Mobil One 0w40

[rswyan]

Sorry, I'm putting the pieces together now. I was reading this on my phone.

I believe the factory fill on you Sprinter would (should) have been M1 0W30 or 5W30 ESP as per the MB 229.31, 229.51, and 229.52 specs.

That may be for the V-6 diesel ... which came out the model year after mine.

Mine is a 2006 with the in-line 5 cylinder (OM647 engine)

There has been quite a bit of chatter about dealers putting the wrong oil in the MB diesels causing the motors to seize. The gasoline spec is 229.5.

. . . just a bit of fair warning.

While 229.5 may well be a gas engine spec, it is also a diesel engine spec ... if the engine is an in-line 5 cylinder (2006 and earlier)



BTW - the 2007 and later V6 diesel engines are a problem ... personally, I wouldn't own one myself.

OTOH, the older in-line 5 cylinders were beasts ... have several friends with them that have 600K - 800K miles on the original engine. The one guy was closing in on 900K miles and finally swapped his engine out just because he didn't want a failure while he was on a load.

 

[DieselBound]

I also looked into the 0-40 and when checking specs (mind boggling exercise) could not find that any 0-XX met diesel specs.*
I would suspect that it is all about soot control or possibly valve stem or cam lobe wear.

On the flip side an oil engineer (on TBN) confirmed that diesel spec oil was OK on non diesel engines, in fact he said it would have bonus properties

* did not help in that there seems to be 2 generations of specs that you need to be able to translate (my tractor is mid '80's)

There are plenty. But for dramatic affect I'll toss this out here:

Plus-5™, W-4 Synthetic Engine Oil JohnDeere.com

I know, John Deere is an obscure tractor manufacturer

Oils have went through a lot of evolutionary cycles since the mid 80s. Even since 2000: I mention 2000 because I have some 2000 VW TDIs, and I run oil that one wouldn't find from the service manual from 2000.

In the majority of cases a CJ-4 oil will be fine: that JD oil, as is most all other 0w-40 oils, are CJ-4 compatible.

 

[liberty2701]

These are the Mobil specs


FS 0W-40
Specifications and approvals

Mobil 1 FS 0W-40 synthetic motor oil meets or exceeds the requirements of:
API SN, SM, SL, SJ
ACEA A3/B3, A3/B4
Mobil 1 FS 0W-40 has the following builder approvals:
MB-Approval 229.3
MB-Approval 229.5
VW 502 00/505 00
PORSCHE A40
According to ExxonMobil, Mobil 1 FS 0W-40 is of the following quality:
API CF
VW 503 01
Technical details

Viscosity, cSt (ASTM D445)
@ 40ºC
70.8
@ 100ºC
12.9
Viscosity Index 186
MRV at -40ºC, cP (ASTM D4684)
21,600
HTHS Viscosity, mPa•s @ 150ºC (ASTM D4683) 3.6
Total Base Number (ASTM D2896)
12.6
Sulfated Ash, wt% (ASTM D874)
1.34
Phosphorous, wt% (ASTM D4981)
0.1
Flash Point, ºC (ASTM D92)
226
Density @ 15.6ºC, g/ml (ASTM D4052)
0.8456

 

[Texasmark]

I like many of today's diesel fleet oils. There can be a downside though to assuming that they are automatically "better" for gasoline applications - they may not meet the latest specs (ex. SN) - not common, but may be an issue in an emission warranty situation.

Best to understand exactly what the engine OEM calls for specs, and compare to oil labels. There can be some old stock kicking around in slow moving stores too.....

Not common to find at retail, but there are still monograde diesel oils available, that are not S_ rated for gasoline use.

Shell ROTELLA(R) T1 Heavy Duty Diesel Engine Oil | Shell ROTELLA(R)

Rgds, D.

SN or S whatever is what it is. If the oil meets it and the OEM engine mfgr specifies it, all you need to do is get the correct viscosity. GM pulled a little sneaky. When I bought my 2011 Silverado they said I had to use Dexos certified motor oil to maintain the warranty........a little digging around and the Dexos spec is for semi-syn, not straight dino oil......fast forward current GM trucks...Dexos has upgraded to full syn.

Now Mobil 1, which I have used in my 2011 since new, is now Dexos certified....course Mobil 1 full syn was here a long time before GM decided to certify it for their warranties and just because GM didn't certify it was no reason for it to not be suitable for their application......... Keeps you guessing and the cash register ringing.........

However you can bet your bimmie that all these extended vehicle powertrain warranties we enjoy today are due mainly to the lubricant requirement and you can see from the spec sheets that means that synthetics are FINALLY making it into production equipment.......like for example, how long were CD ignition systems available from J.C. Whitney (auto parts mail order out of Chicago) and others before Detroit decided it was a good idea and incorporated the technology into production equipment.

 

[3930dave]

SN or S whatever is what it is. If the oil meets it and the OEM engine mfgr specifies it, all you need to do is get the correct viscosity.

^ Agreed, that's what I was trying to remind people of.

Left to their own, OEM's probably would have pushed into synthetics faster, but they have to consider consumer acceptance, cost wise. Easier with transmissions; you can spec in a Dex6, and the customer doesn't have to interact with this requirement for something like 160k km +

We are getting there now, but few OEMs wanted to be the first out-of-the-gate mandating synthetic motor oil. Many of the same people who will buy a $50k+ vehicle will also grumble about "expensive" oil changes....

Rgds, D.

 

[DieselBound]

Not sure if manufacturers would be "mandating" so much as they don't have the capacity to specifically support a particular oil/spec. Some leading manufacturers might be more likely to jump in first; others wait. When you're talking about dealing with possibly huge lawsuits and recalls it's better to be a bit conservative. But, I agree, maintenance costs can absolutely play a factor (keep in mind that many dealerships offer "lifetime" oil changes, in which case these folks might be pushing back on a factory looking to mandate more expensive fluids). However, very few people buying new cars (today) even consider such things.