Another important thing to remember is ZDDP. Our flat tappet setup requires an oil containing a high zinc content in order to protect the top end of the engine. Using a modern oil with a low amount (or complete absence) of ZDDP means death for your valvetrain. This fact alone is a strong reason to stick with diesel-rated oils like Rotella and Delvac.

 

I have been using AMSOIL Synthetic Heavy Duty Diesel & Marine Motor Oil (AME) 15W-40 as my oil over the past 200K miles (I have 373K miles). It is a 91 300D. I recently had my head gasket replaced and replaced the valve guides and basically did a light top end rebuild (because we had the head off anyway). Condition of everything was pretty good and I think we would have made it to 500K with no work.

 

Its Shell Rotella T 15w40 for both my 123 and 126 all year round.
I have tried the cheaper brands and I have noticed a significant decrease in fuel consumption with the Rotella T and also it seems to burn less oil.

Big Dan
Vancouver Canada

 

I'm using Delvac 1300 15W40 right now.

Any of you guys try Castrol Tection 15w40?

 

Shell Rotella 15W40 year round

 

I use Synthetic for two reasons one it aids in cold start ups provide quicker luberication of the engine. 2 as forced induction showed it keeps a motor clean

 

Hi, I have just bought a 1988 190d with 437k on the clock, I'm running 15w-40 right now but have 4 jugs of 5W40 Duron (Petro Canada brand) Synthetic oil. Is changing to synthetic a good or bad choice for me? Only some people say on the higher mileage cars there may be small cracks plugged with oil/carbon etc that can be stripped out with the more thorough cleaning job that synthetic does, any thoughts?

Also, a side note, a quick check on autotrader.ca shows that there are no 190d's for sale in Canada (on that site anyway), how rare a car is it in Canada, were not many sold or do people just hang on to them?

 

I'll disagree with your post Foredinjection with exceptions. If a motor has alot of build up around the seals where the buildup is acually making the gap smaller. Any oil with good cleaning agents will make it use more oil as the dirt leaves and the gap opens. Note this only applies to seals in poor condition and most likely oil was just added inside of changing

 

i have an old german guy who does all my serious work to the car and he recomended HD40 or 50. The vehicle is in hawaii so the temp barely gets below 70. I've been running rotella 15w-40 for years, and the engine has about 200k. he said it would idle better and have more power. i've got about 5k on the 40W and it def. performs better. any thoughts of the effects of this oil because i don't really see any posts about it. i imagine the weather has a factor.

 

O.K, I have taken your advice Forced Induction and changed the oil over to 5W40 Fully Synthentic, but I had an after thought and wanted your opinion: I live in Southern Ontario, Canada and the summer here can be quite warm (25-30c), does this mean my oil will be too thin to lubricate the engine properly on start up (at least until it warms up and gets thicker)? Should I be using 15W40 instead and keep the rest of my 5W40 for the winter? Also, I put Castrol Syntec in my girlfriend's VW Jetta (gas) which is also 5W40 Fully Synthetic, can I use that in my 1988 Diesel Mercedes?