While I'm sure that there are benefits for all, we are getting to the point where doing an oil change with Royal Purple, for example, 5W40, at $11.68 a quart at Summit Racing, and figure four changes in a year of driving, that's $327. About 23% of the purchase price of a $1400 Disco 1 fixer upper these days. While we have purists among us that oil the hinges on their barn doors with Royal Purple and the like, a lot of guys are having to decide between "super oils" needed for cars operated at 6,000 rpm as often as possible - and just changing the oil. One of the main reasons we have so many issues reported on this forum with pre-loved Discos (and of course they loved them) is the previous owners gave up on the maintenance schedule due to costs.

 

Yikes! I'm sorry to hear that but the 0W-40 is not approved for Blue-Tech diesels. Maybe you were mistaken? Hopefully the service shop was using the correct fluid. The Mobil 1 Formula M ESP 5W-40, which is exclusively engineered for Mercedes Blue Tech diesels by Exxon Mobil, and the oil approved for that car. Not many others on the market like it.

I should also say that the 0W-40 is approved for gasoline engines only and does not have the robust additive package to handle the extreme environment of turbo diesel applications.

 

anyone use this?

AMSOIL Premium API CJ-4 Synthetic 5W-40 Diesel Oil (DEO)

 

No lie - Rotella is the way to go!! I run 5W40 full syn and it is easily the best oil I have ever run. I now run this in all my vehicles, even my Victory Vegas... yeah the stuff is spec'd for motorcycles too.

 

Yes the Rotella T6 Syn and others like it (Delo 400 Syn, Delvac 1 ESP) are all very good oils.

 

Bought it from the dealer brand new, took it to the same dealer for ALL service, including oil changes.
And I mis-spoke, I meant Mobil 1 5w-40.

 

Man, that's a bummer... I love those vans too, great piece of engineering. I'm surprised to hear your engine went at 162k. Those blue tech diesels are GREAT. Very efficient, power delivery and fuel economy are top notch. I would be very surprised if the oil had anything to do with your engine failure as Mobil has a great reputation for formulating super high quality diesel engine oils. What happened? Did it spin a bearing or something?

 

Lost compression on 3 of the 5 cylinders, the other 2 had low compression.
So the rings were shot, this is so common that there is a guy in TX who does nothing but rebuild these engines.
You send him yours and he sends you a rebuilt, $12,000 installed for a rebuilt engine.
I no longer drive that van, but it gets diesel oil 15w-40 changed every 5,000 miles ever since the new engine.

 

Hmmm... That really is too bad and a hefty price tag too. That's cool there is a source to find rebuilt engines quickly. Sounds like a manufacturing/engineering defect of some kind. As we all know, many common problems here on the LR's due to various factors and oil rarely being one of them. Hopefully a heavy duty mineral engine oil will help with the longevity of that engine but not likely from the sound of it.

 

Agreed, that sucks. 10K on any diesel engine is crazy though, and 15K from the factory is bonkers. Maybe it is not a wonder why they recommend it though, when costly repairs are money in their pocket! Even Audi recommended like 7K changes on my twin turbo. Granted, they picked up the tab for oil change for the first few years, so saved them money...and picked them up money in the end! But, I did my changes in between and supplied my own oil too!
I had a TDI VW Jetta as my extra/beater car in college and a little after. Put well over 200K on that with 4k changes. That oil would come out black as night at 4k, and sent some to the labs and they agreed with my changed intervals.