Need Fluid Help
 

1994 S420 in Georgia if it matters, 100k miles

What type of engine oil should I use (I've gotten the whole gammut of reccomendations, 15w30, 15w40, etc.) so what is the best?

Also, for antifreeze: do I neeed to replace/top up the anti freeze with MB original stuff or will any old antifreeze do?

Thanks in advance for your help

Call you local MB dealer. I use 20w50. It depends how old the coolant is. If it is over two years, change it.

Yeah, that's where i got the reccomendations from

all 5 dealerships i called gave me a different engine oil to use

Do a search this topic has been discussed to death, but any oil that is 40wt or higher will work. Ie no 5w-30, 10w-30 ect.

For example I recommend Mobil 1 (so does MB) if you want to go that way:
0w-40 Silver cap
5w-40 Yellow cap (called truck & suv oil at Walmart)
15w-50 Red Cap
will be fine.

Or off the top of my head:
Castrol 10w-40
Pennzoil 10w-40
Castrol Syntec 5w-50

See where I'm going? Any oil that is at least a 40wt on teh upper end is fine.
As for coolant MB stuff or Zerox (sp?) are the only ones you should use.

Thx.. I would have searched but I'm time constrained here

So xxWyy

xx the lower is better for cold start ups?
yy the higher is better for hot-temp running?



Sorry, I'm really dumb with engine oil

:smug: check here

http://www.whnet.com/4x4/oil.html

On my 190E, i used Lubro Moly fully synthetic 5w40. Excellent oil and make the valve lifters less noisy when cold starting.

Ocap, what type of driving do you do?... freeway?.... city?.... short trips?

Hi, sorry for the delay:

Mainly suburban stop and go type traffic

The engine heats up quite alot during traffic conditions, like the temp will spike up to 100c + and then when you take it on a stretch of road where you dont stop, it slowly backs down to a little below 80...

oil pressure fluctuates as the engine heats up too, which i find disturbing (though i've been told its normal)

Not just any Zerex. It needs to be Zerex G-05. In the tan bottle.

Don't fret much over the oil pressure fluctuations. Oil pressure changes depending on any number of variables:

1. Heat - the oil pressure drops as the oil heats up.
2. Engine speed - the oil pressure drops at idle.
3. Age - the oil pressure drops as the oil ages.

Unless you're using synthetic oil in the engine, I vote for using anything between a 10W-30 and 20W-50 weight during the heat of summer. I wouldn't fret too much over the weight of the oil, as long as it's reasonable. You're correct with your logic on how to interpret the two oil weight numbers.

I don't know of any MB engine that uses 10w-30 or 5w-30. Most euro motors seem to like a thicker oil. Well unless it is extremly cold.

How cold does it get in Georgia? It can't be that cold I wouldn't worry about cold starts. Heck my diesel cranks over with 15w-50 in the crankcase when it is 20 out. :D She doesn't crank any slower the oil pressure jsut takes a little longer to come up.

ocap not to be a pain but you really should do a search. This topic and your engine have come up many times. You will get better answers.

Thanks for your reply. I'm thinking of Mobil 1 0W40... is this appropriate? - i don't really care about cost savings and i've heard mobil 1 is the best engine oil. I know another poster mentioned it above, but i'm really wary of sticking in an oill with a 0 in it... LOL

You will have a hard time finding a better oil than Mobil 1 0w-40. If the 0 bothers you Mobil makes 5w-40 Delvac 1 but it is hard to find and if you have to order it will cost more.

My friend's dad is using 0w-40 in his 95 S600 and it runs great. The oil pressure is fine.

Thx a ton... Sorry about being lazy to search the board, but I'd probably wind up still being unsure about it, so i'd rather have someone go "buy this oil"

Ok buy 0w-40. :D Pepboys was just running a sale on it $3.99 a quart. Walmart also usually has great prices.

thx... i'm looking at sams club, they sell mobil1 but not in the 0w40... crap

If you're going with synthetic, then these lower weights should be fine. Mobil 1 is a great oil. I too am leery of using 0 weights... just not used to it, even though I live in a cold climate! But I do tend to shy away from oils that have too wide of a weight range. They are purported to have a higher tendency to form engine deposits.