I am picking up a 92 5OOE on the used market. The car has approx 100K miles on it. Its led a pampered life thus far and I want to make sure it lasts as long as possible. What are the virtues of synthetic vs conventional oils in applications like this? What about oil weights? How does 15w40 fare against 20w50? What about those fully synthetic oils like Royal Purple? I've heard about synthetics being "damaging" to older cars because of their greater detergent qualities dissolving the "false seals" in the engine. Is there any truth to that and how could one tell if they had an engine which would either benefit or be harmed by synthetic oil. Thanks....

I've used Mobil 1 in: Current cars: 1972 BMW2002 (since rebuild @175k in 1986) now 225k total with 15-50 1992 Ford Explorer 125k Mobil 1 5w30 since new 1987 Mercedes 420SEL (125k with 15w-50) Used since we've had it from 1992 @44k. Previous cars: 1984 Mercedes 300SD (275k all on Mobil 1 15w-50) My entire families line of Ford P/U trucks... appx 5 of them, appx- 700k total miles (not one 'problem' that had anything to do with the internals of the engines (pheripheral items, that's another story)

As you can tell, I like the way it works. I change it 3 times for 10,000 miles (appx 3,300 per) Let me know if you would like more info- Thanks, Kevin

I have a 190D that I've put Mobile 1 in. The car had over 300k on the odometer when I bought it, and I change the oil once ever 5000K, as opposed to the 7000 recommended by most garages. Being a diesel, and running on the warm side, I run 15W50 in it all the time, and the car has no problems. When I was running a lower weight oil, the level off, was about 1.5 on the scale (3 is max) Now, it levels off at around 2, when hot, and idling.

I've also used two different weight oils on a gasoline engine for summer/winter, with a good amount of success.



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"And angels shall weep crimson tears for those souls lost through ignorance."

Robert,
i am trying to find used 500E/ E500 as well. how is your car doing? the pros/cons?
are you going to do to any upgrades on performance? new rims? lowering springs?

how much did you pay for it?
thanks..

my email is z_wall@hotmail.com

i hope to hear from you....