wrong oil for winter!
 

I brought my freshly bought 1st diesel for an inspection and an oil change and the guy (as I discovered later) put oil not suitable for temps under 30f (this is New England). My questions are: how will my vehicle function and should I just put the right oil in asap?
Thanks,
Alex

What grade of oil has he put in it?
What is recommended for your climate?
jackD

Jack:

I would use Mobil Delvac 1 5W40 in Canada. Dino oil of too high a viscosity (summer oil) is very likely to give you starting problems if you must leave the car outside overnight. If you have a garage, heated or not, you may not have much trouble. However, sitting in a parking lot all day.....

I lived in Sault Ste. Marie, ONT for three winters, I know!

Peter

Worse than being harder to start, is the fact that thicker oil takes longer to reach all engine parts at startup in very cold weather. This means that for quite a few precious seconds, whole areas of your engine are running with no lubrication. NO GOOD!

...he put 15W-40, I believe. I found some information on it being appropriiate for large diesel engines ie Mack trucks.

That oil is correct for your engine, but *may* cause starting issues if temps get well below freezing. If your car is parked outside and must be started under cold temps like that, I strongly second the recommendation for Mobil-1 5W-40 full synthetic (also known as Delvac-1).

The oil you use MUST be diesel rated (CF/CG/CH/CI) and meet the viscosity range in the owner's manual. You cannot use anything thinner than xW-40 in ambient temps above what it says in the chart. The Mobil-1 5W-40 is perfect year-round, I use it in all my cars.

:book2:

Thanks...will a block heater help and if so, how long does it take to heat up?

A block heater is definitely a good idea. How long? Obviously it all depends on how cold it is.

ok, thanks Jean.
Alex

Usually the block heater needs 30-60 minutes to provide good heat. Leaving it plugged in longer does nothing but sustain the heat level and waste electricity...

;)

A less costly alterative to Delvac1 is the Rotela 5/40 synthetic. It is not really syn just highly refined dino that the gov said the could be marketed as syn. Its $12.94gl. at wolly word. Delvac1 is about 5 plus bucks a quart and a little harder to come by.
BTW Mobil truck and suv 5/40 is the same thing as delvac1

All true. Rotella Syn is better than most dino oils however it is NOT, IMO, suitable for extended drains. I would change the Rotella Syn by 5kmi at most. If you want to do extended drain intervals (which I do), you really need a proper Group IV or V synthetic, which would be Mobil-1, Amsoil, Red Line, and a few other top-shelf synthetics. Mobil is the easiest to locate and similarly priced to Amsoil's dealer pricing, Red Line is nice stuff but pricey. I use Delvac-1 in my vehicles (both diesel AND gas.)

:sun_smile

---What is an extended drain interval?

Basically, it means leaving the oil in longer than the car manufacturer says you should. I think most older Mercedes diesels owner's manuals say to change the oil at 5kmi in normal service, or 2.5k under severe service, or something like that. However good synthetic oils are not close to worn out at 5kmi and changing it is wasting money. Of course you can continue changing every 3kmi (with dino or synthetic) and be safe, but if you drive a lot, this is a real nuisance - and not great for the environment either. :p

The problem is, you need to do an oil analysis or two at your estimated extended interval to see if it's OK. The usual limiting factor is soot levels. The limit MB says to stay under is 2%, regardless of what the oil can suspend. My 617 engine reaches this level by ~5kmi so I can't really do extended drains there. However my two 603's were only 1% at 10kmi, so I could theoretically go to near 20kmi before changing the oil. I do it at 10kmi anyway, that's about once per year, which is fine with me. Here's a sample of my oil analysis reports - I have a newer one (240-250kmi) but haven't made it into a PDF file yet:

http://www.meimann.com/docs/mercedes/oil_analysis_87b.pdf

:) :)