Mercedes R129 SL320 oil spec

[pcn1]

I posted this on the MB forum but thought Id ask over here too......

Im going to perform my first servcie on the my 1998 SL320 soon.
Trying to find info on the oil spec. Owners book only says use MB approved oil.

Internet search reveals a debate about should you use fully syth, or semi syth oil.
ECP site dosnt offer fully syth as an option for this car, so I'd assume their data base says semi is correct.
Any thoughts ?

Cheers

[PositronicRay]

I think it's MB229.3 or above for the straight 6. I've been using Petronas.

Not sure re the v6 but googling should bring up some answers. ECP are pretty useless for this although the prices tend to good.

[pcn1]

PositronicRay said:

I think it's MB229.3 or above for the straight 6. I've been using Petronas.

Not sure re the v6 but googling should bring up some answers. ECP are pretty useless for this although the prices tend to good.

Which Petronas spec oil have you used on your SL ? Mines the straight 6.

[MatrixXXx]

I would not use semi synthetic as the amount of synthetic additive is not regulated so it could be a wide range of mixes, and is reported to be a scam by the oil companies.

I would aways go for fully synth, mobil 1 or castrol etc , all meet the merc spec. the factory oil is "Fuchs" ( or so I have been told)

[PositronicRay]

pcn1 said:

PositronicRay said:

I think it's MB229.3 or above for the straight 6. I've been using Petronas.

Not sure re the v6 but googling should bring up some answers. ECP are pretty useless for this although the prices tend to good.

Which Petronas spec oil have you used on your SL ? Mines the straight 6.

Syntium 3000E 5-40 MB229.5. Since using it I haven't had any lifter rattle on start up, and no topping up between changes, so I'll continue.

Edited by PositronicRay on Wednesday 6th March 13:50