Merc extended warranty

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Mon 7 Oct 2002 22:28
Merc extended warranty - Dave N
It looks like Mercedes Benz (USA) have lost their court case and been forced to extend the warranty on some engines to 10 years/150K miles.

Apparently, they used to recommend low viscosity oils, typically 5W30, in order only to increase their Corporate Average Fuel Economy. And this, coupled with extended service intervals and the use of non-synthetic oils, have led consumers to launch a class action due to premature engine failures. They now only recommend higher viscosity fully synthetic oils.

Makes you wonder why we are all now being told to use lower viscosity oils. Is it mainly to reduce the fuel consumption figures also, to the detriment of engine life?
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Tue 8 Oct 2002 00:39
Merc extended warranty - Blue {P}
They recommend 5W30 fully synthetic (I think) in my Zetec Fiesta, it depends what the engine was made for, my nana's T reg 1.6 Corolla recommends 10W40 semi-synth. It tends to be the more modern engines that require lower viscosity oils. I've ben led to believe that something like my Zetec should last fo many years if serviced using the recommended oil grade. Perhaps HJ could shed some light on this?
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Tue 8 Oct 2002 16:32
Merc extended warranty - Dave N
That's my point, Merc were telling their customers that the engines needed lower viscosity oils, but in reality, it was Merc that needed them to use the oils to satisfy the mileage requirements. Merc told their customers the engines would last many years, but they didn't. The lawyers are now turning their attention to the 'sealed for life' automatic transmissions.
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