talko17

I'm looking to top off my oil, and checking my last service at the dealership, they used part number Q-1-09-0144 Mobil 1 Form. I tried googling but couldn't really find a concrete answer as to whether it's 5W40 Formula M or 5W40 ESP Formula M.

Can anyone help?

63xx

they use mobil 1 gold for my car .

Diabolis

You can't get either one any longer, but it's would be safe to assume that its the Formula M NON-ESP (the ESP wasn't even approved for use in North America in the M156 engine). Besides, AFAIK the only difference between those two is the sulfated ash content, so the NON-ESP version is what you want to top it off with assuming you can find some. Otherwise, top off with Mobil 1 0W40 until your next oil change and then switch to M1 0W40 (not the mediocre MB 5W40 oil they now use).

bhamg

Even in 2009 most SoCal dealers were using the ESP version. Odds are that yours is ESP...why don't you call the service department and find out?

Diabolis

Well, some dealers could have been using olive oil, but that doesn't make it the right (or a better) oil for the car. The non-ESP formulation was NEVER APPROVED FOR USE IN THE M156 MOTOR OUTSIDE OF WESTERN EUROPE due to our considerably higher sulfur content in our crappy, dirty gas.

<Edit> -- He is asking what he should use to top it off with. Between those two oils, the answer is ALWAYS going to be NON-ESP Formula M if he can still get his hands on it.

<Edit 2> -- That Q-1-09-0144 part number is the NON-ESP formulation when you buy it by the barrel (see http://www.benzpartswholesale.com/OE.../Q1090144.html).


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bhamg

Yeah, CA has a different take on emissions than the rest of the country. I suspect that might have a lot to do with it. Maybe some of the guys can weigh in but I only heard of one greater L.A. area dealer using the M version even back then. Some used the 0W-40, but the M seemed to be virtually non-existent. I asked my dealer to stock it but they had already gone to ESP across the board at both their locations. FWIW ESP was what got me into looking at BITOG. I remember some discussion about good UOA's with this oil on gas engines and the notion was raised that there were organic anti-wear components in the ESP that weren't showing up on conventional oil analyses, something like that.

FWIW I've changed over to Mobil 1 0W-40 (5 jugs at Wally's) with the price jump of Motul X-cess online. I'll do a UOA on the next change, not this one.

Diabolis

The Formual M was mediocre at best when compared to the M1 0W40, and contained at least some gruop III hydrocracked base stock. The M1 0W40 is still the only fully synthetic oil that is 229.5 approved, and as a complete package exceeds anything else available on the market from any other vendor by a huge margin. You can get oils that perform better for a more specific application, but as an all-around package for the C63 there's nothing else out there that can even remotely touch it.