal, and internal timing cover seals and o-rings (this one is catastrophic as it mixes oil with coolant, engine out job).

Enjoy it (or sell it) while it's still running.

Here is expert we were waiting for.

 

[edyvw]

I'm going through the history of the car to check what oil they used in the past and it was 5W40 C3 229.51! Why even shops can't get this right and use the right oil?

It is ok. Some MB229.51 have ZDDP levels like full SAPS oils. Evaporation loss etc. is on par MB229.5.
Mobil1 0W40 MB229.5 is readily available in Wal Mart.

 

[trd1zz]

Here is expert we were waiting for.

I owned a MB with M113 V8. Have you? What else do you want to know about it? Want to know how hard it was to sell? No one wants these cars. Complete opposite of this guy's experience in Europe.

 

[edyvw]

I owned a MB with M113 V8. Have you? What else do you want to know about it?

Some people own crowbar and break it.