///MB

Our S600 is at about 13k miles now and has asked us to add 1 quart. We did service A at around 10k miles I believe. Before that, we had to add 3 quarts.

Is this car going to keep burning through oil?

Thanks.

sprink49

That's definitely not normal. Address this issue with your dealer. It sounds like the piston rings have not seated on the cylinder walls and that should have happened within the first 500 miles. I'm surprised you are not seeing blue exhaust smoke. All of the above assumes that you don't have an oil leak.

Can Drive 55

My AMG motor has never used any oil. I think you definitely have a problem, one that most likely would require major engine work. Not a pretty thought for a new $140K car.

Uygar

I am unhappy to say this but you have to visit service as soon as possible. A car engine can burn oil that's possible but under the heavy condition. Like; pushing the engine to the limit when it was cold, always driving on the 7k rpm or any thing you willingly to burn oil. Except these extreme situations, today's engine does not burn oil or they burn it which is very very very little. Even the car is Mercedes, unfortunatelly we might face some production problems. I hope that you will soon drive your car without a problem. I could imagine how bad this is.

///MB

Thanks for the replies. We'll take it in and tell them as soon as possible. Last time though, they said it was normal. Hopefully they will look more into it now.

Also, there's no oil leaking as far as I know because the garage floor is clean. I'll try and see if I notice any smoke coming from exhaust.

whoover

The V-12s burn oil, especially when driven hard. It's well-known. The dealer will tell you that anything better than a quart per 2000 miles is considered normal. I also get about a quart per 3,000 miles. They won't do anything unless it's worse than a quart per 2,000.

They document consumption by draining the oil, weighing it, putting it back in the engine, taking a factory-specified test drive, redraining it, reweighing it and computing the volume from the known density of Mobil 1! The factory even gives them a worksheet they have to fill out and send in before any warranty work will be approved. So don't bother exaggerating the oil consumption.

WSH

More specifically, excess oil consump is a problem w/some (not all) turbo motors...whether 65/600/997TT/CayenneTurbo....some self-resolve after few K mis...others persist during the 10-20K mi ownership period of most first owners....

Actually, given the clueless-about-cars and not-wanting-to-deal-w/silly mtce demographics of most new 600/65 buyers, the oil-burning nonsense is a stunning mtce weakness of high-end MBs...

Hopefully, MB's new V12 motor will be NA and will be launched soon....just model it after 599's motor...and, unlike 65, pls engineer chassis for competent uneven/wet pavement traction (sort of like 599...hint, hint)....

whoover

I'm happy to feed the beast a quart every 3,000 miles for 738 ft-lbs. No way a N/A V-12 would produce that, unless it were 12-liter.

Before I got mine, I asked my service advisor for his honest assessment of the 65 engine. He said that the early problems, like ignition coil pack problems, were worked out, but they do burn oil. He said it drives some owners crazy. I made a well-informed decision. The little velcro strap in the trunk holds a quart of Mobil 1 perfectly.

Uygar

After I read the posts; I would like to share something I heard from the Mercedes Benz directly. I heard this while they were talking about it, I did not see any official documents about this.

Daimler Chrysler engineers are saying that "it is okay to burn oil 0,8lt in 1000km".

Still I could not accept this kind of tolerance. You are paying a huge amount of money to car and it burns oil and you have to tolerate it. So if we have to tolerate this, Mercedes could lower the prices and tolerate less profit.

NZ_Benz

Thats really ALOT of oil, I have a small oil leak in my car and I think over the course of 10,000km I lost perhaps 1/4 of the origional oil in my 300, taken into account the age of my car I'd not accept that for a new car, thats 8L of oil between changes!!!

Uygar

Yes 0,8lt is quite much. But that was the highest point. This does not mean that car will consume oil like gas. But 0,8lt is the tolerance. I think this tolerance law is back from 1890s Simplex engine.
I could not ask the people why because I heard it accidently but this makes clear for quality question for Mercedes. Do they still produce the best car or do they using their heritage and cut cost in some places. By the way in Turkey a S55 AMG's cylinder broke the engine the crank broke up and the cylinder broke the engine. I could not learn the reason but an AMG engine's crank broke in to peaces

Zoomstop

This is not good.. I just got a S600. This sucks.. I have 2k miles on mine..

aschb

My S600 (9.2006), now 3.500 miles. No measurable loss ascertained.

GDawgC220

Yup, MB/BMW/Audi all say 1qt per 1000 miles is within acceptable range. It might also have to do with how it was broken in...if the rings were not properly seated during break-in, it may cause oil consumption issues down the road.

Zoomstop

So, can someone explain what the appropriate breaking in is on a v12?

This is what I did..

First 700 miles – Did not go over 55 miles per hr.. and did not punch it..
700 – 1100 miles – Did go over 55 – to 80 miles per hr.. punched it about 5 times..
1200 – first oil and filter change..
Next service will be done at 10K miles..

Thoughts?

GDawgC220

Did you vary your engine speeds? It is not a good idea to keep it at one speed, say 55mph at 2.5k rpms. The engine speeds need to be varied. Pushing the RPMs a few times in the beginning is not an issue so that it gets the RPM spectrum. Babying the engine is not good, keeping it to lower speeds, etc.

Many people drive it normally out of the box...but that doesn't mean red lining it every time. Give it a work out, fluxuate your RPMs, climb the RPMs gradually, do some sprints on the highway to stretch it's legs. Some spirited driving is okay. I drove my '05 A4 normally, sometimes hitting 4-5k rpms in the first few hundred. But I didn't beat and stomp on it to get there, mild acceleration but not gentle. I've got 58k miles now, doesn't burn any oil.

I'm sure some will oppose this method and some might do the same.

Your break-in method seems fine, the only thing I'd look at is the first 700 miles, if you didn't vary the engine speeds, that might not have been good.

Blue_Monster

my oil light went on yesterday, Keep in mind I only have 4500 miles on the car. I checked the oil, and there was not 1 drop of oil in it. I was pretty pissed. I told my SA yesterday, and he said thats normal for the 63 engine, he said it takes 15000 m iles to properly seal whatever that needs to be sealed.

GDawgC220

I don't think thats normal...the car takes probably 8.5 quarts of oil? Thats a crapload to burn through in 4500 miles and let alone bare minimum oil left in the engine. I would take it to another dealer and see what they say...

derrick_lui

My GF's 06 M5 burns 1 liter of oil almost every 1-2k miles of driving...I went to BMW service twice already to fill up the oil...then the last time I went..the BMW service guy said "oh its coz its high performance...but here ya go.take these bottles of oil and just refill it next time yourself" Free engine oil...does MB give mobil 1's out as well??

Uygar

Regardless of place and brand. Service always tells the same "thats normal". ML63 is one of the major models of AMG and it burns oil I can understand way it burns but it makes the owner sick. An expensive powerful suv is burning oil like gas. On the other hand bmw M5 has more revs like 9000 rpm but 63 I don't think that capable of doing 9000 rpm something.

And how is your driving style???

I love the ML63 shakes its head on full throttle

///MB

I believe we broke the car in fine. Drove it pretty normally... didn't baby it really. If it was my main car, I wouldn't mind as much, but since my mom drives it, it's more of a hassle.

Also, I'll definitely ask the SA for some extra quarts. Being a rare synthetic, 0-W50 or something, I had to drive to several places before I found it. I bought 3 quarts that time and I'm already out.

newton22

A tad off-topic, why do I keep hearing cars which were driven hard during the break-in period usually make more power? Some even suggest that that is the proper break-in method for the rings.

Liquidairman

I would say your car is ready to be broken in. To seat rings properly, the engine
should be accelerated hard, not necessarily to redline. But what people forget is to break in the rings decelerating. If the backside of the rings don't seat properely it will use oil. Just remember if you do this three times in a row to drive your car normally to let it cool before doing it again. After doing this
a few times it should be broken in. Make sure oil is topped off and it can be done in lower gears to prevent tickets.

whoover

At the AMG Private Lounge, AMG verified that one quart per 2,000 or 3,000 miles is "absolutely normal consumption for the S65 engine." I would expect an S600 driven hard to be similar.

I have noticed that high speed and spirited acceleration uses more oil. I've taken the 800 mile round-trip route along I-5 four times now since I got the car in September. I plead the fifth on my average speed but notice that the oil consumption is higher than normal on these fun rides.

Running high revs in lower gears to avoid tickets is problematic too. I don't know if the S600 has the same gearing, but an S65 does 80 in second.

Zoomstop

Folks,

My S600 now has 4700 Miles on it..

I did my first oil change at 1500 Miles..

Came back from a trip yesterday and decided to take it to HBL (Dealer in NoVA) for a wash and cleanup.. I asked them to check the oil as well. They just called me and told me that I had burned 1qt of oil…since my last visit at 1500 miles..

So, 3200 Miles = 1Qt…

What is the deal.. the service rep told me that this is normal. Should stabilize soon…

Your thoughts?