W210 Oil Change ??s
 

Just dropped off my E300 for it's first oil change in about 5k miles (the 1st since I've owned it) at an indy around the corner from my office. Still getting a feel for how much I like them but my first few experiences have been pretty good. They fixed my power steering very quickly and cheaply when some power steering fluid lines popped off. After questioning them they said they use a standard 15w-40 oil for Mercedes of this age (1997). He said they use it for gas and diesel w210s. They seem very knowledgeable in speaking with them but this seems a bit contrary to what I've read here. I've seen plenty of 1995 and 1996-1999 E300s being serviced here so I assume they know what they are talking about but I'm just a little concerned. Also what is a good service interval for an oil change in a 97 E300 w/ 123k? I don't drive much but it is almost all city driving.

If yours has FSS, and you use it, you should use a diesel rated Syn oil only. Otherwise change oil every 3-5k max if using dino.

IMO you should run a good quality syn. Something like Mobil Truck and Turbodiesel, Amsoil, etc.

Thanks for the info. Forgive my ignorance, but what is FSS? Also, what color is a diesel rated oil when it is clean? Any diesel I've ever popped the oil cap on was pitch black. Does petrol diesel soil the color of the engine oil almost instantly? What properties does a diesel rated oil have over a standard bulk petrol based oil used mostly for gas cars? If the cost is much cheaper, would it be best to just change my oil more often with standard oil? A friend of mine has a Jeep Liberty CRD with the VM Motori engine and all the Jeep dealers here in Atlanta charge $100 due to the higher cost of the oil (I guess because it is synthetic diesel oil?).

+1

City driving = shorter drain intervals. Only way to really tell your drain intervals are via an oil analysis.

for a southern climate 15w-40 sounds nice. So far I've become a fan of AMSOil's Heavy Duty Diesel & Marine 15w-40

FSS is Flexible Service System. Computer monitors trip length, coolant temp, rpm, etc and extrapolates oil life. Counter starts at 10k miles and adjusts up or down from there based upon driving style. Max mileage is 16K or one year.

Syn is amber like other oil.

Put only fully synthetic oil in there. Mobil 1 0W-40, then you won't have to change it for at least another 10,000 miles.

Mineral oil is rubbish, I don't know why people still use it. Synthetic oil does a much better job.

Oil is gold when it goes in, then jet black about 30 seconds later....