Hello fellow oil enthusiasts! First time poster here so please be gentle. I would love to hear recommendations for my next oil change.
Below are my details in the order suggested by user d00df00d in his post What oil should I use? What is the BEST oil?:
Vehicle: 1998 Mercedes-Benz SL 500 Sport with the M119 engine – DOHC V8, 303 cubic inches – with 105,000 miles on it. It uses no oil between changes and a recent BlackStone Labs UOA indicates minimal wear levels so things are in good condition. I have been running Liqui-Moly 5w40 and it currently has Mobil 1 5w30 (both full synthetics).
Owner’s manual: Mercedes-Benz oil specification sheet 229.3 / 229.5. Mercedes-Benz recommends only the use of synthetic motor oil for all vehicles equipped with the Flexible Service System (1998 & newer, which applies to my car). Below is an alphabetic list of Mercedes Approved Synthetic Engine Oil (1998 – 2004 Models):
My driving ‘style’ is generally easy although on longer trips I push it fairly hard (I own and use a very good radar detector…). The car was designed to be a long-distance high speed tourer and that is what I use it for.
This car is not a daily driver, it sits in the garage for weeks at a time and is used mainly for longer trips, from 50-100 mile daily jaunts to weeks-long several thousand mile trips. So very few short drives, it gets warm and stays that way most of the time.
The car has no issues, runs like a charm and does not use any oil between changes.
I am a firm believer in using quality oils in order to maintain engine life – oils are cheaper than engines - I love this car and I want to treat it well hence my use of UOA to check the internal wear condition. I think that a full synthetic oil is a better choice than a ‘dino’ oil given what I have read to date (Motor Oil University, etc.).
What particularly intrigues me (in addition to the ‘approved oils’ list) are some of the newer “small company” synthetics such as Amsoil and Royal Purple as well as the really rare ones like SynLube Lube-4-Life (anybody ever heard of it?).
Recommendations would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
Below are my details in the order suggested by user d00df00d in his post What oil should I use? What is the BEST oil?:
Vehicle: 1998 Mercedes-Benz SL 500 Sport with the M119 engine – DOHC V8, 303 cubic inches – with 105,000 miles on it. It uses no oil between changes and a recent BlackStone Labs UOA indicates minimal wear levels so things are in good condition. I have been running Liqui-Moly 5w40 and it currently has Mobil 1 5w30 (both full synthetics).
Owner’s manual: Mercedes-Benz oil specification sheet 229.3 / 229.5. Mercedes-Benz recommends only the use of synthetic motor oil for all vehicles equipped with the Flexible Service System (1998 & newer, which applies to my car). Below is an alphabetic list of Mercedes Approved Synthetic Engine Oil (1998 – 2004 Models):
- 76 Pure Synthetic Motor Oil 5W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.3
- Castrol Syntec 5W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.3
- Castrol Syntec European Formula 0W-30* | MB Sheet: 229.5
- ELF Excellium 229.5 5W-30* | MB Sheet: 229.5
- ELF Excellium LDX 0W-30* | MB Sheet: 229.3
- ELF Excellium LDX 5W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.3
- Kendall GT-1 Full Synthetic Motor Oil 5W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.3
- Mobil 1 ESP Formula M 5W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.5
- Mobil 1 SuperSyn European Car Formula 0W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.3
- Mobil 1 SuperSyn European Car Formula 0W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.5
- Motul 8100 E-Tech 0W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.3
- Motul 8100 X-Cess 5W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.3
- Pennzoil European Formula Ultra 5W-30* | MB Sheet: 229.5
- Pennzoil Synthetic European Formula 5W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.3
- Quaker State European Formula Ultra 5W-30* | MB Sheet: 229.5
- Quaker State Full Synthetic European Formula 5W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.3
- Shell Helix Ultra 5W-30* | MB Sheet: 229.3
- Shell Helix Ultra 5W-40 | MB Sheet: 229.3
- Valvoline SynPower MXL 0W-30*| MB Sheet: 229.3
My driving ‘style’ is generally easy although on longer trips I push it fairly hard (I own and use a very good radar detector…). The car was designed to be a long-distance high speed tourer and that is what I use it for.
This car is not a daily driver, it sits in the garage for weeks at a time and is used mainly for longer trips, from 50-100 mile daily jaunts to weeks-long several thousand mile trips. So very few short drives, it gets warm and stays that way most of the time.
The car has no issues, runs like a charm and does not use any oil between changes.
I am a firm believer in using quality oils in order to maintain engine life – oils are cheaper than engines - I love this car and I want to treat it well hence my use of UOA to check the internal wear condition. I think that a full synthetic oil is a better choice than a ‘dino’ oil given what I have read to date (Motor Oil University, etc.).
What particularly intrigues me (in addition to the ‘approved oils’ list) are some of the newer “small company” synthetics such as Amsoil and Royal Purple as well as the really rare ones like SynLube Lube-4-Life (anybody ever heard of it?).
Recommendations would be appreciated, thanks in advance!