MB dealers changed oil suppliers ?!

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kay7

Active Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2008
Messages
308
Location
London
Car
C180k Avantgarde Sports Pack
Went today to my local MB dealer to buy 1L Mobil1 5w-40 fully synth oil and was told : " we don-t do it anymore due to recent technical faults. We use now Shell oil "

That doesn`t sound right to me ... Why did say that !? Im not a mechanic and even refuse to know about these things BUT " recent faults" was a bit harsh. Anyway I went everywhere : Halfords- no, Asda-no, Tesco- no , Costco- no, Makro - no and few other shops - no( spent 4 hours ). That is strange. Have they stopped making this oil ? or its just me ?! I have to top up as i`m in between services( 5800k miles left ).
What do you advise me !? Shall i keep trying to find this oil ? Or do I go for a new oil change ?! It probably won`t make any difference if i top up with a different oil ( ie Castrol Edge or Shell V plus ).

Thanks :thumb:
 
Each dealer uses all kinds of makes. My local one uses Castrol.
 
Went today to my local MB dealer to buy 1L Mobil1 5w-40 fully synth oil and was told : " we don-t do it anymore due to recent technical faults. We use now Shell oil "

That doesn`t sound right to me ... Why did say that !? Im not a mechanic and even refuse to know about these things BUT " recent faults" was a bit harsh. Anyway I went everywhere : Halfords- no, Asda-no, Tesco- no , Costco- no, Makro - no and few other shops - no( spent 4 hours ). That is strange. Have they stopped making this oil ? or its just me ?! I have to top up as i`m in between services( 5800k miles left ).
What do you advise me !? Shall i keep trying to find this oil ? Or do I go for a new oil change ?! It probably won`t make any difference if i top up with a different oil ( ie Castrol Edge or Shell V plus ).

Thanks :thumb:

Any oil that meets the correct MB spec for your car will be fine.

Dealers will buy whatever 50 gallon drums of engine oil are available locally that meets MB required specs. Maybe their local Shell wholesaler had some on offer ??:dk:
 
Costco Chester had pallets of Mobil 1 and the Turbo Diesel version at the weekend.

Pretty sure it's 0W-40 though.
 
You might be right grober, who knows :). Had a e280 sport, 56reg and my last service was shocking...changed Mobil to Castrol as MB dealer said and had troubles with it . Was slow uphill and really funny. Bought it in feb 2010 for £19500 sold it after 4 weeks for £20k :). With my C180k never had a problem , all works fine. Its just contis sp3 are a bit louder than sp2( am i right ? ) .

I`ll get some Mobil1 oil to top up. Found it at Costco Lakeside :)

Thanks again.
 
That would be Mobil Synt S 5W-40.

Billed as a fully synthetic oil and meets MB229.3 but not MB229.31, MB 229.5 nor MB 229.51

Have to wonder if the "technical fault" might come down to something, really, really obvious.......

Anyway, why on earth were you trying to buy oil from a dealer?
 
I need 5w-40 :)

The problem you're having is that you're trying to buy something that doesn't exist. :)

Why do you want the 5W anyway? To my mind the lower the number the better.

You can get 5W30 in the ESP (low ash) version. Should be a tiny bit better for fuel economy.

Mobil 1 UK | Products
 
Thanks for that grober:) Everyday you learn something new. Today i have learned about car oil. Great ! :)
 
The problem you're having is that you're trying to buy something that doesn't exist. :)

Why do you want the 5W anyway? To my mind the lower the number the better.

You can get 5W30 in the ESP (low ash) version. Should be a tiny bit better for fuel economy.

Mobil 1 UK | Products

It does exist. I have an empty bottle bought from my local MB dealer back in may 2009 for £ 21. They`re not making this anymore.

Mobil Synt S 5W-40 Superior performance synthetic engine oil

Sorry for this link:)
 
That would be Mobil Synt S 5W-40.

Billed as a fully synthetic oil and meets MB229.3 but not MB229.31, MB 229.5 nor MB 229.51

Have to wonder if the "technical fault" might come down to something, really, really obvious.......

Anyway, why on earth were you trying to buy oil from a dealer?

Have you not noticed the price of Mobil 1 has plumeted? as cheap as £4 per litre in some places. The reason there has been a spate of engine failures all linked to Mobil One. I have said from day one there is no way I would put this oil in any engine of mine and now some engines are getting miles on there backs run on this oil they are going bang. It usually happens when someone decides to run a full synthetic after a semi syn or mineral oil without flushing the engine first, what people also don't realise is the interaction of synthetic oil with some plastic components it comes into contact with and the damage it can do, some manufacturers specifically say not to use Mobil 1. If you have a BMW you cant even buy the Castrol Synthetic LL04 oil unless you are in the trade as that is the only oil on which they will honour the warranty. Shell & Castrol are far higher performers than Mobil.

When Mobil 1 first came out we used to run our race engines and Scoobys on it, what a disaster frequent rebuilds and gasket problems, Switched to Shell Helix Ultra range and the problems just went away.

I know its everyone to there own but Mobil 1 is just not for me, most of the time there is no need for a fully synthetic anyway a semi syn will do just as good a job for a lot less money
 
If you have a BMW you cant even buy the Castrol Synthetic LL04 oil unless you are in the trade as that is the only oil on which they will honour the warranty.

Castrol EDGE Turbo Diesel 0W-30 is LL-04

It can be bought here (and probably in many other places too):
Castrol EDGE Turbo Diesel 0W-30 For Modern High Performance Diesel Engines


Interesting comments about Mobil1, though - haven't heard that before. I actually took some back to Costco which I'd bought to service my car ages ago, but never needed as it's on ServicePlus, and I had some Motul MB specific MB229.5 that I used for top-ups.
 
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Castrol EDGE Turbo Diesel 0W-30 is LL-04

It can be bought here (and probably in many other places too):
Castrol EDGE Turbo Diesel 0W-30 For Modern High Performance Diesel Engines


Interesting comments about Mobil1, though - haven't heard that before. I actually took some back to Costco which I'd bought to service my car ages ago, but never needed as it's on ServicePlus, and I had some Motul MB specific MB229.5 that I used for top-ups.

Yes my Nephew told me last night Castrol Edge had been released on general sale but at a stupid price.

Motul is good oil a few of our customers specify that is what we must use on their cars.

The BMW forum is full of Mobil 1 problems and we have done 3 engine rebuilds so far on cars with engine failure that have been attributed to Mobil 1 2 x BMW and 1 x Porsche
 
Yes my Nephew told me last night Castrol Edge had been released on general sale but at a stupid price.

Motul is good oil a few of our customers specify that is what we must use on their cars.

The BMW forum is full of Mobil 1 problems and we have done 3 engine rebuilds so far on cars with engine failure that have been attributed to Mobil 1 2 x BMW and 1 x Porsche

Please explain HOW the use of Mobile causes problems.
 
Please explain HOW the use of Mobile causes problems.

I thought I did in post #12? Some components of the oil interact and react with plastic and gasket components and compounds used within the engine, these components then subsequently fail causing direct engine failure or they disintegrate into the oil blocking the oil galleries causing starvation and then engine failure. Mobil 1 is one of the worst for this interaction from what I have seen and read, although this does not mean the same does not also happen with other oils?
 
After making few calls to London MB dealers was told the same : " we are using only Shell oil" and he said the same thing about Mobil 1. Apparently they had few come backs and complaints about Mobil1 oil. Is it true or its just supplier politics !? I just refuse to believe that MB can afford things like this. As far as i know MB was using Mobil1 for years now ( correct if im wrong ) . Anyway next monday i`m going to Berlin( Tegel area with few MB dealers ). I will ask anyway .
Sorry to ask this sort of question but i liked all answers . So thank you again. :)
 

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