Mr. W123, I have used the diesel grade 5w30, available at the Federated Co-op. There is noticeable improvement in cold cranking speed. I have also tried their synthetic 0W30. I don't think it's any better than the 5W30.

Gary

Thanks for the replies everyone. Johnny there are no Chevron stations in Canada. I was wondering why the dealer recommended the 15w30/5w30 and the manual for the car says you can use 10w40 year round. I was planning the change the oil last Saturday when I posted this question but didn't get around to it. I figured since Saturday was a moderately nice day ( 15 C ) Sunday wound be no different. Well it rained that night the temp dropped the rain turned to freezing rain and snow. Now the freezing temps are here to stay. Anybody here also think that winter driving is just a pain. Almost all the cars on the road are just caked in dirt, you can't do much or any spirited driving, the wonderful power sunroof is useless, lousy local radio (well that's year round) etc. For me enjoyable driving just becomes plain old commuting in the winter.

I'm sorry dragging on this forum but I have a question for Aaron. You said that Castrol GTX 10w40 is all I need year round, but it doesn't have the diesel grades CF-4, etc. I noticed that the only Castrol product I could find with the diesel grade as TedG recommended is 15w40. So can I use the Castrol anyways?

Mr123, sorry that you do not have Chevron stations in your area. You may want to check and see if you have Petro-Canada. If so, they should carry 0W/30, 5W30 or 5W40 dino oil that meets the CH-4 API rating. The CH-4 oil will give you better soot control, and lubrication for your diesel than the Castrol 10W40. It will also help when the temps drop down below freezing provided you use one of the above viscosities. Johnny

Here is a little bit of history. The first oil thread!

holy crap 2000? year of the Y2K scare! nice. does anyone know what year this forum was started?

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Current:
05 E320 CDI
07 GL320 CDI
08 Sprinter
05 Dodge Cummins
01 Dodge Cummins

Previous
2004 E55 AMG
2002 C32 AMG (#2)
1995 E300
1978 300D
1987 300D
2002 C32 AMG(blown motor :[
1981 300SD
1983 300SD
1987 300SDL
2002 Jetta TDI
1996 S420
1995 S500
1993 190E 2.6
1992 190E 2.3
1985 190E 2.3 5-Speed

03-13-1999 is the earliest posts I can find.

The mercedes diesels prior to 1986 except for the 190d and that was changed in 84 I believe. Anyways they are much harder to start in general in comparison to the later designed diesel engines. You mothers is a newer type of course. Today some diesel engines will come to life when even some gas engines will refuse to start.

I didn't look at the dates...then I read where the fellow said he buys 6 gallons of Rotella for $30!

That got me looking at dates

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2009 VW TDI Jetta Sportwagon 172k miles (rear-ended harder than Elton John on 8/4/13. Total loss)

1991 Volvo 240 142k miles (T-boned by a stop sign runner. Total loss)

Mobil dino oil is about the only easy to find oil around here with a CD or higher rating that is lighter than 15W-40. Even a CD rated oil is better than what was available back in the early 80's and the Mobil Clean 5000 is CF rated.

For a synthetic, the easiest for me to find is Shell Rotella T synthetic 5W-40. I am currently using it in my 300D and have no problem starting without plugging in at 0F.

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Ron Schroeder
'85 300 Turbo Diesel 2 tank WVO
'83 300 Turbo Diesel 2 tank WVO
Some former WVO vehicles since ~1980:
'83 Mercedes 240D
'80 Audi 4000D
'83 ISUZU Pup
'70 SAAB 99 with Kubota diesel
'76 Honda Civic with Kubota diesel
'86 Golf
Several diesel generators
All with 2 tank WVO conversion
LI NY

Actually I think just about all the synthetics are at least CF which is fine for an older IDI diesel engine, regular Mobil 1 (not TDT or Delvac 1) carries that rating. As far as the cheap Rotella goes, I read somewhere that Costco has it pretty cheap by the case, Wally World has 15W40 gallons for $8.88 here, I'm still looking for the Rotella 10W30 myself, nobody seems to carry it here either!

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1982 300DT 190K (Diesel Purge + synthetic oil=smoothness at last!!!)
2004 Ford E-350 6.0 L PSD 227K
2006 Dodge Ram 3500 SRW HO Cummins 4X4 48RE 42K (brute force tow vehicle)
2005 Scion xB wife's rolling pop can
1993 GMC Sierra C3500 6.2 142K

Lately autozone has added a wide variety of the Mobil 1 products to their stores, both dino and synthetic in variety. They even have the 5w40 Turbo Diesel Truck synthetic for $5.99/qt here...its what we use in our diesels, run at 5k intervals.....our minivan gets autozone brand 5w30 $1.89/qt

On my fiance's buick I tried out some "10w30 Mobil 5000Clean" gasser dino oil. Its for engines with over 75k on it supposedly (it has 89k). Only reason I got it was if you bought 5 or more qts (her engine uses 5, its the 3.3V6 GM fireball) you got a free oil filter. The price would have only been 70 cents less by getting cheap oil + paying for a filter....so I went with it. Can't say that there's any difference in how it runs, still like a GM....

When that car dies she's going to be getting a VW tdi or a 617 or 602 powered car. Most likely a tdi. (shes a fan of high mpg's)

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)