Longest Drive Yet!...and a mystery...

[DavidSoine]

Yesterday took two of the kids for a 250 mile sightseeing journey in the SL...to Nebraska! After 3+ years of ownership this was the longest trip ever for us in this car - and it ran flawlessly. Not too bad for turning 214,000 miles yesterday. It was a beautiful day to tour up and down the Missouri river.

The mystery is...where does the oil go? The car is mainly driven around town, and I'll check the oil every hundred or so miles. Usually the oil level stays the same, then occasionally it will be way low. I added 3(!) quarts yesterday (this would put it in the quart/100 mile range) before leaving on our journey, but it appears that it didn't burn any during the 250 mile drive! It's not on the garage floor and the car smokes a little at startup and very little while driving (that we've noticed). Weird. The around-town driving must really burn the oil.

Nice to use the car for what it was intended - touring the open road!

best,

Dave
87 560sl

[BobK]

560 motors are known to need valve seals every 100k or so. My wife's SL needs them now. Oil can be funny sometimes. Best to let it drain for 5 minutes or so after shutting down the engine. Also probably good idea to check the oil with car in same spot every time. Third thing: keep the oil mid-way between the red plastic bits: too full can cause problems. We drove our SL to NYC from Cincinnati and back at the beginning of May last year. Wonderful drive. Wife is braving the Cicada onslaught here in Cincy and keeping the top down as much as possible. Should be really bad here in about a week.