Recommendations on oil, viscosity, on a 97 S500
 

Recommendations on oil, viscosity for a 97 S500, with 150K
I just want to be sure I have the right oil for the car
Thanks
Oscar

Since it appears you are in the Lone Star state, I'd recommend a nice, heavy oil. 10W/40 or 15W/40. You are going to get lots of opinions that's for sure. EVERYBODY has an opinion when it comes to the "best" oil. Want to be safe? Call a repair shop that fixes MB's in your area and ask what they think.

Baloney--viscosity has nothing to do with it.

What you want is oil that meets Mercedes specs.

http://www.startekinfo.com/StarTek/outside/9511/?requestedDocId=9511

OK Kent, against my better judgement, I'll engage you. Find me a major oil company 15W/40 that does not meet MB spec... Rotella? Check. Delvac? Check. I think your baloney is a bit thin. You guys driving new Benzes get all bent about this stuff. So long as you don't run too thin an oil in the W124, they'll do just fine. They like the syrupy stuff. And yes, I am going to Pep boys tonight to see if their 15W/40 meets the 'spec' of 1994/95. Geesh. Next thing you know you're going to recommend synthetic....

The OP has a 97 S500 which is a W140. With FSS he should follow the MB spec recommendations in the very useful doc in Kent's link. Also, don't forget fleece filter.

Generally, the older the car the less stringent the oil requirement. When I was a kid, a quart of motor oil was a quart of motor oil -- no viscosity rating. Of course, I'm over 21 now.:D

Neither of those oils meet spec, nor have they ever been on the approved fluid list, and fleece filters came almost a decade later to my knowledge.

Like my 99, I guessing the 97's came with M1 European Blend 0/40 as their factory fill although it is on the cusp of the MB Syn vs Dino lawsuit so its possible it came to town with dino oil and was later converted to syn. Def needs syn now.

It has been hot and dry in south Texas of that there is no doubt. In 32 years that I have been here, I have never seen nothing like it, to see mature oak trees dry up and dying has been quite disconcerting. We finally got some rain last week and close to normal temperatures but I am afraid is a case of too little and too late.

Thank you all for the time and the comments. As you can guess the more, I tried to find out about the oils the more confusing things seem to get. My understanding of all this is that 97 and earlier MB can work on either conventional dyno, or synthetic, while 98 and later years MB seem to require full synthetic. I would probably stick with the conventional oil for now with a viscosity somewhere 10-40, even thought at some later point I would also like to try synthetic just to see if there is any difference. Perhaps one of the best advice I have seen floating about is from fellow forum member Larry Bible “change hot and change often”

Best regards

You check.

You won't find those.

If it ain't on the bottle, it doesn't.

http://www.startekinfo.com/StarTek/outside/9511/?requestedDocId=9511

You really should use a high quality syn that meets 229.3 specs as a minimum....if you go dino you must ignore FSS and follow Larry's "change hot and change often" advice.