I don't care what anyone or any FFS system says, Oil should be changed at 3000 miles for a city driven car or 5-6000 miles for a highway driven car. Quaker State should be changed every 2000 miles for either type of driving. The oil doesn't wear out, it gets contaminated. Thats why you get sludge. So if you want a car that will last, take care of it. If you want to trade cars every few years or at 100,000 miles or less, do what the manufacturer recommends. Its your choice. I drive very short distances of 1.5 miles each way, engine doesn't even get hot, and I change my oil every 1000 miles on my daily driver and every 2000 on my 500SEL that usually is only used on long trips. Call me crazy if you like but neither car uses any oil and runs great. Best of all, I feel good about it.

The engine's design didn't cause the problem,them not making it clear that a decent 229.5 oil was necessary to follow the OLM created the problems.

The engine is still around and still in use in a 4 valve head form.

I fully agree. Problem is the previous owner trusted MB/the dealer. He wasn't cheap either, just figured they knew what they were doing. :rolleyes:

Changing your oil so much is a waste of money and resources.

Mercedes knows a thing or 2 about building engines and with their huge sumps they were mean't for long intervals.

As long as you use the correct oil, yes. Which they evidently failed to specify over here. But most of the techs I've spoken to slip in an extra change between intervals - i.e. if the FSS interval is 18,000 Km, change at 10,000 Km or so. Seeing what is happening with my engine - which has been maintained to the letter as per Mercedes' instructions - I would definitely endorse this practice.

It has been maintained that the entire reason for the FSS was part marketing and part environmental pressure. I fully agree with trying to get the most out of a change of oil, but there are limits.

Same with the 'lifetime' tranny fill. I changed mine at a little over 100,000 Km. What exactly is a 'lifetime'? 100K? 300K? But that's a whole other topic...;)

Simple, " Lifetime " is until it croaks. :D
Btw., M-B now specifies a transmissionfluid change at 40 k miles and never thereafter. ;)

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.

Update
 

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? :confused: 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.

Update
 

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.