Oil Change time...

What type of oil would you recommend for a 1996 SL600 with 55,000 miles? Would you recommed synthetic?

[elau]

I think this subject had been brought up many times before. If memory serves me right, older car will not gain much by changing to synthetic. Keep your oil change every 3,000 miles will be better off for your engine.

1. Keep life simple, forget most of the BS about synthetics; the only time you need synthetic is for consistently high temps over 210+ degrees, which few of us ever experience. Most of the crap about synthetics is marketing hype which needlessly wastes lots of money, and actually discourages more frequent oil and filter changes...the real key to what we are really after respecting engine protection.

2. Most other motor oil is also BS because it contains too much ash. ASH in motor oil?? Yep...and lots of it. Forget the marketing hype about that stuff too. Make life simple and less expensive: Go to Trak/Autozone, or similar, and buy their 1 gallon Coastal 15-40. Rotella, Delo, its all the same stuff...its LOW ASH. Its the good stuff for diesels. Believe me, if its good enough for million-mile diesels, its good enough for us. I use it in the airplanes too... because there is nothing better when you examine all the costs. My life is made a lot more simple: 1 motor oil for all my internal combustion engine needs.

Do the research...and stop wasting all that money, or feeling tempted to skimp on oil changes because of the sucker game of costly synthetic oils.

Mark