oil

Mercfan,
What service intervals are you adhering to??

If you change your oil no later than 6,000 miles a good quality semi-synthetic oil of 10w-40 will more than suffice.

If you are likely to leave the changes further apart a fully synthetic oil would be adviseable. In my opinion a 0w-40, 5w-40 is too thin for your engine.
I would also advise changing the oil no later than 6,000 miles to keep oil contamination and wear to a minimum.

I stick to Shell products, can verify that they more than do the job:
I have serviced an SL320 98' from 25,000 miles, had to strip the head off @80,000. The internals were as new, no discolouration. This vehicle had oil changes every 9,000 and was run on Shell helix Plus 10W-40.

Hope this helps.
Regards
Peter

with the m110 engine I think you are wasting your money buying the fully synthetic oils, I use morrisons 20w/50 oil, I found others smelt burnt when drained, M110 engine it a thicker oil due to the amount metal rattleing around the top end, works wonders in my 280, change it evey 4000 and you cant go wrong.

all these moderns oils like mobil are fine for later engines but not the older ones.

All valid points above, except I don't agree with mobil 1 not being suitable for older engines. I have cured several "older" oil-consuming engines now with Mobil 1. Clears out the crap between the rings and grooves left by lesser oils nicely. And it gives a handy extra level of protection in case things go wrong and one doesn't notice right-away, ie total loss of coolant...
I don't work for Mobil, neither do I have any shares but after stripping down a hundred plus engines, I know what oil I'd prefer having in my engine(s).
It is quite amazing what amount of crap/sediment the "cheap" oils leave at the bottom of the sump. To the extend that you have to scrape it out with a spoon...
Anyway, there are enough reports of scientific comparison tests about, rather than individual opinions. Its no secret that Mobil 1 is top notch and at less than £30/4L, it is not much more expensive than the other stuff.
Cheap insurance.

Running 20 vehicles myself, for the last 10 years and using various brands, Value for money for me was Morrisons in the end, I have vehicles with in excess of 300,000 miles ranging from 95 up 55 plates, and I have to say most of the other brands had a burnt smell to them. As for the sludge, thats cheap oil, combined with lack of maintanence.

Older oil consuming Merc engines were always going to burn an amount of oil from new, I remember a guy at mercs saying they could use up to 1ltr every 4000 miles.

OK, I do not run a fleet of vehicles,
BUT
I would piss ( a little ) on your parade guys, a little commonsense goes a very long way, just use a reputable brand and to specification oil, and change it a little more often if you want. If the oil is coming out clean, where is the contamination going, that makes other oils black ?
We, ie the family have never had an engine "fail" and the oil was nothing special, the Renault 21, done 250,000 miles on good tractor oil, and was going like a clock, though the suspension was rotten, head lifted on a BX at 168,000 miles, bores perfect, NO signs of wear whatever, bog standard oil again, Polo 1100 to virtually 200,000 miles, only replaced because it was written off in a RTA. etc. etc. I'm currently on 165,000, half way there ( I hope ), the brother is driving a 14 year old Caliver with 150,000 plus, god knows when the oil was last changed in that ?
More important perhaps is making sure that the oil & coolant levels are monitered & topped up if required.
Cheers,
Marcus

you should see some of the discussions us 'early Porsche 911' owners have . The Porsche 911 engine being 'oil cooled' ( always classed as aircooled, but oil cooled is probo a better definition), oil is of even more importance.

On my 1973 2.4S engine I have used a variety of oils but have settled on the Mobil1 as being the oil I'm most pleased with.

Re the argument about fully synthetic Vs mineral ... assuming the viscosity is the same there is no reason why a fully synthetic is more likely to 'escape' from the engine than a mineral. Most of the arguments about fully synthetic encouraging leaks is where the wrong grade has been used.

I have one here you could "love" for ever then........you do mean oil all over the engine.....don't you ??

;) :lol:

Surely this will be too thin??

Mortinson, you know, that is so true!!!
I was once on a 5-day technical seminar about oils, hosted by Texaco, with leading engineers from all over the world as speakers. Was very informative but during the breaks, you'd see several of them in heated arguments about which oil to use where under what circumstances and they were all working for the same company...that says it all, doesn't it?

The official line learned during my time as technical advisor, is:

Viscosity to be used depends on ambient temperature range where the vehicle is to be operated.

Quality is graded according to API(american petroleum institute) standards:
Petrol engine oil from poor to better: SE, SF, SG, SH, SJ, SL, etc
Diesel engine oil from poor to better: CE, CF, CFII, CG, etc
These are all indicated on retail- and most trade containers.

There are a few other considerations as well, but then things are getting very technical and theoretical, ie pour points, densities, various viscosity indexes, etc, etc. :shock:

Huss, for Cyprus, I would recommend the best grade you can afford in the viscosity 20w50 or 10w50, the 50 being the most important for the hot weather. The lower the last number, the thinner the oil will become in high heat and potentially less protective. This is even more important if your engine is running hotter than it should.
The lower the first number, the more fluid the oil is during extreme cold temperatures, which is also important as that is when most wear in an engine occurs.
That is the theory anyway.
In practice, things may turn out quite different. Example:
When I was involved in street racing, I used to spend a LOT of money on building engines, with many bespoke one-off components and naturally wanted the best protection. Engine was 3.1L straight six, 10valve twin stage biturbo, 12.5:1 compression, running 2.5bar boost, max power over 500bhp at 9500rpm. The oil pressure and oil temperature gauges were my oil performance indicators on-the-go. I tried ALL available "best" oils, as they were GIVEN to me(oil co's wanting exposure). Most had the same characteristics: Extreme pressure when cold, too low pressure once over 100Celsius. All except one also showed signs of shearing(perhaps one or two bar lower pressure at 80Celsius) once they were exposed to 140Celsius. Not average use and not meant to be, but when there is money on the table, you risk all... The only consistent performer was Mobil1 and that is(and many other comparative experiences) why I will always use it. It was the only oil which I was able to use for prolonged periods in that engine with consistent pressure readings, whilst all others failed miserably.
Sorry for being so long-winded, point is that in practice, a Mobil1 xxW40 will probably be just as good for Cyprus if you can't find it in a xxW50.

just been checking my service booklet and guess what oil its had from birth

Mobil 1.

just to bring this topic back up again ..... for my 300 GES what would you recommend?

Use a lock o good tractor oil, unused stuff mind, do her rightly.