Well I just found out from the previous owner's son (the one who drove the car) that my 89 300D n/a hasnt had an oil change since about 100K miles. I now have 112xxx. I know on my diesel pickup I never run it over 5k miles on an oil change. I am going to change my oil on Wednesday night or Thursday. What grade/weight oil would you guys recommend, and what oil filter works with this car? I run synthetic 15W40 in the pickup, but I feel like it may be different for the car. Also, what is the oil capacity on this engine? It's the n/a 6 cyl. Thanks again! Trying to figure out anything on this car has proven challenging. A majority of the info I find only applies to turbocharged models.

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1984 300TD OM617 project. Rusted apart exhaust, leaking roof, bad interior. WIP
1983 300D OM617 straight piped, rusty, dented, and sketchy.
1982 300D OM617 parts car, assumed low/no compression at this point.
2005 F250 6.0L, custom tuned, stage 2 VGT, 175/30 injectors, all supporting mods. Currently parked with a smoked transmission.
Sold: 1989 grey market 300D OM603 N/A

Many opinions here but Mobil 1 0W40 or 0W40 Tubo Truck Diesel oil are good choice and you can get 5 quart/ 4 quart jugs repectively of either type at W-mart. 0W40 is MB approved and getting the extra quart for same price makes it a better deal.

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-- Chris

'95 E300, 216k miles, Silver Surfer
'05 E320 CDI, 138k miles
'07 S550 4matic, 69k miles

Gone but not forgotten:

'76 300D, 350k miles?, SOLD in 1995
'75 240D, 300k miles, SOLD in 1991

The OP didn't give a location, but I think I see snow in his picture. With considerable cold 5W40 or 0W40 is a good idea. I'm personally partial to Rotella T6 5W40, but anything diesel rated and in the right viscosity range will work.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Apologies. I am in the Midwest U.S. , in Illinois. It's been brutally cold here lately, but it also gets pretty warm. I'm going to look for a happy medium as far as viscosity. 5W synthetic then? Or too thin? Also, where would I find the proper oil filter? And are there certain brands of oil filter to avoid? I also would like to know the capacity.

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1984 300TD OM617 project. Rusted apart exhaust, leaking roof, bad interior. WIP
1983 300D OM617 straight piped, rusty, dented, and sketchy.
1982 300D OM617 parts car, assumed low/no compression at this point.
2005 F250 6.0L, custom tuned, stage 2 VGT, 175/30 injectors, all supporting mods. Currently parked with a smoked transmission.
Sold: 1989 grey market 300D OM603 N/A

I'd just buy a reputable brand such as shell or mobile in the weight recommended in the Mercedes owners manual and not worry about the oil being over old that is in it. Its not the best to run it that many miles but certainly not long enough to do any real damage unless the oil level happened to be very low.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Isn't castrol Edge 0w40 also approved? Never tried it, just want to know. Believe it is, though

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

Are you trying to start a fight? Jk.

Whatever's on sale for diesels. I'm a fan of running synthetic every 3 changes. Cleans it out. But dyno oil picks up contaminants better.

And a German filter of course.

What does this mean? Can you elaborate?

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Sure.

Synthetic oil is simply more refined. True synthetic derived from Esther (can't spell or remember) is highly expensive. Jet engine oil or race bikes. $60 quart.

Dyno oil is less refined, or cleaned.

The dyno oil contains more polarized ions, more stuff if you will. The big line on when you call it "synthetic" is when these polarized ions are removed.

So I just put a new head on. I put in dyno oil because the polarized ions will pick up fragments of my valves and guides wearing in

After I will run synthetic to clean up any junk built up in there. The dyno oil tends to stick down and build up due to increased polarization.

If that's too much just think of magents.

Where are you getting synthetic 15W40? I have only ever seen 0w40 and 5w40.

I've been corrected, Amsoil sells it apparently, interesting, part of why I went to 5/40 was easier winter starts so I never went looking for a synthetic 15/40

At temperature they are all 40 weight, so none of them are "too thin"

For what its worth, I run Rotella T6 5/40 in OM601 and N/A OM602 year round in the midwest. Notice much easier cold starts and zero oil comsumption.

I also run that oil in my turbo 603, dads turbo 617, n/a 616, dad's turbo 602, etc. But you asked about turbo/non turbo. The turbo doesn't really change anything. They both need a diesel approved oil for soot suspension. The aforementioned 0/40 Mobil1 or the multitude of 5/40 diesel rated synthetics are all good choices in my opinion.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

This is an interesting theory, but it also isn't backed by physics and has nothing to do with particle attraction.

If you can post some reliable information explaining the polarity of wear metals and that of oil molecules, I would be interested to read it. Sludge forms from oil breaking down, not from its "magnetism"

Synthetic diesel oils are widely accepted as having better soot suspension characteristics. You would, I suppose, want a cleaner oil for that. Not a dirtier "less refined" oil.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

Ok so I ran to napa. I got 5 quarts of some kind of German synthetic 5W40 called "liqui moly" never heard of it but I figured I would try it. Got some crazy looking canister filter. Is there another filter I need to buy? As in a spin-on? I chased the oil filter all over trying to find it. Napa is the only place I found it. This car confuses me..

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1984 300TD OM617 project. Rusted apart exhaust, leaking roof, bad interior. WIP
1983 300D OM617 straight piped, rusty, dented, and sketchy.
1982 300D OM617 parts car, assumed low/no compression at this point.
2005 F250 6.0L, custom tuned, stage 2 VGT, 175/30 injectors, all supporting mods. Currently parked with a smoked transmission.
Sold: 1989 grey market 300D OM603 N/A

I don't think 5 quarts is enough. My 617 takes two gallons per oil change. I would imagine a 603 would be similar.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

6 or 7 quarts I believe. there is a canister accessible from under the car. Unsrew the bolt and let a half quart of warm oil run to your armpit, then replace the old filter with the new one and very carefully replace the center bolt. Its at an angle and tricky to get started....very counterintuitive.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

603 oil filter is a cartridge style filter and its accessed from the top

__________________
68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i