R107 shape 500SL - which oil

[CraigW]

Hi all,

My bro has a bobby ewing merc 500SL (ok, so I bought it!!)

What oil should he be using? Its done 120,000 miles, goes like a bloody rocket though!

[r129sl]

Castrol GTX 10W-40 or Mobil Super S 10W-40 or something like that. In otherwords, a good quality, named-brand 10W-40 multigrade. I wouldn't bother with Mobil 1 or another fully synthetic oil unless you know the car has been run on it for a great long time previously. Switching to a fully synthetic oil after 107k on the normal stuff can give you leaks.

The best thing you can do is to change the oil and filter very frequently and regularly. Every 3,000miles would be my advice. Using "normal" oil every 3,000miles rather than fully synthetic every 6,000 will work out cheaper and much better for your engine.

If it hasn't been changed for a while, I would change it, put a flush in, then change it again in.

[christer]

www.opieoils.co.uk

[CraigW]

much appreciated gents

[christer]

Tbh, changing the oil every 3k miles if the manufacturer says 10/12k miles is waaaaay overkill. Having owned Porsches and other cars for many years, even the service people who would take your money for carrying out such frequent oil changes will tell you it is unnecessary.

[r129sl]

The interval on the m117 is 6,000miles.