Is this good engine oil?

masterboy123

Got msg on my C class today "Check engine Oil"

Drove 16000km since last service.

Would this engine oil be top quality? It shows approved by Benz.

shietpilot

yes

Alanstrainor

So long as it meets the spec of oil for your car then yes.

Toyotafanboi

That's quite a high spec oil so it's likely to suit but without mentioning the year or engine it's impossible to say for sure.

rex-x

At 16000 km you are well due an oil service anyway.

Toyotafanboi

rex-x wrote: »

At 16000 km you are well due an oil service anyway.

Was thinking the same but a lot of the more modern stuff is on 30k intervals and they would usually take a top up in that time.

masterboy123

Apologies. It's C200D auto 2015 model.

Is there any other better quality oil available?

They are selling this 1 litre bottle for 15€ at Halfords.
Car manual says don't put more than 1 litre oil when dipstick shows "minimum" level.

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

That's quite a high spec oil so it's likely to suit but without mentioning the year or engine it's impossible to say for sure.

rex-x

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Was thinking the same but a lot of the more modern stuff is on 30k intervals and they would usually take a top up in that time.

It is but it doesn't mean its a good idea

Toyotafanboi

rex-x wrote: »

It is but it doesn't mean its a good idea

It's not necessarily a bad one either though. The vast majority of new cars a on 30k intervals these days and to be fair you don't see that many presenting with failures related to excessive wear from the "extended" intervals.

Obviously, the more the merrier with oil changes, they can do no harm but if the correct oil is used 30k intervals are fairly achievable.

rex-x

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

It's not necessarily a bad one either though. The vast majority of new cars a on 30k intervals these days and to be fair you don't see that many presenting with failures related to excessive wear from the "extended" intervals.

Obviously, the more the merrier with oil changes, they can do no harm but if the correct oil is used 30k intervals are fairly achievable.

Maybe I have a skewed view from dealing with the failures but I do see alot of failures relating to it and especially from people pushing "just a few more months" after. I cant keep track of the new timing chains/turbos/engines in <4 year old cars we have done

Leonard Hofstadter

You should get it serviced now regardless of what the service indicator suggests.

I don't believe in this nonsense of leaving a car go to as much as 30,000 km on the same oil - it's marketing bullcrap to try and convince car fleets that you can have a premium badge car without premium badge running costs.

Assuming that the oil is approved for use in your car then you're good to use it.

Esel

masterboy123 wrote: »

Apologies. It's C200D auto 2015 model.

Is there any other better quality oil available?

They are selling this 1 litre bottle for 15€ at Halfords.

Much better value to buy 4 litres.

Trojan

Google "motor factors [your town]" and get a 4/5L of oil there (and a funnel).

GerryDerpy

captainspeed wrote: »

You should get it serviced now regardless of what the service indicator suggests.

I don't believe in this nonsense of leaving a car go to as much as 30,000 km on the same oil - it's marketing bullcrap to try and convince car fleets that you can have a premium badge car without premium badge running costs.

Assuming that the oil is approved for use in your car then you're good to use it.

This and also my cynical side says high interval oil changes are all part of the planned obsolesence strategy. Along with plastic manifolds!

Toyotafanboi

rex-x wrote: »

Maybe I have a skewed view from dealing with the failures but I do see alot of failures relating to it and especially from people pushing "just a few more months" after. I cant keep track of the new timing chains/turbos/engines in <4 year old cars we have done

Do you think that's directly related to wear from extended oil change intervals or are there other factors at play like cost cutting in R and D and using less material or cheaper materials than we would have traditionally used in engine building and things like experimentation away from traditional parts design causing premature failures?

I honestly don't see that many out and out failures, particularly ones that could be directly related to overstretched oil changes. I know it will vary brand to brand too but generally speaking.

This is a particular tangent that I enjoy so sorry for harping, but on the flip side were service intervals not traditionally kept short to suit the manufacturers, to get you back into the dealers buying services more often and the longer interval has been brought about by the needs of the more modern driver which then drove a necessity for longer intervals into the market. Why a high mileage user buy a an Octavia that needs 15k intervals when they could buy an Avensis that can do 30k intervals etc.

That and manufacturers like Hyundai/ Kia offering 5/7 year warranties on these 30k interval cars must have a certain degree of confidence in their capabilities.

grogi

masterboy123 wrote: »

Apologies. It's C200D auto 2015 model.

Now open your vehicle owners manual. There will be a section about oils. Find which approval your car needs.

Something between the lines of MB229.51 (2012)... Then check if the oil you showed has this approval. If yes - it's fine. If not, it is not fine. Castrol selector says it is OK.

Is there any other better quality oil available?

It is not black and white. There are oils that are better for some cars and worse for other cars.

rex-x

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Do you think that's directly related to wear from extended oil change intervals or are there other factors at play like cost cutting in R and D and using less material or cheaper materials than we would have traditionally used in engine building and things like experimentation away from traditional parts design causing premature failures?

I honestly don't see that many out and out failures, particularly ones that could be directly related to overstretched oil changes. I know it will vary brand to brand too but generally speaking.

This is a particular tangent that I enjoy so sorry for harping, but on the flip side were service intervals not traditionally kept short to suit the manufacturers, to get you back into the dealers buying services more often and the longer interval has been brought about by the needs of the more modern driver which then drove a necessity for longer intervals into the market. Why a high mileage user buy a an Octavia that needs 15k intervals when they could buy an Avensis that can do 30k intervals etc.

That and manufacturers like Hyundai/ Kia offering 5/7 year warranties on these 30k interval cars must have a certain degree of confidence in their capabilities.

Its difficult to say. Things like bearings and chains etc haven't actually really changed materials in many years and overall designs tend stay fairly similar from generation to generation. Direct injection was the last big change and that really wont affect the engines longevity from a servicing standpoint.

I think the new thing now is to get the car sold, make sure it lasts its warranty period and thats it (Hopefully Johnny pcp will buy another then). You wont see any 20 year old kia ceeds or hyundai i30's in the years to come, they just wont last that long

The Rape of Lucretia

captainspeed wrote: »

I don't believe in this nonsense of leaving a car go to as much as 30,000 km on the same oil - it's marketing bullcrap to try and convince car fleets that you can have a premium badge car without premium badge running costs.

Or, is it marketing bullcrap from the servicing industry suggesting that you shouldnt leave a car go to as much as 30,000 km on the same oil ?

Depends who's got the better marking I guess.

Toyotafanboi

rex-x wrote: »

I think the new thing now is to get the car sold, make sure it lasts its warranty period and thats it (Hopefully Johnny pcp will buy another then). You wont see any 20 year old kia ceeds or hyundai i30's in the years to come, they just wont last that long

That's a theory that's picking up a lot of pace recently but is there anything behind it? How many threads a day do we see here with people with "perfectly good" 15 year old cars that cannot be insured anymore. Cars generally speaking, a bit like people, are living for longer now than they have at any point previously in history.

The used car market is as strong as ever, people may be going to the UK as opposed to buying local but once the 3 year PCP deal/ warranty is up, dealers aren't just putting the trade in cars in the bin, they have another 10-15 useable years ahead of them. Dealers will stick another 24 months warranty on a 3-4 year old car and sell it again.

I'm not saying built in obscolescense isn't a thing but it doesn't gravitate around oil change intervals.

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Or, is it marketing bullcrap from the servicing industry suggesting that you shouldnt leave a car go to as much as 30,000 km on the same oil ?

What is the average oil change interval on a commercial diesel engine in a truck or bus? 50-100k kms? And these engines work far harder for far longer and are literally expected to last for millions of kms.

You don't see CIE doing oil changes every 15k kms etc, the fleet would need to be double the size to account for down time.

tomwaterford

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

What is the average oil change interval on a commercial diesel engine in a truck or bus? 50-100k kms? And these engines work far harder for far longer and are literally expected to last for millions of kms.

You don't see CIE doing oil changes every 15k kms etc, the fleet would need to be double the size to account for down time.

It's 3-500 hours for machinery (500 hours would be v.rare from my experience)

Toyotafanboi

I wouldn't know a lot about that industry tbh.

That said if you split your figures down the middle at 400 hours for the sake of discussion.

A truck doing long distance/ motorway. If the truck drives for 7 hours a day at an average of 80kmh, that's 560km that day. 400/7 = 57 and 57x560= 32,000kms. Again, roughly speaking.

Don't trucks and busses still measure in kms though? It's mostly farm machinery that count in hours?

CJhaughey

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

What is the average oil change interval on a commercial diesel engine in a truck or bus? 50-100k kms? And these engines work far harder for far longer and are literally expected to last for millions of kms.

You don't see CIE doing oil changes every 15k kms etc, the fleet would need to be double the size to account for down time.

You also have to ask what are the oil capacities in these engines? A lot more than in an average car @4 litres or less in some cases.
Volvo FH 16 has a 42 litre capacity and 3 filters for a 16 litre engine.
Up to 100k oil change interval.
I bet most operators will change it more frequently than 100k though.

tomwaterford

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I wouldn't know a lot about that industry tbh.

That said if you split your figures down the middle at 400 hours for the sake of discussion.

A truck doing long distance/ motorway. If the truck drives for 7 hours a day at an average of 80kmh, that's 560km that day. 400/7 = 57 and 57x560= 32,000kms. Again, roughly speaking.

Don't trucks and busses still measure in kms though? It's mostly farm machinery that count in hours?

I know the old lorry for delivering grain the cousin used drive measured in hours....had 32K on it...dunno service intervals mind



But yes....farm and plant still measure in hours....as they could do heavy enough work at stationary/close to stationary position

masterboy123

I mentioned in my first post that this oil is approved for my car by benz. I have checked in the manual also.
They have also mentioned in the manual to add max of 1 litre in this case.
I just wanted to see if there is any other better superior quality oil available.

Just bought it from Halfords. They charged 2€ to fill it up and check other things like brake oil, coolant, which are in normal limit

grogi wrote: »

Now open your vehicle owners manual. There will be a section about oils. Find which approval your car needs.

Something between the lines of MB229.51 (2012)... Then check if the oil you showed has this approval. If yes - it's fine. If not, it is not fine. Castrol selector says it is OK.



It is not black and white. There are oils that are better for some cars and worse for other cars.