2020 GLE 580 Transmission fluid / filter, transfer case, and both differentials serviced at 54,000 miles (first service). Driving style, 50/50 city/highway, not aggressive from start, 80mph+ sustained on highway, rarely tow anything, two adults one infant one toddler, once a week used to move inventory approx. 500-800 lbs for 30 miles in the trunk area and on a hitch mounted rack. Wheels are changed out 3 season & winter, tires replaced before 4/32nds if that matters. Afe Pro Dry S engine air filter, no tunes.

Engine oil, castrol edge and currently pennsoil euro, target change usually 5,000 miles, results below are 5,700. Additives: Two bottles of Liqui Moly mos2 added at change, one bottle of Liqui Moly jectron ran through w/ tank of fuel before change.

Transmission results (54k mile use) attached below with input from Blackstone labs on comparable vehicle stats, note that Mercedes specified transmission service interval is 60,000 miles.

Posted most recent oil results (5,700 mile use) also for anyone interested. Mercedes specified engine oil interval is 10,000 miles.

Differential front/rear (separately) results should be finished in a couple of days and I will update this post with them. No MB specified service interval.

My take-away, the Mercedes transmission service interval of 60k is pretty late considering there has already been a decrease in viscosity at 54k. I would shoot for a 40k interval, and will probably take the blackstone labs advice of 35k to err on the safe side. Elevated iron numbers i'm not concerned about, and will see how it looks at the next change. On another MB (s63), I had pushed an oil change to 7,500 miles (MB recommended 10,000 miles) and there was a noted decrease in oil viscosity well before 10,000 (i'll post those results in another post below). Will always be shooting for the 5,000 mile mark for oil change.

 

Useful, thanks for posting.

 

Did you also order test on your S63?

 

Here's mine for a MY20 EA839 2.9TTV6 in a Cayenne. I use Mobil 1 ESP 5W-30 on 5k-6k mile change intervals, with the cheapest in-stock store brand oil filter.

Ca, Mg, P and Zn are higher on my report, what causes that?

Why is Mo so high on your report?

 

I wonder if it's the additives he used. Liquimoly?

 

It is referred to in the remarks by Blackstone. MoS2 is a LiquiMoly oil additive.

 

Carlos, I do oil testing on the s63 also to watch for cylinder scoring and want to watch viscosity after disconnecting the oil solenoid. Transmission testing I haven't done but will for the next, considering its 30k interval and I don't drive it too hard i'm not concerned about viscosity but the S is at 80k now so i'll be giving it a check.

Chassis, not sure why Ca, Mg, P, Zn are different engine to engine oil to oil but your figures are within ranges from your make model brand so I wouldn't worry. Plus, those elements are related to wear reduction additives and not engine wear. I also use the cheapest option filters and have been for my entire life of driving with no issues. Mo numbers are molybdenum from LiquiMoly Mos2 friction reducer, went with this over Ceratec because I've read that Ceratec settles at the bottom of oil pans. You should consider trying it out and seeing if metal numbers decrease since it supposed to form a protective layer between metallic surfaces within the engine. If you do go for it, please update us with the results, i'm very curious if there would be a difference in numbers but your wear numbers are excellent already as is.

Also, you might want to consider checking on the porsche's transmission fluid since the transfer case is a weak point. I read up on it throughly when I had a tuned macan S with the ea893 single turbo and my uncle's 2018 cayenne S transfer case just got replaced.

 

I will change transmission oil probably next year and will send a sample to Blackstone. The ZF8HP is pretty solid so I am not concerned about it.

Transfer case oil will be done this year or next and likewise I will send a sample for analysis. The current generation t/case seems to be less problematic than the prior two Cayenne generations. Not perfect by any means but seems not to grenade like the earlier versions.

 

For the transmission fluid changes be sure to get it flushed and use OEM fluid. I took my old audi to a shop that didn't flush it. They only drained as much as they could, which was about half. Then they topped it up with whatever ATF they had which they thought was good enough. The shifting was always messed up after winter cold starts. The OEM ATF was VIN specific as well due to two different transmissions in the same year and model.

 

Is Liqui Moly mos2 something you folks recommend adding to oil changes? Got a '20 GLE450 and an inbound GLC43, just wondering.

 

Mercedes does not recommend any oil additives. That said, it is unlikely to hurt anything. The use of an unapproved oil additive could result in warranty denial (if they could prove it was used and that it caused the problem).

 

The use of it is really up to you, if you consider the data here so far we have two vehicles with similar mileage and oil life / big brand quality oil / standard oil filters, Chassis' oil testing w/o Moly & my GLE w/ Moly used

The numbers from Aluminum down to Potassium are almost identical in the Cayenne w/o moly & GLE w/ moly. So it looks like w/ or w/o additional moly, the engine wear is the same.

I only started using it due to my S63 and its generation of engines statistics of cylinder scoring. I used it in the GLE since it's already part of my routine.

 

Here's the Oil analysis for my 2018 S63 for reference. Let me know if you guys see anythig I should be concerened about.

 

Carlos, I don't see any issues with any of the numbers and blackstone says all is well. I did a similar test on my s63 with oil use at 7,000 miles (only put on under 7,000 miles a year), my viscosity (62.1) and flashpoint (10.8) numbers were lower than yours. My takeaway was to keep oil changes between 5000-6000 miles for all vehicles.

 

Looks OK to me. Are you using a Mo additive?

 

I wouldn't use any additives. I exclusively use top shelf fuel and oil; Shell and Pennzoil Platinum in all of my cars, which all have high mileage.

 

Hi Chassis, no additives, just factory prescribed oil. I honestly didn't pay much attention to the oil the indy used when they changed it last year, but I trusted them to do it right. I'm changing it myself from this point forward, so I'll change it more frequently. I don't plan to use any additives, but I did use Liqui Moly oil this time, I got the entire kit from FCP Euro.

 

Front & Rear Differential Lab results just in. Iron numbers are equally elevated so i'm not really concerned. Overall, i'll be taking the recommended MB transmission service interval down to 30/35k and servicing the differentials at the same time (differential service interval isn't mentioned anywhere).

 

Thank you for posting. I plan to do mine at 40k/6yr. I believe the g550 (M176 as well) calls for diff service in its maintenance schedule. Did you also do the transfer case fluid change?

 

wildta, I would say 35k/40k is the right interval for all of it, not the recommended 60k.

Thanks for the G550 info, i'll take a look at it's maintenance schedule and see if MB omitted anything for the GLE.

I had the transfer case fluids done also but tech forgot to collect a sample... would have been nice to have full labs for the whole lot.

 

G550 info from @streborx