1999 C280.

I have combed through the manual.

THE MANUAL DOES NOT SPECIFY ENGINE OIL TYPE. DIRECT ME TO DEALER FOR INFO.

Local oil-change places threaten me that I MUST PUT SYNTHETIC, OR ELSE!!

What's the scoop?

Also, do I (or the shop) need to reset the FSS?

Thanks!
A.

I just put Mobil 5-30. May upgrade to Castrol GTX in the future.

 

Continue with the Mobil synthetic 5w30 year-round and you will be fine. For best results, change the oil twice/year or every 10-15K, but change the filter (OEM) 4 times/year or twice as often.

You can reset the FSS yourself, read the 'Driving' section of your owners manual for directions.

 

Lets put it this way, no syntheic oil in your engine, no more engine. When the V6 first came out MB forgot to tell their dealers only to use synthetic oil. A few engines failed and their was a class action suit and I received an extra 50K warranty on the enginer and 30 off my next oil change. I change my oil twice a year, I have never got down to under 5K miles on the service counter.

 

OK, I am scared now. So I am going to put nothing but FULL SYNTHETIC. Mobil1 5-30!!

What is the difference between 5-30 and 10-30? Second number 30 indicates thickness or viscosity. What is the first part?

Mercedes Benz prescribes 5-30 or 10-30?

 

20W-50.

you may use 5W-30 if you are in alaska and it is winter time.

the first part is the lowest temperature on which the oil viscosity can still attain the lubricating properties.

 

i have a 94 c280, i just changed my oil nd used mineral based castrol gtx, is this not ok?
:-( i am now concerned

 

what grade?

 

C280 wizard isn't presenting all the facts and is being a little dramatic. The problem is that MB recommends extremely long intervals between oil changes when you use synthetic oil. The intervals are variable based on how the car is driven and programmed into engine maintenance programs. Sometimes these recommended oil change intervals can reach 20,000 miles, which is far beyond the life of conventional oil. Damage can occur when conventional oil is left in an engine for this long.

So, if you use conventional oil, just change it after 3,000 miles or so. The engine will be fine.

Click here to read a write up on the class action lawsuit.

 

I am a amateur actor in a local actors workshop and a published writer, thus the dramatics. Anyway, lugnut is also correct. However, the failure of the V6 using conventional oil was also tied into the running temps of the V6 which run much hotter then the older S6. This was by design to overcome pollution requirement so the car were "clean" in the US. Syn oil also handles heat better then dino oil. I am also a college instructor parttime, which mean that I like to analysis stuff. Lugnut is correct, longer oil change intervals was one of the reason, but breakdown of dino oil due to the high engine temps was also found to be a culprit after Mercedes pulled the engines and took them apart. That being said, the S6 wasn't a hot running engine, so as lugnut said use the dino oil and be faithful to the 3K oil change intervals and you will be OK. Also, if the car previous owner used syn oil, changing to dino will do no harm. I added this statement as this questions has come up on other boards. One thing don't mix dino and syn, as this combo with be more tragic them the story of Hamlet!

 

Engine operating temperatures were not a mitigating factor in this class action. The issues were oil consumption and sludging after an excessive number of miles had accumulated without an oil change. An excessive number of miles for conventional oil, that is.

The V6 does not run too hot for modern conventional motor oil. All modern car engines run hotter to burn cleaner.