2000 e320 oil usage

[russrite]

My E320 has about 48000 miles on it and uses about two quarts of oil about every 5000 miles. The dealer told me this is normal and normal oil consumption is about 1 qt per 2000 miles. I have never had a car that used this much oil. Is this normal? By the way, it is out of warranty.

[deanyel]

It's high by any historical standards for Mercedes. They are trained to say everything is normal. What else can they say - you need an engine overhaul. There's no simple fix and they know it, so the next best thing is to placate you.

[t walgamuth]

miles would not get me too excited. just keep an eye on it.

and i would experiment with different oils. a thicker oil might help. and if you are going 5000 miles i hope you are talking about synthetic oil. after oil has a lot of miles on it it will get away faster, so shortening your oil change interval may make a lot of the problem go away.

tom w

[ccmbduong]

I've used Mobil 1 in the last 3 years, change oil every 7-8K miles, no oil addition in between. Same as before when I used non-syns oil.

[Will_w202]

my 97 M111 4cyl with 104k uses 0 oil over 5k miles..............I'd be super concerned at 48k.

[Ethan]

if a car burns that amount of oil - assume its not leaking out - how do you narrow it down to where the oil is burning off? How do you test if is is either piston rings or valve seals?
Would an exhaust gas analyser tell you if oil is getting sucked into the combustion chamber?

For the head gasket I assume you'd check oil in coolant?

For a rear main seal must you see oil dripping? or can oil burrow its way into the bell housing and be released only at highway speed?

are there any other places where you can lose oil?

[Ali Al-Chalabi]

With the M112, this happens due to the lack of frequent oil changes as per recommendation by Mercedes. Yes, it is technically well within specs as I believe the limit is something like 1 quart per 700 miles or so. The truth is that the engine is starting to show signs of problems and hopefully it does not get any worse.

I believe the most common cause of consumption is the rings. Since the engine uses low tension rings, if significant amounts of sludge build up as a result of changing the oil every 12k miles, then they can stick to the piston and allow a lot of oil to flow through to the consumption chamber.

Again, 1 quart per 2500 miles is not that bad, but monitor it and hope it does not get any worse. You won't get anything out of the dealer other than "it is normal" until you get well under 1 quart per 1,000 miles.

[manny]

Originally Posted by Ethan

Would an exhaust gas analyser tell you if oil is getting sucked into the combustion chamber?

Yes., an exhaust gas analyzer will tell you if it's burning oil.
Your HC = Hydrocarbon number will be wayyyyyy high.

[DR.DIESEL]

It's high by any historical standards for Mercedes. They are trained to say everything is normal.

Damn...They are on to us.

The SPEC from Germany on the M112 V-6 and M113 V-8 is .8 liters per 1000km.
Yes previous MB engines use no oil, but the Modular motors can and some do burn oil.
It depends mostly on how the engine was broken in. Sticking
rings can be a small issue, but those cars usually burn 1l in 500km.

I wouldn't give 1qt in 2500mi the slightest worry.

Dr.D

[ILUVMILS]

Dr. Diesel is 100% correct. MB has set specific criteria that must be met in order for warranty repair work to be performed to remedy oil consumption. However, russrite should have his dealer begin the process of an oil consumption test. This involves performing an oil and filter change, and re-setting FSS. From that point on the oil consumption can be monotored and documented by the dealer. If the rate of consumption reaches the maximum allowable rate the repairs can most likely be done at no charge. At any given time, there's at least one car in my shop getting re-ringed due to excessive oil use. You'll never know unless you ask.

Dr. D, you're far more understanding than I am concerning deanyels' comment. I take offense when an uninformed member makes a blanket statement about MB dealerships/personnel. Maybe some Forum members don't realize that some of the MOST HELPFUL people on this site are employed by MBUSA or dealerships.

[Hatterasguy]

What "repairs"? A new short block? Why bother for 1 quart every 2,500 miles? Unless you can talk MB to pick up the bill. Read about the Fss lawsuit settlement and see if you can get covered. That motor ccould burn that much oil for the next 200k+ miles.

I remeber the old M103's always burned a lot of oil. I think 600 miles to a quart is within spec on those.

[blackmercedes]

Originally Posted by ILUVMILS

Dr. D, you're far more understanding than I am concerning deanyels' comment. I take offense when an uninformed member makes a blanket statement about MB dealerships/personnel. Maybe some Forum members don't realize that some of the MOST HELPFUL people on this site are employed by MBUSA or dealerships.

And we thank you for your time and effort. Most here really do appreciate all the assistance.

On the flip side, many have been subject to the "you're the ONLY one that's ever had this problem" line from the counter at the service dept. This has been said to MB owners about wiring harnesses and harmonic balancers. In the case of harmonic balancers, any MB service writer I know was repeating that right up until the campaign began.

Now, the folks that kindly offer their assistance here are certainly not doing this! Many of the dealer techs have provided invaluable information concerning repeat problems like harmonic balancers.

Thanks and don't let the occasional negative comment turn you off.

[pawoSD]

My bro's 2002 M112 engine uses about .5 to .75qt per 5,000 miles of Mobil 1 0w40. He drives it like he stole it, so that might contribute a bit to the consumption. Engine has 141k on it right now. Are 9-10k changes ok on these if using fleece filters? His oil still looked pretty clean with 5k on it...