I bought the MityVac 7021 and oil filter wrench a couple months ago to change oil on the '00 E430 myself the first time, since I bought the car 5 year ago. All previous oil changes were done at dealer free of charge under the free scheduled maintenances.

I followed every step in the "Oil & Filter Change" of DIY, except the following:
After the MityVac made gurgling noises when it was done sucking up the oil, I removed the sucking tube from the MityVac to transfer 8 quarts of old oil into two 1-gallon milk jugs. Using hair dryer to blow hot air into oil fill for about 2 minutes, then re-connected the sucking tube to the MityVac which was emptied by then, and pumped about 10 times, another 1/4 to 1/3 cup of oil had been sucked into the Mityvac.

I also added 10 oz of Valvoline Synpower Oil Treatment, which has very high level of Molybdenum, to the new 8.5 quarts of Mobil 1 10W40. Before this oil change, my car gas mileage was between 18.3 MPG - 18.8 MPG with average speed of 28 MPH, to 18.5 MPG - 19.2 MPG with average speed of 29 MPH between filling gas weekly. For any week that the average speed went down to 27 MPH because of more red lights, the average fuel consumption went down to between 17.2 MPG to 17.8 MPG. Right after this oil change with Valvoline Synpower Oil Treament, the gas consumption improved to 19.8 MPG for the average speed of 27 MPH so far, an improve of about 10%. I saw similar gas mileage improved for my other car, Honda S2000 with Synpower Oil Treament. I will post more data about gas mileage for both cars when I collected more in the next few months. So far I am very satisfy with this Oil Treament for very little cost: $3.99 + Tax for 15 oz bottle at PepBoys and it can be used for 2 or more cars.

__________________
'00 E430 Brilliant Silver/Ash

This is interesting. I myself have always been heavily against the use of oil treatments. In my opinion, the Mobil may know something more about a proper additive package to Mobil 1 than I do. I would believe this be be a coincidence.

__________________
Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

you know that Mercedes thinks a big `negatory` on those oil treatments.

Did your car come with a computer for gas mileage? is this where you get your mpg and average speed figures from?

Yes, most car manufactures against using oil and fuel additives and it is in owner manual. I first used this Synpower Oil Treatment in 2004 Honda S2000 with 7800 miles. I did not expect to see improvement in gas mileage in that car at all. What had been done was: I had second oil change at Honda dealer at 7500 miles with conventional oil 10W30 in early December 2004, the gas mileage was not changed for the first two fills at the same gas station, about 20.5 MPG as many times before, 20 MPG to 21 MPG. I added 5 oz of Synpower Oil Treatment in January 2005, after 150 miles or so the gas gauge went down much slower than before, I thought that something was wrong, I monitored the gas gauge every mile to make sure that I will not ran out of gas in middle of the road. The first fill up at the same gas station I got 23.5 MPG. I then reset trip-odometer B as I alway did, to see what will be the gas mileage for next fill up. I got 22.1 MPG on second fill up and 24.2 MPG on third fill up. Nothing else had change for this S2000, same oil, same tire pressure, same air filter, same roads and similar driving conditions.

Because of the improvement in fuel consumption in Honda S2000, I decided to try it on '00 E430 to verify what I observed. The improvement of 2 MPG for the first 150 miles may be a coincidence, that why I said I will monitor the next several fills to see how things go.

Yes, '00 E430 has trip computer. I alway reset it every week to monitor the fuel consumption since about a year ago. Before then, I only reset twice a year to monitor fuel consumption in winter and summer. Either way, the average speed and the gas mileage were very consistence, 18.3 MPG to 19.2 MPG most tanks, with majority of fills at around 18.5 MPG . I never had a tank with more than 19.5 MPG, except on long trips to Las Vegas or San Diego. The E430 is my wife daily driver with 80% city and 20% highway.

The gasoline price keeps going up, it is more than $2.30 for premium in Southern California now. I would not hesistence using high quality oil additive if it do no harm to the engine and improve gas mileage at the same time.

__________________
'00 E430 Brilliant Silver/Ash

HTN-E430, where do you purchase Mobil 1 10W40? I've yet to see that weight available at any local stores. I regularly see Mobil 1 in 0W40, 5W30 and 15W50, but never 10W40.

__________________
Fred Hoelzle

I filled with 4.5 quarts M1 5W30 and 4 quarts M1 15W50. The end result is about 10W40.

The last oil change at dealer, they put in M1 5W40. The one before that, they used M1 15W50. The fuel consumptions were about the same with either oil.

__________________
'00 E430 Brilliant Silver/Ash

I would love to hear Mobile's take on how a $.05 calculation on paper beats millions in research on viscocity.

If I mixed 4Q of 100 and 4Q of 0 to get 8 Q of 50 weight in an aircraft engine on my flightline the FAA would fine me and the aircraft owner would likely hurt me.

And as for gaining miraculous benifits from the oil additive, doesn't this sound a lot like the Amsoil crowd's claims? If it worked, MB woluld already recommend it.

Sheesh

HTN-430, I don't believe Mobil1 comes in 5W40. Rather than mixing different viscosity oils why don't you ask the dealer's Service Director what viscosity Mobil 1 he recommends for your car?

__________________
Fred Hoelzle

Best oil to use in my opinion is 0W-40. Hard to find sometimes, though. You are correct in that Mobil one does not come in a 5W-40. There are 5W-30, 0W-40 and 15W-50 among others, but no 5W-40.

__________________
Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

I've been using 10-30 Mobil 1 in the summer in my C230 with good results. The newer MB engines (after M103) seem to like the "medium" weight oils, and there is no longer a need to put super-thick summer oil in unless specified by MB. (we're talking gas...)

__________________
John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Mobil 1 does come with 5W40 in the name of "Mobil 1 Truck and SUV 5W40". It was what in my 2000 E430 on the fourth oil change and they wrote it down in the service booklet. I do not know for sure which was original fill oil, the four free oil changes at dealer were in order first to last: 0W40, 20W50, 15W50 and 5W40 and all were Mobil 1. These grades were dealer choices at the times the car was in for scheduled maintenances A and B.

Mobil 1 0W40 is the recommended oil for '00 E430, but the dealer that services my car uses whatever oil they have in stock at that time, and the car ran fine so far. Since the temperatures in Southern California along the coast are very mild year round, 10W40 may be better suited for my E430.

----------

This is a copy from Mobil web site:

Is Mobil 1 with SuperSyn Technology a fully synthetic motor oil?

Yes, it is. To meet the demanding requirements of today's specifications (and our customers' expectations), Mobil 1 with SuperSyn uses high-performance fluids, including polyalphaolefins (PAOs), along with a proprietary system of additives. Each Mobil 1 with SuperSyn viscosity grade uses a unique combination of synthetic fluids and selected additives in order to tailor the viscosity grade to its specific application.

Note that each viscosity grade has the same base, only different in additives. Such that, if I mixed Mobil 1 of different viscosities, the new oil still have same base which is PAOs but different level of additives from original oils.

I was suprised that this oil additive improved gas mileage on my S2000 so much, that why I tried it in my E430 and I had similar result for the first fill up. This E430 is my wife daily car, I did not tell her to change her driving habits, so that I will be able to tell if the fuel consumption really better after several more fillings. The cost of one bottle is so little, $3.99 + tax, and it can be used for two cars or more.

Stay tune for updating fuel consumptions of both cars in the next few weeks.

__________________
'00 E430 Brilliant Silver/Ash