I change oil on my ML and C every 5,000 miles with Mobile 1. As dealer suggested to change about 10,000 miles or the when the wranch show up. All of the shop (not MB dealer) that I know suggested to change every 3000-5000 miles. So, who is right?

Regards,

YOU...................

Extended oil-change intervals are great for reducing the overall environmental waste associated with each car, which is why all the manufacturers are going that way.

Also, today's oil (even non-synthetic) is much hardier than that of the past, so 3K changes are really not necessary for most drivers.

Changing it earlier won't hurt anything but your oil budget, and may help extend the life of the engine. I don't go for the 10K intervals either.

I think changes at 10k are fine...as long as you don't plan to own the car for more then 10 years....If you want you're baby to last forever, i'd go with changes at 3500-4000k. Its the best preventative maintaince you can do for you're car's engine, so i wouldn't milk the oil that long. You're the boss, its common sense what happens when you neglect them, so you make the choice.

I think this all depends on use:

If you start and stop your car frequently, sit in stop-n-go traffic, use it frequently where it doesn't get fully warmed-up, then yes, the 3-4,000 oil change intervals make sense.

If you often run your engine for more than 30 minutes and it gets hot, you often run at higher speeds etc, then extended changes make sense to me.

I look at it this way: Out of a given set of hours your car is used, say in a month, how many are spent idling, quick trips etc verses running long enough to burn off the condensation in the crankcase? How many cold (extra rich fuel diluting starts)?

Haasman

__________________
'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

Don't know about that... Used oil is usually sold to container ships and what not and used as fuel. I work at an auto parts store, and we pay a company to take away our used oil which customers bring in to dump out in a tank. The city reimburses us for the service. Quite nice.

not knowing what car you have its hard to say but--------
i think you are changing it too often. you can safely get
10,000 miles on yer car if you are using mobil 1 15/50 or 0/40.
i would recommend otherwise twice a year. if you don't use the
car much then once a year is fine.
you are using the fleece filters if it applies, right?
i'm also assuming that the rest of the car is maintained.

george

My are car ML320 2000, C230 2005. I am using Hengst filter brand and Mobile1, but forgot the number.
Thanks,

[QUOTE=haasman]I think this all depends on use:

If you start and stop your car frequently, sit in stop-n-go traffic, use it frequently where it doesn't get fully warmed-up, then yes, the 3-4,000 oil change intervals make sense.

Sounds good to me.

Search and you will find hundreds of threads on this.

__________________
Ali Al-Chalabi

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

THat ML320, I've owned one before and I find that they are vastly underpowered. I would not risk driving that thing 10k before doing an oil change as that engine ends up over working to carry you're truck around. I'd stick to 4000miles at the most with that thing. My 2 cents.

To add to this, it's my understanding that the 3K figure is derived from 100 hours at 30mph average speed over that time.

I don't spend much time below 70 in my car, but still change it every 4-5K, just for the good feeling I get. I don't use synthetic oil in my car, so it's cheap.

on your ml use mobil 1 15/50 or 0/40 though i prefer the 15/50. make
sure you are using the fleece filter on it.
on the c230 use 0/40 only.
your good to go with 10,000 miles or changing the oil every 6 months.
mobil 1 is an incredible oil. you will not have any oil issues otherwise.

george

I've changed non-syns oil every 5,000 miles and Mobil-1 every 10,000 miles... and I've been doing that for about 20 yrs... Nothing has been wrong with my cars related to oil changing frequency, so that's my statistic