Sunday, December 30th, 2012

Tight as a Noun of Your Choosing

Near as I can tell, the 500 Benz's M119 V8 doesn't use a damn drop of oil.

At first I would check every time I got gas—exact same spot on the dipstick, without fail.

So eventually I cooled out and decided to wait till the 5,000-mile oil-change interval (which I selected at the recommendation of multiple mechanics, by the way; I know the manual says 7,500).

Guess what: exact same spot on the dipstick. And as noted, the throttle is floored whenever possible. Which in theory should cause the engine to consume at least a little oil.

Not bad for a pretty complex 14-year-old V8 that the proverbial man on the street seems to view as the proverbial ticking proverb.

Someday I'll tell you the story of my low-mileage 2001 Prelude's relationship with oil. Let's just say there was a somewhat stronger element of dependence in that case.

posted in: Maintenance  

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