TheMayer

Hey everyone,
I've got a quick question regarding my 03 C230K's M271.

I traded my 01 Jeep Cherokee for this car a few months ago so bare with me for my lack of basic knowledge as far as MB's go.

I purchased the car from an indy, it has 140~k miles under it's belt. He told me that he has been filling it with 20w-50 synthetic, this sounded very unusual to me but I didn't know the factory spec at the time so I just went along with it. Now that I've had the time to get to know it a little bit and research what I can about it, I now know that it wants 0w-40 synthetic 229.5 (still not clear on that number's meaning).

My questions are, why in the world has he been putting 20w-50 in it!? And would I be wrong to want to change it back to the correct 0w-40 as soon as possible, especially with winter approaching?

I called my local dealer and they didn't seem too concerned about it, but I didnt even come close to running that much of a different viscosity in my Jeep's glorified tractor motor.

Thanks in advance for your patience, I'm sure this has been covered before but I wasn't able to find any relevant threads on it.

ncmudbug

This really is a question for Glyn, but I suspect that it wouldn't hurt to start using the correct oil like Mobil 1 0W-40, but there are several other brands and weights of MB approved engine oil (none are 20W-50.).

For example:
Penzoil European Formula Ultra 5W-30
Quaker State European Formula Ultra 5W-40
Castrol Syntec 5W-40
Kendall GT-1 Full Synthetic 5W-40
Shell Helix Ultra 5W-30 or 5W-40
Valvoline SynPower MXL 0W30

These are probably easily found. There are others but I couldn't get copy/paste to work on the PDF I had.

samaritrey

I would head to your local WalMart tomorrow and see if you can get the 5quart bottles of 0w-40 European formula. Its usually the cheapest way to buy it and has been at every walmart I have ever looked at on the east coast.
Also pick up a mann or good quality filter and get that oil out of the car this weekend.
Do you have any maintenance history on the car?

TheMayer

Thanks for the reply,

I'm still a little confused on the whole "approved oils" thing. That isn't implying I can use any of those weights as long as its one of the approved brands/formulations is it? I was under the impression that you should always use the weight it specifies and pick one of that weight from that list? If that made any sense.

TheMayer

I don't have any history on it at all other than that it lived in my town until I bought it three owners later.

I'm going to drain it as soon as possible for sure, but can you think of any reason why he would have used 20w-50 specifically? Unless I'm about to find out that it burns thin oil insanely fast, I can't think of any other reason.

samaritrey

You really just have to pick what you can find approved to the 229.5 specification. Make sure it says approved and not meets 229.5 as meets just means that they think to whatever degree that it is good enough but has not been backed by MB testing. In the USA the easiest one to find in a pinch if your down a quart is the Mobil one 0w-40 European that is why most on here use it. The Penzoil European Formula Ultra 5W-30 in my experience at least is probably second easiest to find and if you can find it local great but on road trips up and down the east coast that I have done I have had issues finding it.

samaritrey

Could be to try to fix something but probably just what the shop had and most places don't know any better or think they know better then MB lol

The reason I ask about maintenance history is that the timing chain on the m271 likes to eat timing chains anywhere from 75k on and is recommend to be changed. If you hear any noise at startup get it done ASAP. You can find videos on here of what it sounds like so be on the look out.

TheMayer

Ok, so in short, use something certified in the 229.5 category, but shoot for 0w-40?

samaritrey

Yep just to be clear buy this http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mobil-1-0W...Quart/23636902

TheMayer

I had just pulled that exact link up when you replied! Awesome, thanks!

TheMayer

I have heard about the chain issues, I forgot to mention that I asked him and he said it hasn't been changed (and didn't know about the need to change it). I do hear a slight rattle for maybe 1 second when I start it. I just figured it was the thick oil getting up to pressure. The videos I watched on the chain noise all sound a lot more extreme but with my luck it is the chain.

I'm all for DIY, but I don't trust myself with timing.. Do you have a rough estimate on what it should cost, parts and labor?

Glyn M Ruck

Yep! 20W-50 is not appropriate. Only use products & viscosities from the 229.5 (and NOT 229.51) approved list.