Thanks manny, will let you know how it goes.

If I owned that new C230 of yours, I would be doing an additional oil change in between the specified interval. So if it says every 20K Km, I would be doing an interim oil change only (not full service) every 10K Km. I may be a tad biased at this point though...

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

Heh, heh, great minds think alike.
I changed my own oil after 7500 km , then "A" service at 15 k km and you can bet I will " sneak " another oilchange in there, before the "B" service is do.

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2007 C 230 Sport.

Use either semi syn Max life 10W40 or Syntec 5W50.

Either one will help your problem.

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1999 C280

$2,500 isn't bad at all, its not cheap but IMHO reasonable considering the job.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

To be honest...I would think from seeing those engines SUCK a quart of oil in 600 Miles or less that the rings are the problem. LOOK for a low mileage used engine.

__________________
MERCEDES Benz Master Guild Technician (6 TIMES)
ASE Master Technician
Mercedes Benz Star Technician (2 times)
44 years foreign automotive repair
27 Years M.B. Shop foreman (dealer)
MB technical information Specialist (15 years)
190E 2.3 16V ITS SCCA race car (sold)
1986 190E 2.3 16V 2.5 (sold)
Retired Moderator

Hi guys,

Sorry I haven't posted anything sooner, I've had some family matters to attend to and the Benz has been sidelined.

Funny thing is, since coming back from the dealer's inspection, the car has travelled about 1,000 Km and it has barely used any oil at all? I still get the occasional belch of blue smoke on startup but not very often, perhaps 1/25 starts or so.

It has been cold up here and lots of snow, so most of my driving has been stop-and-go, with lots of idling in heavy traffic. Not much highway driving at all, mostly all city driving at low RPMs.

I took off the oil cap and there is a glop of beige/white colored gunk on the underside of the cap - I'm guessing condensation from all the stop and go driving? I checked the dipstick and the oil does not have any of that gunk on it, it looks normal, though pretty black. I will probably change it soon.

It seems like the car burns a lot more oil when it is running at higher RPMs and perhaps also when the temperature is hotter...does this make sense? Does this pattern help to pinpoint anything?

My next move, probably after the holidays will be to bring it back to the dealer and pull one of the heads and have a look at things.

Thanks again to all for their help and advice.

C.

__________________
Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

I've been changing the oil now every 4,000 Km or so and the oil consumption has decreased at the present. Not sure if the colder winter temps had anything to do with it, but I'm now using 1L / 2,200 km or so.

During my last oil change, the filter was filthy and full of gritty little bits of carbon, but the upper engine does look cleaner than before, so perhaps the frequent changes and good oil (MB 229.51) are helping.

If the car stays at this consumption rate, I'll just add the occasional litre and keep driving. No engine work planned at this point.

Other than this, the car has been running perfectly.

__________________
Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon