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.................you may even void your engine warranty if you on your own use non-synthetic oil and MB finds out. They are shelling out big bucks because they made the same mistake of using non-synthetic oil in pre-2001 cars.
Ted
negative sir... under the magnuson-moss warranty act if a specific product is REQUIRED to keep the warranty valid then the manufacturer must provide it free of charge
negative sir... under the magnuson-moss warranty act if a specific product is REQUIRED to keep the warranty valid then the manufacturer must provide it free of charge
You may want to re-read Ted’s post, and then re-read yours.
Back when these cars were under warranty, Mercedes-Benz required that a specific "type" of motor oil be used. That type had to meet the Mercedes-Benz 229.5 engine oil standard. When I last checked, there were over 150 different motor oils which met that standard. However, I don't know of any non-synthetic oil in that list. So in effect, "synthetic oil" was required if an owner wanted to keep their warranty intact. The same is true today, but Mercedes has a different engine oil standard for new vehicles.
Magnuson-moss states a "specific product", not a "product type". For example, diesel is a type of fuel. Gasoline is another type of fuel. If someone uses the wrong type of fuel, Mercedes-Benz will void their engine warranty.
Lastly Mercedes-Benz did provide oil free of charge for these cars when they were new. Maintenance such as oil changes and oil top offs were included during the warranty period (for the first 50,000 miles) for every Mercedes-Benz vehicle sold in the United States. That stopped some time after the W208 was discontinued.
I've had my 1999 Clk 320 about a year now. I got it with about 110K and now it has about 129K. The previous owner told my dad he used conventional oil instead of synthetic so my dad has been doing my oil changes at his shop with conventional oil (5w-30) instead of synthetic because he said it wouldnt matter to switch now to synthetic with all the miles it has. Im planning on doing a road trip about 3,000 miles to cali and Im almost due for an oil change so I went to walmart and bought 5w-30 full synthetic oil. Ive read mixed things about this thats its a good idea to switch or its a bad idea cause if you have high milage it can ruin seals. Is it worth doing the change with synthetic or should i just exchange it for conventional?
Oil threads commonly result in arguments. Mercedes-Benz has a staff of mechanical engineers whose job it is to know which motor oils work. Some people think they know more than those engineers. That is usually where the arguments start. I have no desire to argue, but just about any long term owner will tell you the previous owner of your car used the wrong oil.
If I were you, I would immediately stop using conventional dino oil and use an "approved oil". Using any brand and/or weight of synthetic isn't a solution. An "approved oil" is a solution. The wrong oil is a lot like smoking. Some people smoke and never develop lung cancer while others aren't so fortunate. On the flip side, I've never heard anyone say, "Mobil 1 0-40 Euro shortened the engine life of my Mercedes".
Yeah I don't know why he used the wrong oil he's an idiot.. So you recommend mobile 1 0-40? Switching to synthetic is no problem after te cars been using conventional?
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away . . . . . . . . . . . . people used to say that going from dino/conventional oil to synthetics caused leaks.
If I remember correctly, the rumor was conventional oil caused seals (like the rear main rope seals that were so popular) to swell. Changing to synthetics allegedly caused the seals to shrink to their original size. Allegedly, none of that happens any longer because synthetic oil and seals have improved. At the time I remember thinking the rumor was, er . . . bovine excrement, because if conventional oil caused the seals to swell, then the engines rebuilt should have initially leaked. Now, engines may have leaked for other reasons, but I couldn't wrap my head around the seal issue as it was explained to me.
Flashing forward to today, I don't see any issues with using synthetic oil after prolonged dino oil use. If you go with synthetic and your car immediately starts leaking like the Exxon Valdez, post back. Thanks
01-29-2014, 08:06 PM
