Is there any alternative to Mobil1 ? how long on OM 606?
 

I been using Mobil 1 5w40 for a long time, but I'm spending $ 81.00 on oil (Mobil1 0W40 this is all they had at the store) plus $12 on a oil filter. thats $ 93 bucks, is it recommended to use mineral oil or does it have to be synthetic?

Also right now I'm changing my oil at 4,500 miles intervals. Is that right? and If I was to change to mineral oil how many miles should I make the oil changes? Thanks.

Ramtony.......this subject is a tinder box on this site! I am a firm believer of frequent oil changes using dino oil. Our engines came from the factory with dino oil....it does not have the close tolerences as some engines that dictate synthetic. I have put unbelievable amounts of mileage on my diesel vehicles using 15W40 dino oil with change frequency in the 4k to 5k range with NO Problems! I have had no problems attributed to the oil being dino so I am not a proponent of spending the extra $ unless its for the Ferrari I drive in my next life!;)

Fred - That was true in 96 and maybe all of 97; not for 98 and thereafter to my knowledge. Class action lawsuit covered 97's that were using extended drains using dino oil.

Ramtony - Theres nothing wrong with relying on FSS if you are using an appropriate syn oil. It monitors coolant temp and trip lenght and extroploates oil life and will tell you when YOU should change it based upon your unique driving style.

There are lots of approved oils to choose from. The list is a few years old and many of the product names have changed.

MB sheet 229.3 approved oils
for passenger cars with gas and diesel engines with extended drain interval indicator FSS up to 20,000 km, or 40,000 km - 25,000 mi, current minimum spec for 1998+ MB engines, min. 1.0% fuel saving compared to 229.1, based on ACEA A3 B4. For gas engine of the M100 series, gas engines of the M200 series and diesel engines of the OM600 series (not models with Euro 4 diesel particle filters).
AGIP EXTRA HTS 5W-40
AGIP Synthetic PC 0W-40
AGIP Eurosport 0W-40
Amsoil 5W-30 Synthetic Motor Oil
Amsoil 10W-30 Synthetic
Amsoil Series 3000 5W-30 Heavy Duty Diesel
Aral HighTronic 5W-40
Aral SuperSynth 0W-40
Aral Super Tronic 0W-40
Aviasynth 0W-40
Castrol DCO TOPUP SAE 0W-30
Castrol Formula RS Road and Track 5W-40
Castrol GTX7 DYNATEC 5W-40
Castrol Formula SLX 0W-30
Castrol TXT SOFTEC PLUS 5W-30
CIFAB Synthoil Hydrocrack HC7 5W-40
Elf Excellium LDX SAE 5W-40
Esso Ultron 0W-30 (fuel economy)
Esso Ultron 5W-40
Fuchs Silkolene Pro S 5W-40 - 100% Synthetic Oil For All Race Engines
Fuchs Silkolene Pro S 10W-50 - 100% Synthetic Oil For All Race Engines
Fuchs Titan SuperSyn SL 0W-30
Havoline Synthetic DS 0W-30
Kendall GT-1 Full Synthetic 5W-40
Liqui Moly Diesel Synthoil 5W-40
Liqui Moly High Tech 5W-40
Liqui Moly HC7 5W-40
LUKOIL SYNTEETIK 5W-40
Mobil 1 SuperSyn European Car Formula 0W-40
Mobil 1 SuperSyn 5W-40
Mobil 1 SuperSyn 5W-50
Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel 0W-40
Mobil Synt S 5W-40
Mobil Synt S Turbo Diesel 5W-40
Mobil Syst S 5W-40
Motul 8100 E-Tech 0W-40
Motul 8100 X-cess 5W-40
Pennzoil Synthetic European Formulation 5W-40
Pentosin Pentospeed 0W-30 VS
Quaker State Full Synthetic European Formulation 5W-40
Schaeffer Micron Moly 5W-30, 10W-40
Schaeffer Supreme 7000 5W-30, 10W-30, 20W-50
76 Pure Synthetic Motor Oil 5W-40
Shell Helix Plus S 5W-40 (Mercedes-Benz)
Shell Helix Ultra 5W-30, 0W-40, 5W-40
Sunoco Synturo Gold 5W-40 (introduced January 2002)
Total FINA First 5W-40
Total Quartz 9000 5W-40
Valvoline DuraBlend MXL 5W-40
Valvoline SynPower MXL 0W-30
Valvoline SynPower 5W-30, 0W-40, 5W-40
Veedol POWERTRON 5W-30
Veedol SYNTRON 0W-30

4,500 is too short for synthetic, you should be running closer to 8,000miles. I change mine once a year which works out around that distance.

3,000-4,000 for dino oil.

For ref I drive 110 miles a day. FSS lets me go the max of 16k miles generally. Has never let me go less than 12k.

Yours will differ (perhaps greately) if you only drive stop and go city miles and short trips only where the engine doesnt get fully warmed up each trip.

thanks you all. I will do some reading on FSS I have 4k miles now in the odometer since my last oil change, I was getting ready to change the oil tomorrow but not anymore, thanks again.

How does 8 quarts of Mobil 1 + a filter cost you $93? Around here you can get Mobil 1 for $6.59 a quart.....thats about $53? + 12 for filter = 65.....how much do you pay for your oil?? :eek: :eek:


On the 606 engine 7-8,000 miles is a good change interval for the synthetic oil.

Our '96 has Mobil-1 5W-40 in it, primarily for easier starting during our annual visit to snow country. It gets changed once a year. This year's first oil analysis at about 4000 miles (by George Murphy) showed no significant deterioration -- I posted the numbers elsewhere in this forum. I'll repeat the analysis when I change the oil in a couple of months.

OTOH, this same car drove 248,000 miles on dino oil -- mostly Pennzoil, by the looks of the records, and suffered no apparent damage. The original owner had the dealer change the oil and filter every 7500 miles and this was continued through the first 200,000 miles. As the car was being driven more then, this amounted to four or five oil changes per year.

Jeremy

This is my service once each year (8-10k miles).
12qts Mobil Delvac1 $75 (9qts for the oil change, 3qts left over for top ups)
Oil Filter $12
Fuel filter $6
Amsoil bypass filter $35 (adds 1qt to the oil capacity)
Air filter $20
Oil analysis (twice, once midway and once before the oil change) $20x2
Total= $188

With dino 3x per year (3k miles).
Mobil Delvac 1300 Super 9qts= $35x3 (+$11.25 for 3qts topups)
Oil Filter $12x3
Fuel filter $6
Amsoil bypass filter $35
Air filter $20
Oil analysis (One for each change) $20x3
Total= $273.25
Total per year saved by using synthetic= $85.25

Rotella T is not on that list? That is discouraging.

I think that is a list of the available oils in Europe that you can use, it would appear in that list that only the Mobil products are available here....all the rest of those are foreign and likely unavailable. Doesn't Rotella have the certification right on the bottle? I am pretty sure it does. Either way, I've driven 70k on it at it works great....so I will continue. :D

Terry, did you ever do an oil analysis at 16K?

I'd be very curious as to the soot levels of the 606 at that mileage level. The 603's generally get changed at 6K and they have accumulated about 1% soot at that point.

I have a '98 E300 Turbo and had oil analyses done at each change with the last one being at 11.5K miles and still could have gone much further (see attached if you can read it). The FSS was saying 14K which is what the oil could easily have gone and still been fine.

Changing M1 at 4500 miles is a HUGE waste of money. Use the M1, go with the FSS and you will be fine.

Also, if you buy it at Wal-Mart you can get the gallon jugs for about $25 each so 2 gallons = less than $50 plus a filter. Certainly not $93.

Marty, am I reading soot at .3%?

If so, that's spectacular for 11K miles. Clearly the 606 doesn't produce the soot levels of the 603.

And no where remotely like a 617. At those miles the oil would be about 20% soot. :D :eek:

Yes, Blackstone, IIUC measures all insolubles which include soot and on the latest check mine was at 0.3%. It had been as high as 0.5% in one change. I always used MB filters if that makes any difference.

Very true. My last oil sample (in June with 4k miles) showed 1.4%.

I just moved to Florida 3 weeks ago from VA, back in VA I had no problems finding the mobil1 gallon at walmart around $ 25, but walmart here in winter garden don't carry any synthetic oil for diesel engines, so I ended up buying the oil from Adv. auto parts 9 qt at $6.70 a qt, and my mistake the ticket also had and air filter in it for $17.87 and that came op to $82 tax included.
Terry let me get this strait, you change your oil every 12k to 16k miles? that's amazing, do you have an extra filter? I guess I will let the FSS do what it was built to do. thank you all.

The list I posted is the International list but includes all the US manufacturers too. Again, it is now old, and some of the product names have changed while other products marketed in the US go by subtly different product names.

Rotella T Syn is not on the list. Its a 3rd(?) generation syn rather than 4th?

My situation is different than most as I rack up lots of highway miles and very few city miles or short hops to the grocery store where the engine doesnt get above 60C before being turned off again. Both make a huge difference to oil life as measured by FSS. If driven strictly around town only on short tirps in cold climates FSS might only allow 6-8k even though the starting countdown mileage is 10K.

I only change the filter when I change oil. I dont have any bypass filter. I usually have to add 1 qt somewhere around 8-10k miles.

The 606 is a much cleaner burning engine than past engines and oils get better every year. Am sure the I6 and V6 CDI's run cleaner yet.

That said, more frequent changes is undoubtedly better.

There is no doubt about that at all. Its just a waste of good oil and money to change it very early.

I'm a little surprised at the 3qts for top-up in 4500miles. Should be above the add mark still at 4500 IMO.

Since its a group 3 you will run into the same problems that led to the class action suit if you try 15k mile oil changes with it.


How much do you drive? My friend changes the oil in his E300D every 8kish miles, sometimes 10k.

I'd just do it once a year or 13k miles, whatever comes first. Thats what MB tells you to do now.

I don't know where you are buying your oil, but its to much. Mobil 1 should be about $6-$7 a quart.

Yeah same here. Even my o'l 617 can usually go about 4k (my time between changes) without adding any oil. This is after I fixed most of my leaks. :D The most I've ever had to add after my leak fixes....was like .3 quarts between a 4k change....hardly anything. Plus I had done a lot of high speed driving on that cycle.