What weight oil should I put in my 300e??
 

Hello board, I am having a debate with a mechanic I know, he says that 10w-30 is the weight oil that I should be putting in my car. I say 20w-50. I have read on the board that 20w-50 is ideal because of where I live. I am in Miami,Fl and it it always hot. What are the effects of using20w-50 v.s. 10w-30 in my car? Will it consume the 10w-30 oil faster?

Somebody, please call me when the debate is over ? :D

An excellent discussion was just done on this topic, check this out: Oil Question: Weight, not brand .....

Haasman

That phonecall will be a long way off...;)

I would follow the owner's manual advice for your area. You're in Florida - the weather is hot - go with the 20W50.

I live in Canada and I currently use Castrol Syntec 5W-50. The summer here will get hot (+35C) and occassionally it will also get cold overnight (down to zero) in the summer. So I like the wide range of the Syntec.

The mechanic said that "There are injectors that move the oil throught the engine and 20w-50 is too thick for the injectors to move." Is this remotely true??

HUH ??????????????

I am skeptical of that statement also.

I hate these oil threads, but here I am anyway, replying to one.

A local MB independent mechanic told me that one should never use 20W/50 in any engine. Of course this is just his opinion - he's not a lubrication engineer.

The business of initial lubrication at start-up was his concern - the first few secs. are the most critical and 20W/50 is simply too thick. Once again, his words; not mine.

I've taken several cars beyond 300,000 miles running 20W/50 year round. I live in a warm climate.

I think it all comes down to common sense and following the advise in your owners manual. Obviously a guy who lives in Canada is going to have different requirements than a guy in Phoenix.

can anyone else put their 2 cents in this matter?

What else do you want to hear?

Haasman pointed you at a thread with detailed info. Further down, another guy gave some fundamental info...read the owners manual.

I could tell you not to use 20W/50 and 5 mins. later someone else could tell you that it's the only thing to use, so the questions is, "What do you want to hear" ? Who do you want to believe?

I dont want my engine sounding like a diesel and then hearing someone say "You shouldve used __w-__ wieght oil instead".

I use straight 50 wt. Valvoline racing oil
 

I live in Phoenix and when I get up in the am it is 80+ degrees! So I just changed my oil yesterday to 50 wt. racing oil- the rest of the year I use 20w50. Daytime temps are always above 100 degrees for 5 months. Car has 280k on it- so far so good( like the man said when he jumped out of the twenty story building). The oil guage stays pinned at idle with the 20w50. BTW, I also crank the motor to get oil pressure by not activating a switch that turns on the fuel. Once the guage says I have full oil pressure(I know the thing (tensioner)that keeps the timing chain from slapping has pressure) I hit the switch and light up the motor. Three summers I have driven this old Merc like a taxi! just like in Europe.

Split the difference....
 

Just use straight 40W and live happily ever after!

GREAT8:

Maybe times have changed, but there was a time when racing oil contained no rust inhibitors. I would contact Valvoline and ask if their current 50W racing oil contains rust inhibitors. If not, I'd get that stuff out of the engine.

Is it over yet ? :D