I have always been curious as to the difference between the MB228.x and the 229.x oil specs. I wasnt quite sure of the differences, although Ive been told that the 228 is a HD spec adn the 229 is a LD passenger car spec.

I got my hands on the spec sheet info, and have compiled it (from http://www.ethyl.com/products/la/handbook/Crankcase.pdf). I have put them into a formatted worksheet for direct comparisson. Looking over everything, it appears that it took the 229.3 spec to match that which was the necessary requirements for 228.3, and 229.5 matches up exactly with the 228.5 spec.

It seems to me that the 229.x specs are kind of like a lesser or weaker set of the 228.x specs. The 228.x oils will be more robust in every way than their 229 counterparts. Besides the sulphur, chlorine, ash and ACEA prerequisite requirements, and the fact that the 229.x specs were also tested on an M111 engine for sludge and fuel economy improvement, I dont see any difference. I dont think that it even matters that the oils are synthetic or not, as my sources seem to point out that in other parts of the world, synthetic oil is not necessary (although in designing a lube oil, meeting the prerequisite ACEA A3 is really hard if not impossible to meet in a lower 0,5 or 10w- oil without a synthetic basestock).

My worksheet is as follows, although it doesnt show up properly, and I cant paste a pic of it because the picture is too wide/long). It is pretty straightforward, oil spec is listed across, and there are five data sets for most every criteria. I have taken out some other data with the specs of other test engines, etc. Feel free to email me directly for the excel file if you have further interest:


SHEET NUMBER: 228.3 OM602 228.5 OM602 229.1 OM602A 229.3 OM602A 229.5 OM602A
Piston Cleanliness (No ring sticking): 24 min. 26 min. 20 min. 24 min. 26 min.
Bore Polishing, %. (23mm): 4.5 max. 3.0 max. 7.0 max. 4.5 max. 3.0 max.
Cylinder Wear, avg. µm. (new/old): 15.0/10.0 max. 15.0/10.0 max. 20.0/12.0 max. 15.0 max. 15.0/10.0 max.
Cam Wear, avg. µm. (new/old): 45.0/28.0 max. 45.0/28.0 max. 50.0/30.0 max. 45.0/10.0 max. 45.0/28.0 max.
Oil Consumption, kg.: 10.0 max. 10.0 max. 10.0 max. 10.0 max. 10.0 max.
Viscosity Increase, 40°C. %: 70 max. 60 max. 90 max. 70 max. 60.0 max.
Engine Sludge, avg.: 8.9 min. 9.0 min. 8.8 min. 8.9 min 9.0 min.
Ring Sticking, ASF OM441LA: 1.0 max. OM441LA: 1.0 max.

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)