Changing engine oil on a W124

[grober]

The only thing I can say is that Mercedes detail oil extraction via the dipstick in some of their workshop manuals w126 w124 w201 etc. These manuals date back to a time when the company was "engineer driven" rather than driven by accountants. It would "go against the grain" if they advocated an oil extraction method which would damage the engine prematurely and open them to expensive warranty claims? This comes from an era when mercedes cars were over engineered to the last detail so I am certain they would not have sanctioned this practice if it was deleterious to engine life. I don't think anyone here is saying there is a "definite " way to change your oil but to keep an open mind to the various possibilities. In the end changing a good quality/grade oil at appropriate regular intervals is probably much more important than how you do it.

 

[c240yaz]

Handy for removing excess oil if you overfill following atf oil and filter change (I know i am that dic?head who put too much oil in).

I suppose it is handy for removing some if over filled.

Where I will use it is on the diff. Very handy if you have no access to a 4 poster. Ramps are no good for the diff.

 

[spock500]

The most important thing which is sometimes overlooked is the ease of use which can lead to more frequent oil changes especially in winter.

Gravity cannot empty a reservoir of oil caught in the oil filter housing unless you tip the car on its side

 

[steptoe]

=Number_Cruncher;606572

Ah!, I don't really need to go to such lengths. All I need to show is that sucking oil out doesn't lead to a much reduced engine life.

!

So how do you show that - An engine that wears out at 300K miles and has had it's oil sucked out all it's life. That same engine could have done 400K miles if it had it drained out through the sump.

We all do whatever we feel is best for our car, i drain from the sump, and have 270K miles on my 124 diesel, and see no reason why it won't do the same amount of miles again.

Plus by sucking the oil out through a small bore tube you'll never find that odd metal shard or small piece of metal that can give you advance warning of potential problems -

 

[Number_Cruncher]

>>So how do you show that

Simple, the logic is set out in post #35. It goes like this;

- Sucking oil out is not a new method - it's been used for years, and probably has been used on our MBs by the Mercedes dealers
- The engine section of this site, and other similar sites are not awash with catastrophic, lubrication based failures
- Therefore, most engine oil issues are non-issues. Within reason, it simply doesn't matter.

When W124s finally die, in most cases, it will be corrosion rather than engine damage that sees them off. My contention, therefore, is that most of us would be far better off preparing our vehicle's bodies rather than fussing excessively about engine oil.

 

[steptoe]

>>
Simple, the logic is set out in post #35. It goes like this;

- Sucking oil out is not a new method - it's been used for years, and probably has been used on our MBs by the Mercedes dealers
- l.

Thats not logic- Thats an assumption based on guesswork

I remember when petrol stations had a vacuum oil change pump which you could use for a small fee, and buy their overpriced oil to re-fill. Just thought i'd mention it .

 

[Number_Cruncher]

>>Thats not logic- Thats an assumption based on guesswork

Please feel free to point us all towards a more rigorous study.

There are thousands of people posting to forums like this, and so, considering the posts on forums isn't something that can be easily brushed aside.

 

[steptoe]

>>

There are thousands of people posting to forums like this, .

And most of them are 14 year old schoolboys pretending to be 50 year old merc owners.

Or have i got that the wrongway around. Is it 50 year old merc owners pretending to be 14 year olds.

 

[Number_Cruncher]

>>Is it 50 year old merc owners pretending to be 14 year olds.

That's not a pleasant thought!

 

[steptoe]

HELP !!!

I've been groomed to suck my engine oil out instead of draining through the sump plug

 

[Uberwagon]

>>Thats not logic- Thats an assumption based on guesswork

Please feel free to point us all towards a more rigorous study.

There are thousands of people posting to forums like this, and so, considering the posts on forums isn't something that can be easily brushed aside.

I don't understand the reasoning behind some of the arguments.

Mercedes would tell me its perfectly fine to pop my car through an automated car wash, but I know it wont do as good a job as me using a mit and bucket. So I don't go through them.

Mercedes say it's perfectly fine to use regular unleaded on my engine. Yet when I run V-Power I get a noticeable increase in consumption and my hot idle is improved slightly. So I use V-Power.

Mercedes say it's perfectly fine to pull the oil from the sump by suction. I know that draining it removes more of the dirt so I drain it from the sump plug.

Just because it is approved and doesn't directly affect the running of the engine in 99.9% of cases doesn't mean it's not a comprimise in some way.

Gravity can be a foul mistress at times, but in this case she's a helpful lass.

Dave!

 

[Number_Cruncher]

>>doesn't mean it's not a comprimise in some way.

Yes!, but, all of vehicle maintenance is a compromise, or, phrased another way, perfection cannot ever be achieved.

Is it adequate to change the oil at, say, 9,000 miles, when actually the oil is dirty after 50? It's a compromise already!

What is **needed** is adequacy. Additions, refinements, changes (some of which might be improvements - some might not!) are allways possible.

Experience shows that by meeting or bettering the standards for oil, and oil change intervals as specified by the manufacturer, adequate engine life is the result in the vast majority of cases. Phrased another way, your car is more likely to rot away than for the engine to fail, if you look after it as per the makers spec.

The cases where this doesn't happen are the rare cases of early engine failure (and the even rarer cases where this can be pinned down to a lubrication failure), and those cases where deviant types try to obtain millions of miles from a car. These deviant types are so small in number that service intervals and specs should NOT be defined to suit their peculiar wants.

I don't expect, and I'm not even trying to convert drainers of oil into users of suction pumps. All I'm trying to say is that the use of a suction pump is not ruining your car, is not harmful to the engine, and that the naysayers can actually offer no real, independant, statistically meaningful, proof that the practice is *at all* harmful.

 

[spock500]

Best get your Black & Decker out if you buy a Smart car