Does Mercedes approve of synthetic gear lubricant such as for differentials? I called Mobile this morning and the technician said that since Mercedes has a limited slip differential that and that I should probably not use synthethic Mobile 1. I think many Mercedes owners are using these products without any problems so I am a little confused.

My car is a 1984 300D turbo. I recently had to exchange the differential due to gear wear and I am considering a higher quality gear oil.

Mobil 1
 

I use it in my 300D, no problems!

Too Slippery
 

According to the Mobile technician, synthetic gear oil may be too "slippery" for limited slip differentials. He said if someone were to use these products an additive should also be added so that the differential works correctly.

Check With Redline...
 

My car has had Redline in the differential for the past 85,000 miles. Runs like a track star...

http://www.redlineoil.com

What is limited slip differential? Do I have this on my 1995 C280?
What does it do?
I was curious, do I have ETS on my mercedes? I saw a video with my car on an icy hill and it climbed it with ETS, do i have this?

Have used Valvolines semi-synthetic 85W-140 in a '91 300-SEL differential for the last 40k miles. Runs REAL nice.

Not sure what the guy at Mobil was saying. According to their website http://dallnd6.dal.mobil.com/GIS/MobilPDS.nsf/26b7c4b33367a4a086256665004e4266/951b10d046e0bafd852567ba0050ec5f?OpenDocument

it has some sort of friction modifier in it. I haven't heard of anyone having problems with Mobil 1 in limited slip applications. The only problem I see is that it isn't Formula 1 certified!
Darryl
'91 190

Only recent MB with limited slip in the US were the W126 chassis & R107 560's. The 16V 190E also. Also the 90-93 4-matics & any car with ASD. At best that is about 1 out of 50 MB's still on the road!

Plate Label on differential
 

The Chilton's repair manual states, if you have a limited slip differential there is a warning plate attached to the differential and that only special gear oil should be used.

The warning is in German, I don't have the book with me now, but if anyone is interested I could look it up at home and put on here later. Seems that my 1984 300D can use synthethic gear oil. Now I have the hard time of making a choice!

Synthetic gear lube
 

I ran Mobil I gear lube for approx. 200000 miles--still runs well. 300sdl.