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Our 2015 GL550 has only 21 thousand miles so we service by the calendar on its 'birthday' which is March. Roughly six months later it displays the "oil needed" warning message ... September of last year and today. We drove it to our dealership and they added half a quart, ran it through their wash line and returned it at no cost.
Our Service Advisor asked if we were driving on hilly roads. Wow ... that's an insight! We were doing exactly that on a hilly stretch of rural roads at high speeds. Exactly the same conditions a year ago ...
So, what is it about sustained driving on hilly roads that creates an "oil needed" warning ... acceleration, deceleration, gradient, temperature, aeration, oil sloshing in the sump, etc? Not that I'm complaining ... detecting a mere half quart shortage is much preferable to the other extreme!
Under constant load, the turbo engines can consume a little oil. Heavy loads, high rpms/high boost for extended times will mean more oil consumption than others.
Are they filling it properly? The warning won't come up when it's 1/2 quart below max, it has to already be below minimum, and it takes almost 2 quarts to get it back to Max at that point. I'd assume they aren't filling it up all the way during the oil change, and it's dropping enough to trigger the warning before you come back in a year. Check the level yourself on the dipstick and see where it's at.
Usually, a person racks up about 12-15k miles a year, right? Which means that you needed 1/2 a quart at around 6k miles. Honestly, I've never personally owned a vehicle that didn't need at least a 1/2 quart in that period of time. But I drive aggressively.
My fleet of 6 service vans rarely need to be topped up, and they're scheduled for oil changes every 6k miles. Then again, my techs are practically zombies at the wheel. I doubt any of them have ever matted the throttle on their trucks *wink*.
Has no problem with oil usage, especially since there is no cost to bring our GL550 into the dealership as they don't charge for an oil top-up. My question is why certain driving conditions seem to provoke the warning.
Our Service Advisor correctly guessed that we were doing high-speed driving on hilly roads. What is it about that driving condition that seems to trigger the low-oil warning?
Has no problem with oil usage, especially since there is no cost to bring our GL550 into the dealership as they don't charge for an oil top-up. My question is why certain driving conditions seem to provoke the warning.
Our Service Advisor correctly guessed that we were doing high-speed driving on hilly roads. What is it about that driving condition that seems to trigger the low-oil warning?
My take on it is you are burning the oil not when you are stepping on the gas but letting the engine doing the braking on the hills.
My S65 engine behaves the same way. I noticed I "used" more oil when I let the engine slow me down more often than not. Did this by dropping gears for instance on a highway exit when slowing down.
I have noticed this on a few of my cars of the years.
Johan
Has no problem with oil usage, especially since there is no cost to bring our GL550 into the dealership as they don't charge for an oil top-up. My question is why certain driving conditions seem to provoke the warning.
Our Service Advisor correctly guessed that we were doing high-speed driving on hilly roads. What is it about that driving condition that seems to trigger the low-oil warning?
Oils have evaporation loss or so called NOACK. NOACK per MB specification 229.5 cannot exceed 10% in order for oil to be approved by MB. But, it is still there. Hard driving, towing etc. can increase consumption through NOACK. Do not focus on time frame, in what mileage you lost 1/2 quart? What oil they used?
when you have two hot running turbos evaporation loss is given.
Check this out. Outlines some of the causes of "excessive" oil consumption. The spec is actually quite high.
Good information, Joe ... thanks for sharing. Although I don't see anything about driving on hilly roads, there are several causes that could explain this ... some of which we have discussed.
That such a document exists confirms it is not an isolated problem, especially as the title of the document describes it so precisely:
"Customer complains about excessive oil consumption due to repeated oil level messages in instrument cluster"
Good information, Joe ... thanks for sharing. Although I don't see anything about driving on hilly roads, there are several causes that could explain this ... some of which we have discussed.
That such a document exists confirms it is not an isolated problem, especially as the title of the document describes it so precisely:
"Customer complains about excessive oil consumption due to repeated oil level messages in instrument cluster"
How can we tell which engine is in our GL 550?
As far as I know GL550 has oil dipstick. Use that. Do not rely too much on sensor.
Secon, what oil dealership used? You do not have to use dealership fir oil changes to keep warranty. Only thing you must do is use oil that meets MB229.5 approval. It could be that dealership is using some mediocre oil that meets that approval (regardless of approval engines usually, like it or not, use more of one oil then another).
I would try Castrol 0W40 available in Wal Mart for $28 per 5qt. It is darling among Euro owners and probably best regularly available oil for Euro cars. Considering amount of consumption I think this could be resolved with different oil.
Appreciates your suggestions EdyCol, but having to add oil every six months is a non-issue. We live less than three miles from the dealership, they don't charge for an oil top-up and we get a free wash, plus it is a useful reason to show up more than once a year so they remember us!
My question has to do with the specific circumstance when we get the low oil warning ... driving on hilly roads ... especially since the Service Advisor asked if that is what we were doing. I'm hoping that another forum member has seen this specific circumstance when they got a low oil warning.
All of the reasons suggested so far and mentioned in Joe's document are expected ... heavy load, high speed, engine braking, turbocharger consumption, etc. What is it about driving on hilly roads that triggers the warning that the oil is low by only a half quart?
Appreciates your suggestions EdyCol, but having to add oil every six months is a non-issue. We live less than three miles from the dealership, they don't charge for an oil top-up and we get a free wash, plus it is a useful reason to show up more than once a year so they remember us!
My question has to do with the specific circumstance when we get the low oil warning ... driving on hilly roads ... especially since the Service Advisor asked if that is what we were doing. I'm hoping that another forum member has seen this specific circumstance when they got a low oil warning.
All of the reasons suggested so far and mentioned in Joe's document are expected ... heavy load, high speed, engine braking, turbocharger consumption, etc. What is it about driving on hilly roads that triggers the warning that the oil is low by only a half quart?
Nothing! It is pure speculation on service advisor part. Those are not schooled engineers. I am person who believes that if you want to do things right do them yourself. Dealership’s at first sign of the problem will throw parts that you pay at problem because they are not trained anymore to find issue but to read computer. I had to explain to SA at BMW why AC in X5 smells bad. First thing they said was bad evaporator, bcs why not.
The reason the mention hills is that there is somewhere some sentance that says that oil consumption increases during hill driving. IMO that is nonsense since those engines are made for autobahn and will be under more strain there. However that is way NB guard itself from warranty claims too. What is happening is evaporation loss of oil. But SA in MB dealership probably never heard of it (and mechanics too). Unfortunately that is state of dealerships generally today.
Good information, Joe ... thanks for sharing. Although I don't see anything about driving on hilly roads, there are several causes that could explain this ... some of which we have discussed.
That such a document exists confirms it is not an isolated problem, especially as the title of the document describes it so precisely:
"Customer complains about excessive oil consumption due to repeated oil level messages in instrument cluster"
How can we tell which engine is in our GL 550?
Your 550 has an M278, which is the same physically as an M157, but that's the AMG version in the 63 trim vehicles. I could have sworn that document included the m278, maybe they changed it.
After 24 hours of not using our vehicle to allow the oil to drain from the cylinder heads I checked the level. It appears close to the MAX end of the 'telltale' at the end of the dipstick and the MIN end is covered in oil. So, having the dealership top-off the oil brought the level to the right range ... closer to MAX than to MIN.
We expect more high-speed hilly road driving in the near future and will re-run the experiment!
We both have about the same mileage & your dipstick tip is a nice bright red. Yet mine is a yucky brown due to being submerged in oil that's blacker than the Ace of Spades. And I change my oil every 3k miles.
After 24 hours of not using our vehicle to allow the oil to drain from the cylinder heads I checked the level. It appears close to the MAX end of the 'telltale' at the end of the dipstick and the MIN end is covered in oil. So, having the dealership top-off the oil brought the level to the right range ... closer to MAX than to MIN.
We expect more high-speed hilly road driving in the near future and will re-run the experiment!
That much drain down time is excessive, I would expect it at MAX or above after sitting. You should run the engine for 30 seconds to pump up the filter and systems, shut it down, wait a few min, nothing crazy, and check. It will probably be close to MIN at that point. It takes almost 2 quarts to move from MIN to MAX, so you've got plenty of margin, but if they aren't actually filling it back up enough, that could be why you get recurring low oil warnings.
We both have about the same mileage & your dipstick tip is a nice bright red. Yet mine is a yucky brown due to being submerged in oil that's blacker than the Ace of Spades. And I change my oil every 3k miles.
WTF?
You got a diesel right? Gas engines don't do that to the oil.
We both have about the same mileage & your dipstick tip is a nice bright red. Yet mine is a yucky brown due to being submerged in oil that's blacker than the Ace of Spades. And I change my oil every 3k miles.
WTF?
Our GL550 has an easy life ... always garaged, never driven in weather any worse than rain, low mileage and moderate speeds ... for the most part. We have it serviced by the calendar rather than the odometer so the oil and filter gets changed once a year after about 7,000 miles on its 'birthday' in March.
Note that the new oil from its 3rd birthday service last March is starting to color. I've appended another view of the 'telltale' after dripping some oil on the paper towel ... not black like yours, but not clear either!
You got a diesel right? Gas engines don't do that to the oil.
Yes they do.
Black color in diesel oil is soot.
In gas oil dark or black color are deposits and small amount of soot that is present in gasoline too.
If oil is yello like new, run away from that oil. That means that that oil is not doing its job, keeping engine clean.
Our GL550 has an easy life ... always garaged, never driven in weather any worse than rain, low mileage and moderate speeds ... for the most part. We have it serviced by the calendar rather than the odometer so the oil and filter gets changed once a year after about 7,000 miles on its 'birthday' in March.
Note that the new oil from its 3rd birthday service last March is starting to color. I've appended another view of the 'telltale' after dripping some oil on the paper towel ... not black like yours, but not clear either!
That oil looks ok. Dark color are deposits and soot (still present in small amount in gasoline). That means your oil is keeping your engine clean.
In all honesty, I think that the engine flush I use just before replacing the oil has a lot to do with it. First time I changed the oil on the truck, I didn't use a flush and the new oil wasn't jet black within minutes. The 2nd time, I simply replaced the engine-flushed oil and the new oil was jet black within the time it took to start the engine and prime the oil filter.
This last time, I ran the flush, dumped the oil, replaced with fresh cheapo oil. Ran that for a coupla minutes at idle and then dumped the oil and put in the good stuff.
Same result, the new oil was jet black.
I plan to do the last procedure again, but will take the truck for a 10 minute spirited run after putting in the cheapo oil. It's personal now LOL
08-14-2018, 05:13 PM
