Types of Oil for a Mercedes Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a luxury car maker known for producing automobiles that combine style and excellent design with technology and performance. If you own a Mercedes, providing regular maintenance is key for optimum the performance. Getting regular oil changes is a fundamental step in keeping your Mercedes performing at a high level, but you must know the proper oil to use. You need to know the correct oil weight, as well as the proper grade.

Weight

  • Oils whose weight, or viscosity, is good for low temperatures have a "W" after their number, while oils used in high temperatures don't. Some oils are good for both and are referred to as multi-viscosity, all-weather or all-temperature oils. It is these oils that are listed for use in most Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Multi-viscosity oil of 5W-40 weight is recommended for most models, though 0W-30, 0W-40, 10W-40 and 5W-30 are also used in certain cars.

Single-Grade

  • This type of motor oil is usually indicated only for narrow temperature ranges, either at high temperatures or low temperatures. It can be used on only a few current Mercedes-Benz models, such as the diesel engines in model series 300, 400, 500 and 900. The OM 457 and 460 models might also use single-grade engine oil, but the company recommends single-grade for any of its vehicles only "in exceptional cases."

Multi-Grade

  • This type of motor oil gets better performance at a wider range of temperatures. It is recommended for use on the majority of Mercedes-Benz vehicles. A long list of oil brands are approved by the company, from JB German oil to brands with that Americans are more familiar, such as Castrol, Mobil and Pennzoil.