Eltee

Just bought a 2008 C300 4Matic Sport from Carmax. Has only 7,000 miles on the clock. Was put in service 1/08.

Carmax did an oil change using dino oil. (Said they don't have synthetic?!)

Should I "rechange" the oil, or just change after 3000 - 5000 miles and go with synthetic?

I've got 2 BMWs and always use synthetic and I would assume the MB recommends it too.

First MB, had the car for 36 hours and love it!

e1000

Yes, change it using Mobil1 0w-40 and an approved fleece filter.

Carsy

I agree. ASAP.

snarlingchicken

What they said. Sludge build up is one thing you do not wantttt. Just a quick question, for carmax cars, can you opt to not have that tacky carmax decal on the back? I always thought it kinda devalued the car...

Eltee

Thanks for the feedback. Although the owners manual is somewhat complete, MB seems to opt for the "you don't need to know what we do or when we'll do it, we'll just charge you a bundle and everything is fine". Kinda like BMW.

Thankfully there was no "Carmax" decal on the car. That probably would have been my first upgrade if there was. Just license plate holders which are already on their way to the landfill.

steveb9771

I would immediately place Carmax on notice. Use of oil unapproved by Mercedes may void any remaining warranty. The only approved oil for your vehicle is synthetic. Insist that Carmax pay for flushing your engine and then refilling with an approved synthetic oil. Simply draining and replacing with synthetic oil is not sufficient. You need to make sure ALL of the remaining non-systhetic oil is removed. This might require filling with synthetic, driving a few miles, and then draining it again and adding fresh oil. They are a large company with deep pockets and should know better than this. If Carmax is not capable of this, have it done at an authorized dealer with Carmax paying for it.

kevink2

If you live in a cold climate, consider a MB approved XW30 synthetic oil like Castrol Syntec. Especially if one of the drives is more likely not to allow a proper warm-up.

Click on user cp, top left of page, then click edit signiture, and add your basic info, as others do.

RLE

No 30W oil is approved by MB. 0W40 or 5W40 is the correct oil, even in Possum Foot Nebraska in winter.

BTW, Mobil 1 is fully compatible with dino oil and a little bit left in the engine is of no consequence.

SCguy08

Agree with previous posts. Also, welcome to the MB club.

kevink2

100% wrong

I said XW30, which could be either 0W30 or 5W30

Here is a list of MB approved 229.5 oils:

http://bevo.mercedes-benz.com/bevoli...b83a926a5b3dfd

About 40% of the oils listed are either 0W30 or 5W30.

Here is a short list for USA oils that are 229.5 approved, found in Mr Ruck's Oil thread:

http://www.nexttechnology.us/mb/oil.html ---- note almost all the 229.5 oils are XW30.

Castrol Syntec 0W30 is one of the few XW30's available in the US. We recently switched to it, and gained about 2 mpg's on a standard trip to southern Va. Our dealer said a few other customers provided this oil for oil changes.

Standard fill at most US dealers is 5W40, and is not available in quart containers in the US. Most DIY's use M1 0W40, which is also 229.5 approved.

I have searched both W203 and W204 forums about oil, and noticed a few cases of increased oil consumption when using M1 0W40 at about 100k miles. Don't know how common this is.

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