is the amsoil mercedes approved? i don't think they have one approved please correct me if i am wrong. i would use Mobil one European 0w40 which is mercedes approved. as for filter you can't get fleece so you have to use paper which sucks.

I'm not sure, amsoil has some euro spec oils and they are generally of higher quality (true synthetic) than most of the approved stuff, here is a link to the oil I was planning on using:

http://www.amsoil.com/catalog.aspx?code=AFLQT-EA

They also make a 5w40 that the local guy stocks so I might get that instead. I've had great luck with amsoil in my vette (not approved for that either ).

I'm pretty sure my car's used 5w40 since I've had it, and I know my CLK did. My dealership never used 0w40.

Also the MANN filter is OEM so you can never go wrong with that

My dealership and indy shop only use 5w-40. I've used it since new and no problems after 130k

No, AMSOIL does not make a 229.5 approved oil. The one that mdchaser is referring to is 229.51 spec'd which is fine for diesel not gas.

While AMSOIL's AFL oil is a very good oil, it is not approved for our cars. I am a dealer for AMSOIL and I can tell you that they are in the process of reformulating their 5W-40 European oil to meet 229.5 spec and also reformulating their 5W-40 Heavy Duty Marine Diesel oil to meet 229.51. You should use one of the approved oils in Glyn's Definitive thread here

Same here with two different dealers in Phoenix. They say it's because our weather is warmer but I suspect the true reason is that they get 5w-40 in bulk at a cheaper price.

I made them use 0w-40 on my last service after getting way too much clattering at cold start, keeping in mind that my cold starts are 50 deg F.

Ok, ok, you've convinced me, no amsoil until they reformulate . Could I pull off a 10k change using mobile 1 or castrol? I've always done 5k changes using mobil 1 on my grand am...

I changed Mobil 1 every 10-12k miles, when the SI told me to, on my old BMW M5 and had no problems up to when I sold it at 180k miles. When I went into the engine to change the timing chain a bit before selling it everything looked pretty clean and new inside. I was burning the same amount of oil at the end as in the beginning too.

If you read this whole thread, you will see that based on Matt and mtnman82's UOA reports much more than 8-9K miles is pushing it a little bit with M1 0W-40 and paper filter on the M271 engine. While these UOA's are not a disaster with 10K and 13K, they show the oil pretty much shot at that mileage. I would say you should have no issues with 8K changes. The approved Castrol Eurpoean 0W-30 is REALLY hard to find.

I personally ran M1 0W-40 up until last change and have since switch to the Pentosin Pento High 5W-30 from RM European (On the Mercedes ROW approved list, meets 229,5 spec). The reason I switched is Mobil 1 0W-40 seems hard to find in my area, and is usually priced at an outrageous $7.99/quart. 2ea 5 Liter bottles of the Pentosin costs ~$70 shipped from RM European.

I think I'll stick with a 7500 mile change with mobile 1 and a paper mann filter (both available here), it will be less expensive than an amsoil change so it should even out. Does amsoil make transmission and rear diff fluid that will work? If so which part numbers do I need?

Thanks!

Here in socal we pay 6.99. Still pretty expensive if you ask me.

After I changed my oil (of course), I saw the 5 qt. jugs of European 0w-40 mobil 1 at Wal-Mart for ~$30...

Awesome, I'll go check it out before I take the car in!

yeah in va i have seen it for 4.99 and 5.99 just don't buy it in McLean lol 7.99 if i remember correctly lol.

Walmart is such a crap chute for oil. Some have good oil and others just have the common stuff. Wish they'd stock the same products.