The oil shouldn't fail! I would sample the oil every 30K miles. However the kompressor will use some oil SO keep it full!! VERY $$ oil & even more $$$ for a new kompressor.

__________________
MERCEDES Benz Master Guild Technician (6 TIMES)
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my my Larry, are we feeling overly opinionated today or what? Nothing wrong with exploring new things such as this topic, and to explain even more, I've worked on commercial airliners for years, so I don't have your "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality. Do you have a supercharger on any of your cars Larry or perhaps knowledge that something terrible will happen if I pursue changing the oil in the supercharger???

M.B. Doc, you hit the nail on the head when you say the oil is expensive. I was qouted $100.00 for the several ounces the supercharger holds and $50.00 in labor to change it. Now that's expensive oil!! Thank God Mobil 1 0W-40 isn't that much or we all would be doing oil samples on our engines to get every last pennies worth.

By the way, I was reading a thread a while back about top speeds, I know you've had to have been on I-16 between Macon and Savannah and indulged your right foot. Am I right? That's a heck of a run down there...........

Also MB Doc, if you were going to do an oil sample, why wouldn't you just change it while your at it? I would think you would have to just about suck it dry to get enough for a sample. I can't remember off the top of my head how much oil it holds but I don't remember it being very much if it was listed in ounces. I know an oil sample would be a lot cheaper than replacing the oil, BUT............

I agree with Larry -- if it ain't broke, don't fix it! As Larry stated, engine oil needs changing because it is subject to all types of contaminants from the combustion process. That is one of the reasons why engines that burn cleaner do not need to have their oil changed as often and is one of the reasons why oil change intervals on new cars can be extended.

Did you ever think about the oil in the sump of your household refrigerator compressor? The refrigeration system is a completely sealed system and the compressor is basically a piston type compressor (some new models or rotary compressors) with an oil sump. You never change this oil and the average life of a household refrigerator is 15-17 years with many exceeding this life.

The supercharger in your vehicle is also sealed and will not build up dirt as would be in an internal combustion engine. The only contamination would be possibly metal particles from internal wear. I believe the supercharger would more likely fail from other ancilliary problems not associated with old oil before an oil related problem.

If you are still insistent on changing the oil in your supercharger, maybe you also want to change the oil in the refrigeration compressor of the auto air conditioner.

I'll have to look into that Benzbob, thanks.........

I wonder if you would be willing to acknowledge that aircraft maintenance and automotive maintenance involve a different importance.

If an aircraft experiences failure, lives are at stake. If an automobile ENGINE experiences failure, you coast to the side of the road, step out and start looking for a phone. The consequences within these two separate scenarios seem quite different to me.

If the manufacturer were not taking such a stand pertaining to permanent lubrication, I would not have made the same comment.

Have a great day,

Larry, I was only implying that my maintenance philosophies on my cars are a direct result of my occupation and training. I was not trying to make any correlation between cars and aircraft, although cars are getting very close, technology wise, to aircraft. Especially the new S600, of which I think would easily take flight with just a few slight mods. :p

Eaton acknowledges that the useful service life of the M62 supercharger is 100,000 to 125,000 miles. Will the M62 last beyond that? I'm sure that many will, but I'm also sure that some will not.

In the automotive world generally, 125K mile service life is pretty good. I don't know too many "domestic makes" customers that expect their car to last much longer than that.

However, we Mercedes folks look at things a tad different. We exclaim "ONLY 125,000 miles?"

Now, is there a way of increasing the service life? I had some experience with an Eaton unit on my Dad's Thunderbird SC years back. At that time, the Eaton unit basically quit at about 120,000 miles. Since a few years old T-Bird was a $3000 used car ($30K new!) there was no reason to spend the cash to put a new unit on it. This might not be true of a Mercedes, even a C-Class. The thing we did learn was that the Eaton units were not designed to be serviced along the way, and I talked to SC owners that had tried, and had not extended the service life a bit.

The M62 might be different, but I doubt it. Now, with so many of those M62 equipped cars out there, if there comes a time when lots of them are wearing out, Mercedes will probably be rebuilding them, and they'll be available at about half the price of the new unit. On a cost-per-mile basis, that makes it a bit better.

If you study the mechanics of the blower and the incredibly tight machining clearances, you can see why it's quite something that these guys last as long as they do.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

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these eaton units cost about 3 G's new, BUT u can get them for like $300 bux new on ebay, my buddy just picked up an m90 for about $350 brand new, i picked up my m62 for $300 slightly used off of a junked MB... ill bet the biggest problem is the clutch going bad, wonder how much those are to replace, it think i heard around $300 from a buddy MB mechanic...