Castrol Magnatec Stop-Start Fully Synthetic
 

Happy 2021 everyone! Has anyone in the group tried out Castrol's Magnatec Stop Start 5w30 Fully Synthetic oil on any of the 212's equipped with the M276 engine? If so, I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

'start-stop' oil sounds like a marketing gimmick to me.

any synthetic 0w30 or 5w30 should be fine. Mercedes recommends Mobil One, says the sticker in my 2016.

Thanks for that. What oil / lubricant do you use?

in my old benzes, I"ve been using Delo400 15W40 as thats the right weight, and its available in gallon jugs relatively cheaply (and thats what my F250 7.3 diesel uses, too)

I've only had the W212 since 2020-12-24, and have only put a few 100 miles on it, so it will be awhile before any oil changes... and since its a CPO car, I'll probably be letting a dealer do the services for the first 3 years, so it will be up to them.

btw, was looking at that A,B service schedule... am I reading that right, they are recommending 10000 miles between oil changes ? I've always done 5000 miles for oil and filter... at this point, if I decide to go ahead and do a 5K change, I'll probably use Mobil 1.

Stop Start , Magnatec etc is all marketing and oils performance profile is determined by the manufacturers spec and MB doesn't have the best manufacturer specs , choose the best...

And brand is unimportant as the ingredients are industry standards made to a set recipe to achieve those oil performance profiles .

so what, in your opinion, is 'the best' ? I'm a firm believer in adequacy is sufficient and while paying a little more for measurable gains is a good thing, paying stupid money for snake oil is not.

Oh I see! Chevron and Mobil 1 make very good products too; I've only tried their Havoline Pro-DS 5w40 since it's MB229.5 approved. I havent used Chevron or Caltex products in a while, I should get back to using them again.
10,000 miles in between services is okay because thats what your trip computer is saying. I'm from Asia though so in kilometers I always get my cars serviced every 10,000 kilometers which is roughly 8,000 miles (especially for the older units). Your idea of a preventive maintenance service every 5,000 miles is much better so your engine and surrounding components get their lubricants changed regularly.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

actually, 10K km is more like 6000 miles. many of my older cars had 6k/12k/24k mile (10k/20k/40k km) service intervals (6k oil change and inspection, 12k minor service, 24k more major).

Got it! Your intervals seem to be spot on. I'm doing that also.

I should mention, many of my older cars were/are near or over 250,000 miles (400000 km). we(my family, it was originally my wife's car, then I drove it, then both our kids drove it in college) put 500,000 miles (800k km) on a 1987 Volvo 240GL sedan we bought new. The 1994 Mercedes E320 wagon my wife just replaced with the 2016 E350 wagon has 280,000 miles, but it had 200,000 when we bought it 7 or so years ago.

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(january 2014)


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(morning of Christmas Eve, 2 weeks ago)

What manufacturer specs does your oil carry ?

Just use 229.5 spec and you're good. I don't use the dealer for service even though mine is CPO, and my shop uses a Liqui-Moly product. The 10,000 mile intervals are fine.

I haven't really put enough miles on this Mercedes yet to have this analyzed, but I had several oil labs ran on my 2005 W203 with the M271K engine. Back then they specified 13,000 mile oil change intervals and fleece filters that were not available in the USA. Even with the available paper filters and running as many as 13,500 miles between oil changes, the analysis was always that it was not only absolutely fine but also that I could go longer if I wanted. They always said the oil would have been fine for 15,000 miles. I kept that car to almost 150,000 miles and the last analysis I did was at 130,000 and the engine was perfectly healthy.

WOW! That's an amazing story! That's what I love about MB's, generally speaking anyone can clock over 300,000kms on the odometer provided they're maintained and serviced well. Congrats on this milestone!

That's also correct! Although this Castrol product doesn't have an MB229.5 approval but it should still be fine because it's fully synthetic oil and Castrol are among the very reputable manufacturers out there. Currently I'm using TOTAL Quartz 9000 5w40 on my M276 E class and she's purring really nicely. She's done 68,000kms so I still have a long way to go with her hehe.

Simply put an oil's performance profile level is determined by the manufacturers specs it carries .



https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...ccd4aef436.jpg

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The best....

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Benz specs:
https://bevo.mercedes-benz.com/bevol...rt1.html#close

I just go to Walmart and get the 23.88 a five quart container, I use whats left for my small engines, so my lawn mower has alway used Mobil One! I take the oil and filter bought online to my indy and he charges me 19.95 for the oil change with my oil and filter. Seems to work out ok. I'm sure other manufacturers make good oil too, But the Mobil One is inexpensive, easy to find and has worked for me for three decades.

Oil for ECO Stop/Start is just a marketing gimmick. I worked an entire career in product development, so I can smell this slogan a mile away.

My C320 didn't get its peak fuel mileage until 35,000 miles. I am convinced this is due to the Mobil 1 0w40 used in it from new. The better it lubricates, the longer it will take for engine components to break-in. I was not an engine oil fanatic until this. But I use it now, exclusively.

I buy Mobil 1 0w40 at Walmart in the 5-quart jug, $23.95, minus $10 when you buy it during the annual rebate month of Sept.Oct. It's 100% synthetic, so it doesn't have a shelf life.

I now go to Sam's Club for Mobil 1 0W40 European Formula and by 2 - 6qt packs at each pack costing $27. The E350 takes 7qts and the 328i takes 5 which works out perfectly. Did an oil change this past weekend and it was so easy. I too have the Mobile 1 sticker on the fan shroud.


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speaking of oil changes, my older Mercedes W124's (have 3 of them), the factory recommended oil change procedure was a oil sucker down the dip stick, and the oil filter was topside too on the M103 and M104 engines... Can a oil vacuum pump be used with the M276 ?

Yes. I believe it's how shops and dealers likely do it. It's also the preferred method in this article.

https://mbworld.org/how-tos/a/merced...-filter-389881

so are we supposed to use 229.5 or 229.51 oils in these M276's ?

Based on what I know .5 is for gas cars and .51/.52 are for Diesel. You can use .51/.52 on gas but you aren't supposed to use .5 on Diesel.

Except on a 4 magic it won't get the last Quart out because the axle is in the way.

ah, k. heh, ever since getting one, I've used the oil sucker on most of my cars, including old Volvos, a Tacoma 4.0L.... but on my F250 7.3L 4x4 diesel, you only get about 6-7 of the 14 quarts total it holds, ooooops, so I installed a Fumoto oil drain valve plug, which is awesome.