New ( to me ) 1996 E300D
 

Hi guys ..

Just took delivery of a 1996 E300D
with 90,000 miles

Going to the local dealership early next
week for a service and overall check

Other than changing fluids and filters

are there any 'must dos' on this vehicle ??

Also, any recs for a good diesel mechanic
in Fairfield Cty, CT ??

TIA

Jim in CT

1996 E300D
1997 S320 ( off-lease )
1986 300E ( sold )
1987 300E ( sold )
2000 VW Jetta TDI ( sold )

Congratulations Jim:

Wish I could help with a recommendation or two but I only know 123's.

Don

Hi Don ..

I checked my year and model number with
the "Edmunds Maintenance Guide" and discovered
1 recall notice relating to the drive belt pulley's
potential failure .. so I'll make sure it's either been
replaced or inspected .. also various TSBs on minor items

In researching fully synthetic engine oils and related
filters etc .. i keep running across AMSOIL products
anyone using them with satisfactory results ??

Jim in CT ..

one thing you MUST do that the dealer's hardly ever know to do, is get a proper diesel specific synthetic oil in there, with an API rating of CH-4 or even better, CI-4, the new rating for synthetic diesel oils made for engines with EGR systems, which the 606 engine has.

I've run Amsoil's Series 3000 Heavy duty diesel oil 5w-30 and currently run Mobil Delvac1 5w-40, both with excellent results. These would be considered the two top of the line diesel oils. I switched to Delvac because I moved to florida, and like the extra protection of the 40 weight oil, and because my TDI requires 5w-40 as well, and wanted to just buy one kind of oil. Delvac can be purchased online at www.avlube.com if you can't find it locally. Its usually hard to find, do not mistake it for the crappy dino oil, delvac 1300.

Don't forget to change the prefilter and o-ring when you change the fuel filter.

Listen to hear if your engine is knocking excessively at idle. Mine was, it had bad injectors, all replaced at 31k. Scary how quiet it is now.

Run additives in each tank, preferably stanadyne peformance formula, or powerservice in a pinch(white bottle winter, silver, summer).

Good luck!

LightMan ..

Thanks for the thoughts ..
Took the car to the dealer on Tuesday ..
Got it back early afternoon today Friday ..
Did two things not originally planned ..
New in dash radio/CD to replace the radio/cassette
that was in the car and had the "ding doctor" work
his magic on the body <g> .. Now I'm afraid to drive it !!

Neeedless to say I had a "walletectomy" preformed on me ..
Ouch .. parts were $1730.00 so you can imagine the bill for
labor .. but she's darn near perfect ..

You were right about the oil .. they put in
Kendall 15/40 dino rather than a high quality synthetic ..
Their reasoning .. specs don't call for synthetic on
the 1996 E300D and the car would leak oil if they used it .. hmmm ..

I'm still thinking AMSOIL 10/40 or 15/40 synthetic for the
next oil change and I like what I read about the oil impregnated
foam air filters .. Has anyone tried one on a 1996-1999 E300D
with good results ???

Wallets' tired .. I'm gonna have to become a DIYer ..

Jim in Ct ..

Congrats on the purchase. If you can't find Delvac 1 (which I use in my TDI), or Amsoil, you might consider Shell Rotella-T 5w-40 synthetic, a CH-I oil sold at WallyWorld for just under $13 a gal.

Triffin,

The story about synthetic oils causing leaks in older cars if you change "later in the car's life" is a story I cannot verify, and I use only Mobil Delvac 1 in all my cars now, including the 1982 240D. While that car leaks at the rear crank seal, it is not an item that started when I bought the car and switched to synthetic oil.

Since using Mobil Delvac 1, my cars actually have lost some of their appetite for oil. I now go 6,000 miles between oil changes, and only the 240D with over 285,000 miles needs to be topped off in that interval. Using Mobil 1 0W-40 my 190E 2.3-16 needed a quart every 1500 or so miles, even after the head work was done.

If you are going to have work done at the dealer, I recommend you join the Mercedes-Benz Club of America. I get 15-20% off on parts, and labor, at my dealership in New London. So, the parts end up competitive with mail order stuff, and the labor is better than full price. They also do good work, and they have always been very honest and straight forward. I had an issue with my 1991 350SD, but the dealership ended up making me whole again by making the 1998 E300 Turbodiesel affordable. I also buy my Delvac from them as I get it at a wholesale price using my MBCA membership.

Good luck, sounds like a great car, Jim

What price are you able to get gallons of Delvac 1 for with your MBCA membership?

I'd like to again reiterate this is just about THE best oil you can put in your diesel.:D

Lightman,

I get it as a bulk buy (I buy 4 cases at a time) and coordinate my order with the dealership's Mobil order every week or two. The best I got it for was $17.60/gal and the worst I have paid is $20.40/gal. The local distributors sell it to me at that volume for about $22.70 or more per gallon (which is no special consideration at all). Jim

My probably useless 2 cents about oil. A few years ago I bought a pristine 89 Mazda 929, less than 40 K and perfect, owned by the dealership's owner's wife. And it really looked it and ran like it, perfect. (All this is before my MB diesel conversion). Anyway, I thought I'd go synthetic since I wanted the thing to last forever (still have it, 117000 and counting, actually and selling but....). Put in Mobile1 somethingw something, not 0W and it started to leak and leak big time. Before switching to synth I ran dino for 10,000 (changed every 3K) and never had a speck of oil, even underneath the car you had to work pretty hard to get dirty. BIGGEST mistake I ever made. Switching back didn't fix it. I've since been told by Mazda the rear seal is leaking. Now for historical purposes, I have had three of these cars, one went to 275,000 the other is at 205,000 and neither leak oil to speak of, both were always dino oil. I'd use synthetic if the car came with it and the warranty required it but I'll never switch again. The dino's are just as good when changed at 3K intervals, or even 5K in the diesels that hold more oil if they are regularly driven at hiway speeds to heat everything up. Don't switch.

no offense rmm, but oil analysis results prove that your comment that 'dino oil is just as good as synthetic when changed at lower intervals' is just nonsense. The protective additive packages are better in chemistry, better soot suspension(cg-4,ch-4,ci-4), among other benefits. Your one car/case experiment is hardly conclusive evidence that synthetic causes leaks. You may have had this happen coincidentally, or not. However there are several members with 200K plus on older MB diesels, and have switched to synthetic with no extra leaking. Rmm, the thread was regarding a diesel E300. Dino is NOT recommended, a CG-4 synthetic is required, as a minimum.

In addition to this, I have two friends who currently each bought '97 E300's with around 100-120k on them, and have since switched to delvac 1, with no problems. I run delvac 1 in my E300, and its amazing how much better it runs than on the garbage syntec or mobil 1 the uneducated mb dealer put in the car. My iron and other wear metal levels in my oil analyses dropped significantly after two runs of delvac. The first run was amazing at how much the TBN was depleted, as it was working hard to clean out the crap the syntec left over.
Delvac 1 or amsoil series 3000 are true group 4 synthetics, the lower priced formulations of amsoil, as well as rotella t synthetic, valvoline premium blue, and other popular diesel oils, are group 3 quality basestocks, and are not considered quite as premium. Txbill will have comments to argue, but my point is that delvac1 and amsoil are the utmost top quality. Good/average results can be had with lower quality group 3's. Why put anything in but the best? You can go 10k on delvac with better protection than 5 k on rmm's dino.

New ( to me ) 1996 E300D
 

Ooops .. didn't mean to start the "oil wars"
But for the late model MB 300 series diesels
( 1996 - 1999 ) It seems that a high quality
synthetic is the way to go .. so that's going
to be my plan with the next oil change ..

While doing a search for "synthetic" I came
across this link ..

http://www.petrotruckstops.com/

Looks to be a good source for our "popular"
oils mentioned on this forum .. Might be worth
a stop if they happen to have a service center
near you .. I'll be checking one out next week
and will report back as to prices and availability
etc .. might even let them change the oil <gg>

On a related topic .. has anyone switched/tried
these oil impregrated foam air filters I've been
reading about .. supposedly effective in the
sub 5 micron particle size range ??

Jim in Ct ..

Flying J
 

hi all,

When on the road take a peek at a flying j truck stop u will like the prices n service.

www.flyingj.com

website gives fuel prices + sales

Oil again - now you did it!
 

OK, I might as well chime in here. I'll second LightMan's recommendation of a full synthetic from Amsoil or Mobil Delvac-1. I use the Amsoil 15W40 heavy duty marine and diesel oil because I can get it easier and at a better price than the Delvac-1. That said, I'll check at the Petro on I75 next time I go up and see if they have the Delvac-1. I've said this before, but just to reiterate, regular Mobil-1 is not rated for your modern turbo diesel in any weight. Do not use it.

I see that you're in Connecticut. I hope that your glow plugs have been changed recently. At 78,000 miles, I'm already on my third set. And I'm in Florida.

The petro truck stop in Reddick, FL (listed as ocala), does carry Delvac 1. Not in the store though, back in the truck lube shop, which is about 100 yard behind the main truck stop restaurant/store. They are expensive there though, it was like $24/gal. Most all of the time I just order online at www.avlube.com and it's shipped to my door in 2 or 3 days. They charge $81 per case.

Tiffin, FYI, the E300 holds 7.5 quarts, and I've found that by adding 7.3 quarts after draining, I get to the perfect mark on the dipstick every time. Just can't get every bit out, and you DON'T want to overfill. The dealer almost always overfills e300's because they're so used to doing all the other e-class, which hold 8 quarts. Don't forget to ask the mb shop for a new drain plug washer

I tried a K&N filter on my E300, and within 2 weeks my MAF sensor failed. Others on the TDICLUB forum have noted that the oil from these filters has caused their MAF's to fail as well. This is a hotly debated topic however. Most tend to say that the amsoil tack oil won't 'blow' into the maf and ruin it, as it's stickier/tackier than the k&n.

There was a controlled experiment done with a stock paper filter, amsoil dual stage foam filter and a K&N. The amsoil was the best at filtering by a good margin, and had similar airflow to stock. The stock filter was the poorest at filtration and airflow. The K&N had the most airflow and middle of the road filtration. They've been called K&N dirtsuckers too many times, and ruined my maf for sure. I'd avoid them. I did however just purchase a dual stage amsoil foam filter for my tdi. It looks really oily, as they are preoiled from the factory. I plan on setting it in the sun to dry for a while before I install it, and waiting for my current paper filter to be used up, it has about 8k left in it.(20k air filter changes).

Tiffin and others interested in making the switch to a premium diesel synthetic, I'd highly recommend running one or two changes of the delvac1 and dumping them in a short time, maybe 3000 miles. The additives package will really get depleted as it cleans out the crap from the past inferior oils, so its good to do one or to short changes to flush. Engine flushes are reputed be harsh on seals etc, and I think should be avoided, although I have no particular experience with them.
I know this is long, but here's a link to some delvac info.
http://dallnd6.dal.mobil.com/Apps/DS/_39gj50ko_/MobilPDS.nsf/26b7c4b33367a4a086256665004e4266/60d8a76e857b7e71852567b60072913a?OpenDocument

Here's another.
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lubes/Product_Information/Diesel_Engine_Oil_Collection.asp

Enjoy! Also i can't stress enough testing your local fuel source for quality/contaminants. Avlube offers diesel fuel test kits. I dont work for them and am not affiliated in any way, but those test kits are the only way you can truly know what you're pumping, and if your expensive injection system is getting worn out by high particulate fuel or not...

Hey guys,

Don't want to enter into oil wars. But, I was under the impression that synthetics would causing leaking in oilder cars. It's strong detergent package cleans out the crude around the seals.. then they will leak for a time, until the seal swealing additives take effect and close the gaps backup.

96 car is pretty new to me... i'd go for the synthetic oil(mobil or amsoil). Watchout, much of the sythetic marked stuff in the USA is api type III modefied dino crude. I would follow MB's guildlines. Heck, the dealership should be reported for putting an oil in your car that doesn't meet 229.1 or 229.3 MB spec(do a search on Mercedes and wolfgang.. he's got a great page with oil approved lists). Mercedes USA just settled a biggy class action lawsuit over just that type of crap on M-class cars.

Of course, if it was a bad gasket... it should leak lots worse.

Best of luck.... Printing out the Mercedes requirements and discussing the dealers's ignorance might get you a FREE oil change to synthetic. It was my understanding, MBUSA was suggesting Mobil-1 15W50 or 0W40 to be installed by all dealers.
Michael

Re: Oil again - now you did it!
 

Hey fellas! I'm a newbie to MB diesels myself. I'm using the Delvac 1 in my newly acquired '97 E300 and it runs great. Only leak I have is from the oil drain plug [that copper washer must betired]. As far as a great service cnete rin Connecticut. I would highly recommen Tony's Imported Auto Service in Manchester... Honest work and great pricing.... They take care of all our cars. They recently replaced the tranny fluid in my E300. Nice job and cost me less than the dealer usually charges. There is a local MB dealership where they get all their parts from anyway..

My $.02

Where can one obtain Mobil-1 Delvac? AMSOIL ?
Thanks.

Never mind, found 'em both

And my apologies to lightman, didn't mean to get your knickers in a knot :-)

haha about the knickers, I have no idea what I said that gave you the indication i was upset, but no apologies necessary...its all about discussion and topic, nothing personal.:)

Back from the Turkey Day road trip ..
Didn't make it to the Petro plaza ..
but did stop at a Flying J ..

They had pretty much everything diesel ..
I didn't have time to take a full inventory,
but they had Mobil Delvac1 @ $22.30/ gal ,
also Shell Rotella T and several other diesel
rated oils, Howes' additives and several others ..
All in all I'd say that it would be well worth
everyone's time to make a trip to the local
trucker's plaza and check out their inventory ..

Jim "back in" Ct ..

When I get better at this I'll try to post some other
pixs .. Here's two not so great photos of my 'ride'

http://www.hpphoto.com/servlet/LinkP...e5542c&size=lg

and another

http://www.hpphoto.com/servlet/LinkP...f64449&size=lg


Jim in Ct ..

Ok ..

This is making me crazy ..
I'm trying to 'post' the actual pixs
rather than "links to pixs" ..
I've done a general thread search for
"posting pics" etc .. and they all mention
a 'browse' feature for adding attachments to a
post .. but I'll be if I can find it when I try
to edit the above post with the picture links ..

How does one post the actual picture ???
In English please as I am computer Illiterate (g)

Jim in Ct ..

ps .. they're in JPEG format and less than 50kb ..

<< Great Koogley-Moogley It Worked >>
I know .. I know .. It's not a car .. but :D

Nice pix Jim. Love that color [same as mine]
Included is a link to a pic of the Fumoto driam valve installed... I figured I would throw that one in too :-)

http://www.seekreality.net/michakave...lledfumoto.jpg
http://www.seekreality.net/michakaveli/benz/15.jpg
You need a pair of those clear corners Jim. It looks sweet with an amber or clear bulb too!

I see you live in a 'one tag' state also ..
The car certainly looks better without the
plate on the front bumper ..

Here's hoping that my photo sending skills
have improved .. <gg>

And another ..

And one more ..

As of January I heard that law enforcement is supposed to enforce having both tags on the vehicle. I see that you are from CT too, where abouts? Skills are definately improving! heheh

well since we're playing show n tell....... ;)
http://pics.tdiclub.com/members/lightman/L%20After.jpg

LightMan !! .. Sarasota is looking good about now
to us folks stuck in New England <gg>

Nice to see that your glow plugs don't get much
of a workout ..

Michakaveli and I will be down for a visit soon ..:D


Jim in << cold >> Ct ..

Notes to myself .. Thread gleanings ..

I'll probably edit this post several times as
I run across useful specific points from other
members concerning our cars .. 1996-1999 E300Ds ..


1) I do hear a light tapping sound at idle .. this could be
a correct diagnosis ..

You may also have defective tappets, or bad o-rings on the center "bolt" on the oil filter housing cap -- if they are rock hard and leaking, the oil will leak down out of the tappet gallery and cause loud tapping noise and rough idle until the tappets re-fill. The o-rings are not in the oil filter package, you must get them separately.

2) Oil .. all together now ..

Change it hot change it often
Change it from the top or the bottom
Use Synthetic just be sure that it's
diesel rated and has both a low pour point and a
high TBN number .. Mobil Delvac 1 ( 5w-40 ) or
Shell Rotella T ( 15w-40 ) would work .. heck my
dealer put Kendall 15-40 diesel dino in ..

3) Tires

Michelin MXV4's or Conti-Touring CH-95
32lbs front/35lbs rear

4) ATF leaks

I just came back from my road trip ( December '02 )
and have discovered a 'small' ATF drip under the car ..
A search of the threads suggests two possible causes

an over tightened pan resulting in a cut pan gasket or
an under tightened drain plug

As the car just had a 30,000 mile service which included
an ATF flush/change either of the above could apply ..

5) Glow Plugs problems on aluminum head diesels
ie .. 1996-1999 E300Ds ..
What were those German engineers thinking ??

Following comments from P.E.Haiges ..

I think it would be a good idea to remove the GP from the aluminum head engines and coat them with anti-sieze compound and reinstall them. I had problems with sparkplugs in the aluminum head of my 6.3 liter 300SEL and had to install heli-coils when the aluminum threads stripped. Seems to me that MB should have installed steel inserts for the spark plugs and GP in aluminum heads.

I'm sorry to hear of your problems but it sounds like another case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Possibly one glow plug (GP) might have been bad but the correct procedure is to find the bad one and only replace it.

GP have a very long life and aren't a show stopper even if one or two do fail, the engine might just miss for a few seconds on 1 or cylinder after starting. I have some GP that are 22 years old and 236,000+ miles and I wouldn't think of replacing any until the GP indicator in the dash board indicates there is a problem. Then, I would find the bad one and replace it.

The best test of GP is how easily the engine starts when cold. Easy start, good GP. Starts but seems to miss on one cylinder for a short time, probably one bad GP. It is extremly unlikely that more than one GP will fail at the same time. A simple resistance test will usually indicate the bad one.

Once the engine is running, the GP are turned off and they are inert to any function of the engine. GP are not a maintenence item like spark plugs.

That said, here's my solution to your problem: In your situation, I would probably just leave the broken GP in the engine and see how the engine starts and runs. If it doesn't miss for too long after starting, you might just ignore the problem and if you ever have to remove the head for some other reason, the broken GP could be removed then.

If you have an aluminum head, the problem was most likely caused by corrosion causing a solid state diffusion between the steel GP and the Aluminum threads. When this happens, it is very difficult to unscrew the steel part from the aluminum. The broken GP may have to be burned out by EDM (electro discharge machining) but this can only be done with the head off.

6) Cleaning carbonization in manifold

Castrol SuperClean or
De-Sol-Vit by Orange-Sol

Will quickly clean this 'gunk'

In many MB diesels, especially in their twilight miles, build up a black goo in the intake manifold. Since only air flows through the intake manifold, the additive will do very little, if anything to remedy this problem.

The only remedy that I know of is removal and cleaning of the intake manifold. Cleaning the manifold is a slow, nasty job. You might take it to an automotive machine shop for cleaning in their jet wash, or if they have a vat of some sort that is usable on aluminum parts, that may be an alternative.

more ..

I have a 1996 E300D with the 606. Similar EGR experience. I had some intermittent problems with hesitations that came upon re-acceleration on the highway (back up to the speed limit from backing off in traffic). It almost seemed like water in the fuel. It wasn't. I read quite a few posts regarding resonance flaps requiring replacement within the intake manifold and air pipe. So I bought some. I never installed them since this forum led me down a different path that could be the problem. It was a test involving the disconnection/plugging of the EGR vacum line. Car ran great with considerable pick-up, but I lost the top-end too. Connected it back up and the Check Engine light went out after about 40 miles. So, I took the EGR off, cleaned it and put it back in. Upon testing I noticed that the external linkage/mechanism for the other "flap"....the one just downstream of the air cleaner.... fluttered sporadically (not smooth) and appeared to stick when I was examining what all these components do as I revved the engine. I just could not believe that this was normal behavior so I cleaned this linkage/mechanism a bit with compressed air and touched a bit of light lube into all the right spots and behold my problem was resolved. So it seems to be quite true that the flaps are all synchronized and that they DO impact performance of the engine. So I will simply maintain the cleanliness of the EGR and this other mechanism as part of my usual maintenance. Seems to be better than trying to figure out some way to disable the EGR and trying to prevent all the monitoring devices and systems from confusion and warning lights, etc. Plus, the EPA could be lurking.

Related: I also noticed quite a bit of soot and some tar-like black goo in the intake ports when I changed the glow plugs not long ago. In no way did it appear to be restrictive so I scooped out what I could at the time knowing that I will want to eventually go back into the intake manifold and clean this out. For the near term, it can wait.

It's no bullet off the line, but it starts great, cruises great and gets 33 mpg.

135kmi
1996 e300d

7) Dr. Diesel's tips


My idea of "driven hard" is a car that often gets the "boot".
Getting driven in spirited fashon. Like going down a freeway on-
ramp with the go pedal mashed and letting the trans upshift at
max rpms. giving it kickdown to pass people in either city or freeway. every time the engine sees max load, not just high rpm
it is able to clean itself out with the 350+ kg of air running
through it. driving down the hi way at 5k rpm isn't a very good
practice to do constantly, but an occasional w.o.t. drag race from
red light to red light does fine. The ultimate goal is to force tons of intake air through the engine as a cleaner. this will also expell all of the excess crankcase oil that accumulated in the runners.
on 94 to 97's it also will work the upper flap in the intake crossover pipe at 3900+ rpm. this is good to help clean the flap's chamber and blade.

I have several highway driven 606 diesels make it to over 160,000 mi with out fault. On the other hand, the new 98+
m112 v-6 has been kind of troublesome. They are all sorted out now, but I only know of a handfull over 125,000 mi. for these owners the journey has been expensive.

For a grocery getter to be driven by a lady, I would have to recommend the gas cars for better stop and go behavior and higher durability. Will a 3 valve 112/113 make it to 200,000+ in the long run? we will just have to wait and see.

The glow plugs are a snap on any 606. The intake comes off in a matter of minutes and makes it easy to survey all fuel lines and wiring as well as pump linkage. (lube!!!!)
some people like using 12mm wobbles and 3 u-joints to do the job, but I find you end up wasting more time goofing around with the tools than it take to r&r the manifold. Plus with the manifold off, you can inspect the whole intake system for carbon or oil deposits. The PCV rubber nipples at each intake port tend to plug up and cause excessive pressure in the crankcase = oil leaks.
The pcv rubber tubes and nipples are all cheap as well is the intake gasket. Try to get paper intake gaskets instead of the later metal stamped version (pretty cheazy). Cloth injector return line hoses should be checked for leaks and never re-used if removed. On turbo motors, the egr pipe is the only hang up under the manifold and is diconnected topside with a bolted clamp. no sweat.

JUST MAKE SURE that the grey plastic E-CLIPS that secure all the metal inj. lines which are always broken, do not fall into the intake ports when you lift the manifold off. they will try to do it every time and can break a valve if you don't catch it.

8) Model Advice

Actually, reading over these posts, I would go so far as to say that the only MB diesel to AVOID would be the 90-91 350SD and 350SDL and the 92-95 300SD. (I'm not 100% sure of the exact model numbers, but any diesel S-class 1989-1995 should be avoided. The 3.5 liter 6 cylinder is not a good engine, with lots of major issues.) The 3 liter 6 is fine, as is the 3 liter 5.


Jim in Ct ..

Tires
 

Forget the Conti's. My car came with them and I hated them from the word go. Wet traction was absolutely awful. But they did last 60,000 miles. So if you want poor wet traction for a really long time, you could go with the Continentals. The Michelins are fantastic and, in my opionion, well worth the 50% more that they cost.

the michelins only lasted 30k on mine, wasn't too impressed. Now I have the 18's and toyo proxess t1s z-rated tires, so not really comparable. I will tell you these stick like glue compared to anything I've ever driven....:D Not about longevity/durability, but you know that going in when you get bigger rims.. and I dont drive the car that much...

I have heard the same thing about the conti's performance, i'd go michelin or elsewhere....check tire rack's reviews....

Also, your oil synopsis is incorrect. MB later receeded their approval of dino oil to be used with their fss's and why would you get such a nice car and put crappy dino in it anyway. Get some delvac or amsoil series 3000, and know you put the best oil in your car. Run it 7500 miles-10k and don't think twice. My last oil analysis on the benz with 7500 miles was still less than 1% soot, with low wear metals on series 3000 5w-30. I haven't tested with delvac yet, it takes me forever to drive that many miles on the benz, i drive 1000 miles/wk in the TDI....

Lightman,


That's great advice- he should use an MB approved oil. Note that Amsoil series 300 doesn't appear on 229.3 spec. They *only* recommend using a non-229.3 spec oil when not available which would default to somesort of synthetic CH/CI-4 oil. I would stick to the "B4" rated oils on the list.

Here's a link to the list:

http://www.whnet.com/4x4/oil.html

That's the list- mobil and castrol are the easiest to get.


Michael

Glad you liked the oil advice. I dont think they put repeat oils that have already been approved for their vehicles on the lists very often. Amsoil series 3000 as well as delvac 1 have appeared as approved oils by mb..... Also when calling mb corporate tech people to ask about it, they simply said our e300's require a cg-4 synthetic rated diesel oil or better. This api rating has obviously been updated to ch-4 and now ci-4. MB's recommendations stay with the year they made the car though, so technically , we just need a cg-4 or better oil. Delvac 1 has also been recently reformulated to exceed Ci-4 ratings... I prefer delvac to amsoil but suggested it to avoid the oil wars...both are great oils and show so through oil analysis....I'm not a fan of amsoil's marketing/sales structure, or the fact they won't get certified by api (they claim it costs too much, or they have too much zddp additives)....despite the nonsense, i got great analysis results using series 3k as mentioned above. Since I moved to florida and gotten the tdi though, i've switched to delvac 1 for both, as the tdi requires it and I prefer the heavier weight for FL's heat.....

Samiam - note the E300's haven't been made since '99. The top list on the link you gave is all gasoline CF rated oils, as they didn't need to address any us diesel models. Therefore you should scroll down, and see that delvac 1 and amsoil series 3000 are both listed as approved oils under different categories.

Delvac 1 is listed on 228.5, (MB sheet 228.5-approved oils
for diesels; spec pioneered with Chevron. Multi viscosity oils for longest oil change intervals, highest performance. Base ACEA E4 E5).
Series 3000 is listed on 228.3(MB sheet 228.3 approved oils
for diesels, minimum spec for CDIs), 229.3
(MB sheet 229.3 -approved oils for passenger cars with gas and diesel engines, longer drain intervals than 229.1, up to 40,000 km - 25,000 mi, min. 1.0% fuel saving compared to 229.1, Base ACEA A3 B3.)

LightMan:

Did you have to make any modifications to your car or did the 18 inch wheels and tires fit the wheel well. Your car looks sharpe.

Have a great day

Paul
1999 e300D
86000

Thanks searay. (BTW nice name, we used to have a sundancer 340 and then a express bridge 440)

You dont need to make any modifications to install the 18's, but it will look jacked up like an amc eagle, lol, because the lower profile tires accentuate the gap between the tire and the wheel well...

I intalled H&R sport lowering springs and Bilstein sport shocks. This brought the gaps to a very attractive level. Actually the front is currently higher up than in the pic, although its not visible in this pic, the front at that time was way too low. You can slightly adjust ride height by changing out the mb spring pads for a larger size. Also you can see the avantgarde tail lights I added, which were somewhat of a pain, but look sportier IMO. Clear sidemarkers are also available at autodynamic.com for around $39, i just bought a set for my mom's e300 for xmas. She liked mine so much she bought one.:D

Yea, I hate oil wars too Lightman,

Call MBUSA again. The only approved oils (currently) is 229.3. So, if you are viewing 228.5- that's obsolete (or my understanding from talking with MBUSA tech).

Sheet 229.3 includes diesel and gas engines. Read at the bottom before they talk about subsitutes. I'm sure 228.5 is fine for regular oil change intervals. That's pre FSS cars. I quote ;

"Engine oils are labelled on the container with various ACEA (Association des Constructeurs Européens d'Automobiles) and /or API (American Petroleum Institute) designations of quality. ****Mercedes-Benz recommends the use of MB approved engine oils listed in the Mercedes-Benz oil specification sheet 229.1 or 229.3 which also meet ACEA and/or API classifications listed on the chart below. ****If a MB approved or ACEA quality engine oil is not available, then an API quality engine oil meeting the below listed API classifications can be used. Only engine oils (including synthetic) with any of the following classification grades, or combinations thereof, are approved"


So technically Delvac-1 and Amsoil are *subsitutes* and only suggested when you cannot find oils on 229.3. Use what you like.....

I'm running delvac in my wife's tdi, and run delo 400 in my older mb's.


Michael

I read that, but the page has contradictory info/statments on their recommendations. Everything in the first list is CF rated, I dont see how they are diesel oils. Also, if you look over some oil analysis results, you can see how much better delvac is compared to something like regular CF rated mobil 1 over a 10,000 mile interval on a DIESEL. The gasoline oils simply aren't designed specifically to deal with the soot, and general chemical differences between diesel fuel combustion and gasoline....

Regardless of mercedes recommendation list, which i dont think is the final word by any means....I still contend delvac 1 and series 3000 are two of the best synthetics out there for diesels running extended drains, period.

Lightman,

Mercedes never design *any* engine to API specs. So if you are looking at API (CF, CI-4 etc..), that's where you are getting confused. Those engineers designed to ACEA. I believe B4 is the latest light automobile diesel specification. A's are for gasers.

In the USA, we don't make light duty diesel, so there are not spec oils here for light duty.
You've got no diagreement with me on Delvac and Amsoil. I tend to avoid amsoil, because in the early 90's I rebuilt and did headgaskets on quite a few amsoil engines. They were *not* clean inside and the oil had turned to Gelatious goo. Really the nasties headgaskets I'ver did. I know their products are different now and they buy their base oil from Mobil. And 3-4 cars is not a good bases to judge an oil-what you have to have 12? for a statistical attempt.

The local dealer I'm told here still puts castrol RX in these cars(Yuck!), but Amsoil is on the same 228.5 list. You know MB settled a class-action suit on engines of ML's due to specifying dino oils on FSS car? Right. Anway, my point was if your going to point fingers toward an oil(unbiasedly), spec 229.3 is the place to start, and Delvac and Series 3000 are not on that list.


Michael

I hear ya, legally or warranty wise you're right about picking from the list, if you had a major claim or problem. Delvac 1 is the top of the line for heavy duty diesels, so may be overkill on our cars, but who cares, its worlds better than the syntec group III crap my dealer tried to put in it before I started doing all my own maintenance. That stuff would literally be falling appart at 7500 miles, and the car would burn about a quart in that time. Never burns a drop on the delvac, which is made to stand up to the diesel and then some... I don't really know about old amsoil , but don't care much either. I dont run it or plan on running it, although their two stroke racing oil is tempting for my jetski, i hear it really does burn cleanly.

Also i'm not confused about mercedes not designing their engines to api spec at all, I know they use the euro measures. My point is I dont think mb is the utmost/only authority on oils, and I think that delvac1 or comparable group iv Ci-4 rated oils are perfect for our cars. The spec basically is a premium diesel oil spec designed for extended drains in EGR equipped diesels....which is exactly what we have.

Are you resistant to change to synthetic in the older mb's for fear of leaks, or just don't see a need? Cool, your wife has a tdi:cool:

p.s. one local dealer puts in castrol cf rated syntec 10w-30 in our cars, and the other puts in quaker state 15-40 dino. They simply base their recommendations on 'old school' basic knowledge of oil viscosities and no regards to diesel specific oils or needs for synthetic. The one that installs syntec actually told me, well mb recommends synthetic, but it really doesn't make a difference. I laughed my way to my own oil changes with delvac :rolleyes: ;)

Road Trip !!!

Just got home from a 1400 mile round trip
to SW Virginia and back .. happy to report
getting 33 mpg for the journey .. was hoping
for a bit better but we'll take what we can
get :p

Here's one pic from homebase ..

And another 630 miles later :D
I think 'ole Pokey' likes country life !!

Something new in the driveway :cool:
If one is good .. then two has to
be better :D

1996 E300D 92000 miles
1999 E320 68000 miles

Too many MB cars so I
had to sell the house !!
Living here now :p

Hey there playa.... please tell me that a house for the cars :-)

Triffin, my wife is dying to know what kind of dog that is you have? It is the cutest lil pup as she say:p

Thanks,

my wife is dying to know what kind of dog that is you have?

It's a Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen or PBGV for short ..
The puppies look like a stuffed toy .. too darn cute !!