We listen to your show every Sat. and now WE need to know what you think! Three years ago, my husband bought a 1998 Mercedes ML320 at a car auction. I thought the interior was “abused”, but my husband thought mechanically, the car was in good shape with 80,000 miles on it. So my Husband cleaned it up and off we went! Until one weekend he changed the oil (as he always did at 3 - 4000 miles) but used V*oil instead of C oil that he always used in the past. We both thought the car sounded “different”?! So he changed back to C** oil. Next the Check Eng Light comes on and off we go to the dealer. It is determined that the EGR tube is clogged but the “lower end knock” is a connecting rod!! (need to replace engine)
Now my Husband thinks he is the cause of this costly problem and I say not! I think that a car so “abused” inside was probably not maintained as needed and the problem started before we bought the car. (The oil change only exasperated the problem!) Please tell us what you think - I want my husband to stop blaming himself. He took better care of the car than the original owners did!
It’s your husband’s fault…for buying a car at auction with 80k that looked abused to begin with. The oil brand could not have made any difference, assuming it was the right weight - it sounds like his maintenance has nothing to do with the engine problems.
The bad rod was there when you husband bought the car. In order for whoever wanted to get rid of it they probably put a lot of STP oil treatment into it to keep it quiet. When the oil was changed, all of that went out and the noise came back. Not his fault.
If a Benz like that is sold at auction, you KNOW there is something wrong with it…The dealers KEEP the good ones…3 years ago, the oil has been changed several times…
List it as a parts car and walk away lesson learned.
The interior of a used car is directly related to oil change frequency. A clean interior means nothing but an abused one is EVERYTHING. My truck survived Castrol, Valvoline, Super Tech and Kendall. It had conventional oil once. The oil was not the problem, it was the lack of clean oil that caused the problem.