Motul X-Max 5w-40, 2006 Mercedes C230, 4940 miles

[slo town]

Hello Folks:

My first post on this forum, though I have lurked for a year or two.

Anyway, a Blackstone oil analysis of my wife's Mercedes. Looks like her car likes the Motul. Car bought new by us. Very mild climate. 5,000 oil changes, always. Mobil 1 0w-40 for first 50k. Big 8.5 quart sump. Hengst air and oil filters.

2006 Mercedes Benz C230 Sport Sedan, M272 2.5L V6, 7-speed auto. This is the engine that has improperly heat treated balance shaft gears, which causes excessive wear and eventual failure. Requires engine removal and near total teardown to replace balance shafts. Based on the iron numbers it would seem that my wife's car is not having this problem.... I hope.

Scott

Code:
Motul X-Max 5W-40 Universal Averages



MI/HR on Oil 4,960

MI/HR on Unit 79,460

Sample Date 3/07/11

Make Up Oil Added 0



ALUMINUM 2 4

CHROMIUM 0 2

IRON 7 29

COPPER 2 4

LEAD 0 2

TIN 0 1

MOLYBDENUM 4 44

NICKEL 1 1

MANGANESE 0 1

SILVER 0 0

TITANIUM 0 0

POTASSIUM 5 6

BORON 52 100

SILICON 2 5

SODIUM 6 5

CALCIUM 2056 2254

MAGNESIUM 17 169

PHOSPHORUS 849 872

ZINC 904 1013

BARIUM 0 0



cSt Viscosity @ 100°C 69.7

SUS Viscosity @ 210°F 12.87

Flashpoint in °F 395

Fuel %
Antifreeze % 0.0

Water % 0.0

Insolubles % 0.1

TBN 5.1

Blackstone comments: We're not sure what your maintenance secret is, but you're getting great wear numbers from your Mercedes. Universal averages show what normal wear looks like from this engine after about 5,200 miles on the oil. Considering your oil run was almost that long, wear metals are reading wonderfully low, showing no problems in the works. The TBN is a measure of active additive in the oil, and a reading of 5.1 shows plenty of active additive remaining since 1.0 is too low. The viscosity read normally, and no contaminants were found. Overall, looks good.

 

[dparm]

The secret is you use M1 0w40, a very stout and proven oil.

 

[CarbonSteel]

to BITOG!

 

[slo town]

I used Mobil 1 for the first 50K miles, then switched to the Motul. 30K miles using Motul now. I agree that Mobil 1 is a great product. It would appear that the Motul is working very well too.

 

[deven]

Mercedes Benz's are known to love ester oil's. I would keep using either Motul. It obviously is working for you well. Good luck and hope you don't encounter that nasty issue that those engines have.

 

[cmf]

The UOA looks great! But I haven't read of anyone taking UOA's to see if wear metals increase prior to failure. From what I understand, it just randomly fails one day. By this I mean that they don't seem to wear down, they just go along fine and then one day break apart. You are probably better informed than I am about the issue though.

Isn't the 2006 C230 one of the models with the transmission issues as well? I hope the car doesn't give you any trouble!

 

[dparm]

Actually I think X-max 5w40 was discontinued. They now have the X-max 0w40.

 

[slo town]

cmf, the balance shaft gears gradually wear to the point they cause the ECU to throw a code because the cam timing is off to the point the VVT cannot adjust it to be within specs.

dparm, yes, the X-Max has been discontinued. Bummer. I liked that oil, especially the 5w-30 version I used in my BMW.

As a consequence, I'm now using Pentospeed VS 0W-30 in both cars. We'll see what the UOAs look like. There have been a few posts re the subject of "butt dynos" on the Pentospeed - it seeming that the engine runs better. Though I have no other evidence that my own butt dyno, I think this may be true. My BMW seems to have a tad more strength to it. But, the UOA will make my decision for me.

 

[slo town]

cmf, aside from repeated front brake rotor warping, the car has been really reliable. No transmission problems for me. That said, the car is very pampered with frequent FAA worthy maintenance and maintenance products, like all of our cars.

Like my wife once told me, "If you spent as much money on drugs as you did cars, you'd be in a rehab center somewhere!".

 

[SubLGT]

Any iron particles from the balance shaft gears that are larger than 5-10 um are not going to show up on a $22 UOA. The gears could be self destructing as we speak. Or not.

Have you been inspecting the oil filter for visible particles?

 

[slo town]

SubLGT, good point. Oil filter looks good when changed but I doubt I'd see anything anyway given the relatively short OCIs I use.

That said, most balance shaft gear failures occur far prior to the mileage we have on the vehicle. Also, MB recommends a 15K OCI which, 8.5 quart sump or not, is ridiculous.

 

[OldCowboy]

Question: With reports like this, why are you changing this oil after only 5K?? It looks like it could easily go another 3-5000 miles.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: SLO_Town
SubLGT, good point. Oil filter looks good when changed but I doubt I'd see anything anyway given the relatively short OCIs I use.

That said, most balance shaft gear failures occur far prior to the mileage we have on the vehicle. Also, MB recommends a 15K OCI which, 8.5 quart sump or not, is ridiculous.

MB recommends extended OCI with quality syn oil even for drivers on Autobahn, some of them drive at speed excess 140-150 MPH all day long.

My E430 had an average 12-13k miles OCI's for more than 10 years and no engine problems. When I changed oil with a fluid extractor the oil was easily ran up the tube without any sign of sludge.

I'm currently re-using the Bosch oil filter for second 12k OCI, the filter didn't have any debris and in excellent condition, I want to experience if the fleece filter can lasted 24-25k miles.

 

[slo town]

OldCowboy, I'll reply to your post because I'm an old grey beard. I grew up in the era of 12K mile "tune-ups" (tri-power Pontiacs; points, condensor, distributor cap, rotor, plugs, carb fiddling, and leaded gas - the horror!); not to mention 3K mile OCIs.

It is impossible for my mind to comprehend anything longer than a 5K OCI - $15/qt synthetic or otherwise. Also too, life has been good to me. I was able to retire at age 52 on my own money....no pension, government or otherwise.

 

[chubbs1]

I am amazed at the air filtration in some of the german cars. Silicon at 2ppm?! That is just excellent filtration. What kind of filter do you have (ie. OEM or aftermarket). Is it hard to install? Sorry about the questions but I just find it amazing.

Great UOA! Will be looking forward to see how the Pentosin does!

Welcome!

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: chubbs1
I am amazed at the air filtration in some of the german cars. Silicon at 2ppm?! That is just excellent filtration. What kind of filter do you have (ie. OEM or aftermarket). Is it hard to install? Sorry about the questions but I just find it amazing. Great UOA! Will be looking forward to see how the Pentosin does! Welcome!


I have GMC work vans that have shown comparable levels of silicon in UOA's. It's not exclusive to German cars.

And at PPM it may be difficult to tell any difference a few points in either direction!

 

[slo town]

chubbs1, the MB has the stock airbox. I use Hengst air and oil filters, air filters replaced every 15K.

 

[wlyszkow]

Really great results ;-) Was the oil hot and shaken while taking / sucking the sample?
Huge sump makes difference too - great but expensive.

 

[slo town]

wlyszkow:

Sample taken midway thru drain plug change. Car was hot, just driven about 20 miles at highway speeds. Drained within 5 minutes of returning home.

Agree about huge sump. The MB C230 with M272 engine holds more oil than it does radiator coolant! I like that design philosophy.

Scott

 

[HTSS_TR]

If you like to change oil in your C230 often, you may want to invest $70-80 in buying a fluid extractor such as Mityvac 7201.

With a fluid extractor you can change oil and filter without lift up the car, because the cartridge oil filter holder is on top of the engine. Someone posted in a MB forum that he tried Mityvac to extract oil from dipstick tube and found that not a single drop of oil from the drain hold after unscrewed drain plug.

The fluid extractor may be able to change oil in your BMW too, if it has oil dipstick tube. BMW has oil filter on top of the engine too.

It also can be used to exchange ATF, do brake bleeding, power steering fluid ...