I just purchased a 300 E class. I know absolutely nothing about an MB. I drove the car and fell in love with it.

[ol][*]1991, 194,000 miles.[*]Paint is thin on the hood and roof.[*]Slight oil leak. (I need to clean the block to determine the source, It appears to be coming from the passenger side of the motor around the valve cover area)[*]All the fluids appear to be clean.[*]Sunroof only opens about 2". As near as I can determine, it is off track or something of that nature on the passenger side.[*]I am the second owner. The service coupon book is in the dash with all of the owners documentation. The vehcle was serviced according to the MB coupon book, and each page that has a coupon missing has been stamped by the dealership.[*]Runs Great![/ol]
I am going to use this car as a daily driver (About 50 miles a day). What type and grade of oil would you suggest for an MB of this age and mileage?

What concerns are common in this model?

 

Conentional oil 5w40wt and filters from www.autohausaz.com.
Change the gaskets,they get dry.
Service the transmission if not already done.
Enjoy it
ohlord
join the forum on mbworld.org for your model,lots of great owners over there.Tons of help.

 

You may want to do a one time flush of your oil. I think that OhLord recommended a store bought flush or quart of kerosene - run at idle for 15 minutes, then shut off and change the oil/filter completely. Your engine will take synthetic oil but in your case, conventional oil will work perfectly. Stay with a good brand.

The sunroof.... all Benz's come with a manual crank... it looks like a z shaped allen wrench. I think that you have to pop off a light cover near the sunroof switch. You will see a hole that you can insert the manual tool into. If there is no obstruction actually blocking the track, you should be able to hand crank the roof back as far as you need it to go. I don't know if this is truly bad for the motor, but if it only goes back 2 inches with the motor... maybe cranking it back once will "clear" any obstruction. Who knows?

I had a 1990 300E with 115K on the odometer. I put 55K on it in one year and loved it. Had to sell because I was more interested in spending money chasing women than on my car. Whoever got my car got a well maintained ride though. Some old guy bought it as a "5 th" car for his wife. Must be nice to be shopping for a "5th car". Anyway, I digress. Happy motoring!

 

I would not change a 1991 over to synthetic oil,they are prone to leaks and that would only hasten them.
ohlord

 

Concur. On a different note, OhLord... my '98 E320... I use syn oil but the indies that I have gone to and the dealership said that it was not mandated that year... basically they said that I could use conventional if I wished... Any info on this? Was 1998 a "transition" year? I know that it was the first year of the V6 in the 210 chassis. 1997's had the ole' straight six in the 210 body. Those are actually hard to find.

Also, you mentioned that the FSS systems in the 1998s were the subject of several lawsuits... can you give me more info? :-)[8D]

Thanks OhLord.

R/

 

Hi,lawsuit named after the guy who got fed up with his 98 burning oil.Seems the factory designed the engine around the synthetic oil and the fss system and neglected to tell the dealers and owners.If you want to keep your 98 alive with no sludge keep it on 0w40 mobil.or if on conventional oil keep it flushed every oil change and follow factory guidelines.

 

If you change your oil every 3k either oil is fine. Their are diffrent stocks of base oil but the additives is main diffrence. Cheaper off brand mainly use less additives. Which will keep yor engine clean. Dirt is oils main enemy for both reg. and synthetic. If your engine has blow by run reg oil it will get dirty before you could get extended milage use from synthetic to be cost affective. This info is from agip oil co tests. They reconmended synthetic if the vehical can not get regular oil changes and if operating in fridged cond, but suggested synthetic for all other oils not exposed to combustion dirt reasons.AE tranny rear end ect...