MB 229.5 Bulk 5W40, 9,616 mi., 2013 ML350

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Dec 26, 2018
Messages
37
Location
United States
First UOA post on BITOG; long time forum observer

Pretty boring run, but Blackstone marked the oil as a 5W30, while my dealership receipt called out "Bulk 5W40, 229.5 spec." a year and almost 10,000 miles ago. I thought they told me they use Mobil 1, Blackstone noted afterward in email that their experience with that grade from M1 has a lot more magnesium among other things, but it does look a lot like M1 5W30. Anyway, I'm not sweating the details as the UOA looks to be great for this engine type. I did my own oil change this time and poured in M1 0W40 FS and a MANN cartridge filter for a 10k run.

39D38221-973D-487C-A160-E26DFBCE5588.png
 
Kev,

Thanks for posting this (as a MB driver). Good stuff, especially as MB is recommending on many of its vehicles to use 5w40 instead of 0w40. I know the analysis came back 5w30 for you.
 
Originally Posted by GON
Kev,

Thanks for posting this (as a MB driver). Good stuff, especially as MB is recommending on many of its vehicles to use 5w40 instead of 0w40. I know the analysis came back 5w30 for you.


Where did you see that 5w40 is recommended over 0w40 by MB? They are both on 229.5.
 
Bottom end of a sae40 is 12.5, so this looks like a Xw30 @10.74cSt.. unless you had a good amount of shearing, which there's no reason to believe that occurred. I'd be inclined to think that the shop got it wrong on your invoice.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Doublehaul
Why would anyone want a 5w40 over a 0w40? Recent M1 and Castrol at least are pretty shear stable

Honest question

Because they can.

Not everyone overthinks oil like you or I do and some consumers might get "freaked out" seeing a 0w on their dealership invoice. ("it's too thin")
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Doublehaul
Why would anyone want a 5w40 over a 0w40? Recent M1 and Castrol at least are pretty shear stable

Honest question


Because the world outside us crazies cares little about oil.
crazy2.gif
 
Actual reason not to use the OW when you dont need it. At -15-25C there is no reason to.
Thinnest oil stocks and/or more viscosity improvers. More prone to shearing / drifting out of spec. More prone to deposits and sludge.
0W is exempt from some cleanliness test per Ford specs, not sure if industry specs, resulting in less clean piston tests.
 
Last edited:
On the other hand there's no "0W" exemption for Mercedes Benz approval 229.5, so for the purposes of this thread that's irrelevant. Regardless of the winter rating the grades all have to meet the same stringent deposit requirements.

And all VII are not the same so a blanket statement that a wider viscosity spread is always less preferable is not correct, nor does it take into account the natural VI of the base stocks used in a particular oil.

Your comments above sound like a cut-and-paste from internet articles rather than a consideration of the approval and oil discussed in this thread.
 
Does not look like a 5w40 to me. KV @ 40 and at 100 are both too low, even for used oil. Certainly didn't cause any detectable issues though.
 
Originally Posted by kschachn
On the other hand there's no "0W" exemption for Mercedes Benz approval 229.5, so for the purposes of this thread that's irrelevant. Regardless of the winter rating the grades all have to meet the same stringent deposit requirements.

And all VII are not the same so a blanket statement that a wider viscosity spread is always less preferable is not correct, nor does it take into account the natural VI of the base stocks used in a particular oil.

Your comments above sound like a cut-and-paste from internet articles rather than a consideration of the approval and oil discussed in this thread.


Maybe you could post the 2019 or 2020 MB 229.5 spec so we can take a look? That is hard to get. So, we are left with more or less educated guesses. Same with the great majority of oils - down to formulations and basestocks.
My comment is an attempt to tackle the issue at hand, yours sounds a bit like nitpicking.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by DrDanger
Maybe you could post the 2019 or 2020 MB 229.5 spec so we can take a look? That is hard to get. So, we are left with more or less educated guesses. Same with the great majority of oils - down to formulations and basestocks.
My comment is an attempt to tackle the issue at hand, yours sounds a bit like nitpicking.

The Afton Specification Handbook is a good place to look:

https://www.aftonchemical.com/Afton/media/PdfFiles/Afton-Chemical-Spec-Handbook-September-2019.pdf

That's the 2019 edition, it should be as current as possible. Base stocks can be inferred to some extent from an SDS for the oil, or perhaps pour point.

Just wondering, what is your doctorate in?
 
Just looking at the more recent MB specs in their gas engine manuals: 229.51, 229.52, and 229.61, they are mostly 5W30 on the MB Bevo site. I'm wondering if my dealership has standardized on that grade as it also meets the 229.5 spec my 2013 vehicle manual prescribes. If I owned a dealership, I'd obviously want the least number of oil grades and types as possible. I agree with Blackstone's analysis that it's a 30 grade oil from the test, but I feel my invoice was misleading.

B31E2B34-654F-4AB9-8306-F160BEC621A1.jpeg
 
Hate to admit it but kschachn has a point. We need to compare apples to apples and stay away from blanket statements ( this is a note to self
smile.gif
).
A Ford spec is not a MB spec.
 
There was a time when the 0w40s did tend to shear a bit but I haven't seen it lately with either Mobil or Castrol. The old versions almost appeared as if they were designed to shear a bit...sounds crazy I know.

Time and tech marches on and I think the current 0w40s are the best versions yet.
 
Doublehaul said:
Why would anyone want a 5w40 over a 0w40? Recent M1 and Castrol at least are pretty shear stable

Honest question[/quote
These engines were designed with 5-40 in mind. In recent years 30 wgt was deemed acceptable for epa mileage regs. My 08 diesel required 5-40 but now they say it's ok to use 0-30. At 116k miles I'm sticking with 5-40.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top