WHICH DIFF OIL FOR MERCEDES 190E

[SPS]

i own a 190e mercedes with 113,000 miles.

the car manual recommends a hypoid 85w/90,mineral oil

can i us a semi-synthetic(synthetic base)75w/90 spec oil without any problems on my car/

would this be a etter option than the mineral oil?

thanks for your help.

 

[MolaKule]

I can't think of a reason why any any modern 75W90 wouldn't work.

Mercedes probably specifies a GL5 (or equivalent), which is the most widely used spec.

Pennzoil has both mineral oil and synthetic (3X cost of mineral) versions,

Mobil 1 has a good 75W90,

Schaeffers has the #167 and #267,

and Redline have their GL's as well.

[ March 04, 2003, 05:27 PM: Message edited by: MolaKule ]

 

[FowVay]

I looked your car up on the application chart for one of the German oil companies and it lists it as being 85W-90 Hypoid GL-5 oil (Mercedes Benz spec. 235.0). Depending on what year your vehicle is it shows a capacity of between .7 liters for the normal W201 chassis up through 1992 and 1.1 liters for the W201 chassis with either the 16 valve 4-cylinder engine or the 2.6 liter 6 cylinder.

I agree with Molakule that any GL-5 rated 75/80W-90 should work. I prefer synthetics personally. If i'm not mistaken MB didn't offer a limited slip differential on these models for sale in the USA so that shouldn't be a issue.

 

[Dr. T]

FowVay, where did you find these specs? I'm looking for the correct tranny and diff. fluids for a 1997 S-class and can't find them anywhere...

 

[TooSlick]

Dr T,

Mercedes has used a special auto transmission fluid since about 1995 I believe. There is no substitute that I know of. A good 75w-90 synthetic gear lube should be fine for the rear differential.

TooSlick

 

[TooSlick]

Dr T,

Mercedes has used a special auto transmission fluid since about 1995 I believe. There is no substitute that I know of. A good 75w-90 synthetic gear lube should be fine for the rear differential.

TooSlick

 

[brian]

The ONLY recommended ATF for the tranny is from the dealer. For LSD diffs, defaler fluid hsould be used as well
Regards,
Brian

[ March 24, 2003, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: BOBISTHEOILGUY ]

 

[Dr. T]

Isn't the tranny a GM unit? Shouldn't it then take standard Dextron?

 

[FowVay]

Dr,T, I own a BMW so I'm not certain about the Mercedes equipment but I will share what I found on my GM built transmission in my car.

My car uses a 5 speed automatic transmission (A5S 360R) that was built by General Motors at their factory in Strasbourg, France. Texaco of Europe is contracted to manufacture the factory transmission fluid for my particular application. The fluid is Texaco ETL 7045E and is made exclusively to be shipped to the Strasbourg transmission plant. This fluid is NOT available for sale to the public.

Texaco of Europe put me in contact with a North American office that was able to tell me what a suitable fluid would be to replace the factory fill fluid with. They said that the product to use is "Chevron/Texaco Synthetic Automatic Transmission Fluid Heavy Duty".

If your car uses either the GM built 5 speed or ZF built 5 speed automatic (specifying TE-ML 14B requirement) then this fluid meets the requirement specifications.

Forgot about the rear axle

If your car has the ASD traction control then it requires a special fluid that is a "dealer only" item. If you don't have the ASD then I believe the rear axle uses a GL-5 80W-90 and it doesn't specify synthetic so that is up to you. The capacity is 1.2 liters.

Do you have the current chassis W140 or the older chassis?

[ March 26, 2003, 09:37 AM: Message edited by: FowVay ]

 

[Dr. T]

Yeah it's a friend's W140. My BMW is a 6speed that says to use Dextron II in the tranny and Castrol SAF-XO or "BMW Synthetic gear lube" that the dealers don't know what this is. I don't think the Castrol SAF-X0 is not available in N.A.. Is it the same/similar to Syntec? From the Castrol DK website it says that the SAF-XO is synthetic 75W-90...wonder if it's the similar to Syntec...

One dealer said to use 75-90 and the other 75w-140. So that's helped...;0 Either case, the stuff they do sell is in drums and they will half-fill a washer fluid bottle (2 qts) for me for $55!!