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A few years back I attended a two hour presentation on Mobil 1 given by the ExxonMobil's Senior Engineering Advisor/Synthetic Automotive Engine Lubricants (so says his business card). I asked him about the MB Flexible Service System (FSS) and the M112 V-6 sludging problem.

He told me that when MB started testing the FSS in Germany, they used European dino oil and were able to go 10K miles with it which is the minimum mileage before FSS says "change it." At that time MB was not thinking synthetic.

So when the ML showed up (using the V-6) everybody here was using an American refined dino oil which turned out to be inferior, service life-wise, to the Euro stuff they had tested with. And when the sludged up V-6s started showing up at the dealers' doors, there was great consternation because this was an engineering error on the part of the mighty MB and was going to cost them a great amount of money in warranty claims.

During all this excitement, ExxonMobil stepped forward with a solution which just happened to be their product, Mobil 1. MB was very resistive (the NIH factor, particularly strong in Germany) but when they finally were convinced, they became REALLY convinced and ruled that M1 was the answer and their dealers were to use it from then on. Then along came the class action suit against MB (they lost) and all the sludged up V-6s were repaired under warranty and their engine warranties were extended for quite a long period.

My 2001 C320's first fill was M1 0W40 which I continue to feed it and after 50K miles there is no measurable oil consumption. I'm assuming that my '08 C350 will come with 5W40, a fleece filter and 13K mile change intervals. I will probably change it at the midpoint as I do now. For no good reason, I confess.

BTW, the '08 C350 pix can be seen at www.caranddriver.com

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Roger E.