Changing oil on MB ML550-Almost had a stroke watching YouTube "instructions."

[edyvw]

So, I have never changed the oil on the Mercedes Benz ML 550. It is 2011. My good friend and neighbor, who is 73, asked me to do it for him.
Very nice, clean car, and he really loves it, so I wanted to help him.
Anyway, I already had 10qt of Mobil1 0W40 (engine takes 9.5qt), but I needed to check YouTube to see if there is anything different (there is not) from other cars.
This is the first video I stumbled upon. Nice work, until I get to the point where a guy uses Lucas Oil Stabilizer. Now, I have never seen that stuff how it actually looks. I had that "privilege" at 3.17min of this video, at which point I think I almost had a stroke:


Please guys do not do this to your car!

 

[OVERKILL]

Oh but Edy, the oil NEEDS TO BE STABILIZED! It is INHERENTLY UNSTABLE! Only the power of bar oil tackifier, the cheapest VII possible and some super heavy garbage brightstock with no additives can save it!

 

[edyvw]

Oh but Edy, the oil NEEDS TO BE STABILIZED! It is INHERENTLY UNSTABLE! Only the power of bar oil tackifier, the cheapest VII possible and some super heavy garbage brightstock with no additives can save it!

I actually feel sorry for the internal parts of that engine.

 

[OVERKILL]

I actually feel sorry for the internal parts of that engine.

You and me both, especially the oil pump drive.

 

[Zee09]

You use it to keep the M1 quiet-uh duh....

 

[edyvw]

You used it to keep the M1 quiet-uh duh....

Lol, if that "mass," for the lack of a better word, does not keep it quite, nothing will.

 

[Zee09]

I actually feel sorry for the internal parts of that engine.

Do you know what kind of reliability the owner has had from the MB?

 

[hemitom]

I'm sure its been asked here before !
whats would the viscosity rating of lucas be ? it sure looks thicker than a straight 50 weight.

 

[JavierH19]

Wow, that is just awful. A quart of LOS with 9 quarts of 0w-40 isn't gonna do much other than make it varnish easier and make the AN's in the oil work harder. Might as well mix a jug of 0w-40 and a jug m1 15w-50 if you need to thicken. Or just go pure 15w-50.

 

[OVERKILL]

I'm sure its been asked here before !
whats would the viscosity rating of lucas be ? it sure looks thicker than a straight 50 weight.

It's a LOT thicker than an SAE 50, search for the Lucas VOA, it's like 615cSt, the Synthetic version I think was 124cSt.

 

[dumkid]

Lucas does make stuff quieter. Hard to get a sharp tick when the parts are separated by something the viscosity of rubber cement

 

[JimPghPA]

The total mix will still flow good enough. The extreme cold flow would not be as good.


STP made a very thick additive that I stopped one of my brothers from using in December, many years ago.

 

[Trav]

They used to put people in the stock, let lookers on throw rotten eggs and tomato's at them then tar and feather them and run them out of town on a rail for less than what this guy did. Oh I miss the good old days LOL.

 

[JimPghPA]

In the past when everybody use conventional instead of synthetic oil engines ran on oil that was a mix of a large variety of different size hydrocarbon molecules.


Think of it as something like one of those ice slurries you buy at a fast convenience store. There may be little chunks of ice in there that if the entire thing was composed of you couldn't sip it through a straw. But when it doesn't make up a large enough percentage of the total mix, it still flows. I'm sure those longer chain hydrocarbons in the Lucas will turn to wax at a much warmer temperature than the rest of the oil that is in that sump. But even so, it may flow fairly decently down to a fairly low temperature.


Now fill a crankcase only with that Lucas additive and nothing else and you have a totally different story about the flow characteristics.

 

[edyvw]

Do you know what kind of reliability the owner has had from the MB?

This on video? No idea.

 

[Zee09]

This on video? No idea.

No, sorry your friend.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Stroke? Safety first, @edyvw
Need your stuff around here.

 

[edyvw]

No, sorry your friend.

He bought it with 60+k, now has 98,725 when I changed oil. He had steering angle sensor failure, but that is it. Changed engine mounts too.

 

[The Critic]

Oh but Edy, the oil NEEDS TO BE STABILIZED! It is INHERENTLY UNSTABLE! Only the power of bar oil tackifier, the cheapest VII possible and some super heavy garbage brightstock with no additives can save it!

You and me both, especially the oil pump drive.

Two bottles of their low-viscosity version would have been more appropriate...

https://www.lucasoil.com/pdf/TDS_Low_Viscosity_Stabilizer.pdf

 

[walterjay]

Galooop