Decrease in oil consumption !?

Six months ago I bought an 87 260E with 140,000 miles from a local Mercedes-Benz dealer. I knew that the car had sat on the dealer's lot for approximately seven months, so I asked them to change the oil when I took possession. In the first month or two the oil consumption seemed to be around a quart per 1,200-1,300 miles and the low oil level warning light would come on without fail. Since then the oil consumption appears to have steadily DECREASED. I've covered approx. 1,700 miles since the last oil change and the oil level is still half way between "min" and "max". Does that make sense? Has anyone experienced anything like that? No repairs whatsover have been done to the vehicle. From day one there has been a minor leak. It's still there, but it's too small to be a factor.
Alex Kouliy
Calgary, Canada
87 MB 260E
75 Fiat 124 Spider

Sounds like the seals were dry and they had to get saturated with oil again.

[JCE]

I experienced something like this with my 1967 Malibu SS. While I was at my first year of grad school, my dad kept my car. He drove it at about 25 mph for 5 mile trips, never took it on the freeway, never got it warmed up. When I got the car back it sucked oil as fast as gasoline, and belched white/brown smoke on moderate acceleration. I figured that it had major problems, so what the hell, and floored it on the freeway on ramp. The view in the rear view mirror looked like I had blown the engine, but the car seemed to run better! Did this every day for a week, and each time it spewed less smoke and ran better. Finally, no smoke, no more oil consumption. I hypothesized that the engine was very carboned up. I was later told I was lucky, that I could have caused major problems with my "on ramp" repairs, but never had it fully explained. Good luck!

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JCE
87 300E, 65k miles
Smoke Silver

I expect that this was due to stuck oil rings. I would suggest a few more very frequent oil changes while the engine is HOT! Get the engine to operating temperature which takes about 15 to 20 miles of driving, even in the summer heat. Pull the plug(or having Jiffy Lube pull the plug, whichever you do) and let it drain as long a possible.

If the engine was gunked up enough inside to stick the rings, there is still alot of sludge that needs to be removed. The above procedure is probably the safest way to do this. You will be doing something very healthy for your engine.

Good luck,
Change oil hot, and change oil often,


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Larry Bible
'84 Euro 240D, 523K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles