Owners manual advice on oil consumption absurd

[Chad]

Found the old owners manual for this 230SL after pulling the passenger seat out to replace the seat covers.  While reading through it I found a page detailing expected fuel and oil consumption values.  Was surprised to see that for 230SL the oil consumption expectation was 0.15-0.3L per every 100km...!  Was this a typo??  Does this not convert to 1.5-3L per 1000km??  This seems absurd, or am I reading this wrong?  

I have never noticed needing to add any oil between oil changes at 2,500 mile intervals (twice now). Using synthetic.



-CD-
1967 230SL, 113.042 10

[Naj ✝︎]

I was getting the lower end of this oil comsumption figure while driving the 280 hard thru Norway & Sweden last year (250-400 miles a day @ 70+ mph). Of course that was with the oil filler cap on.  :oops:

naj

65 230SL
68 280SL

[JamesL]

Was chatting with the guy who looks after my car the other week (Cedric) and he pretty much said the same thing and was not at all surprised I got far better consumption than that

[Chad]

Yes. It seems silly to me and must be a type error in the manual.



-CD-
1967 230SL, 113.042 10

[ja17]

Hello Chad,
Yes the figure stated in the manual is by no means normal consumption. This could be a bad translation? I think it should read as allowable consumption for a high mileage engine.

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[German Dude]

Hi all,

it is not a bad translation - my manual is in German and says exactly the same.

I am lucky to say that mine wants a refill of about 0.25 metric liters after 1,000 km. Which I am happy to add.

Juergen
64 230SL #2933, 4sp, signal red, white hard top
93 Citroen XM station wagon

[Chad]

Were this an Aston Martin I would say it's an accurate figure.  

I wonder why MB quoted such an extravagant and unrealistic figure for oil consumption (for a healthy engine)?  Perhaps this was a commonplace thing in the day?

-CD-
1967 230SL, 113.042 10

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by Chad

Were this an Aston Martin I would say it's an accurate figure.  

I wonder why MB quoted such an extravagant and unrealistic figure for oil consumption (for a healthy engine)?  Perhaps this was a commonplace thing in the day?

Chad,
Perhaps it's the max allowable consumption under any condition, not just for "healthy" engines.  That is, once you surpass this rate of oil consumption then you need an engine rebuild!

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[Chad]

Perhaps you are right. It just seems that many would rebuilt or do repairs to an engine well before this point. My barometer for engine rebuild seems to be more based on compression and evenness of compression in the cylinders, that is power and smoothness. I do not burn or use any oil between the changes in this w113, but I am not using that to mean that my engine is in perfect health in any way, I know better.  But I am more used to Italian and British engines, I remember one Giulietta Veloce engine that I had rebuilt by the best source I could find and it certainly used the oil right from the beginning. They just did.

I just think it's very interesting that MBZ quote this high figure.

-CD-
1967 230SL, 113.042 10