Mercedes 6cyl Diesel Class C's

[widowsson68]

Just a heads up for owners of Mercedes 6 cylinder powered class C motor homes. Ours is a Fleetwood Pulse on a Dodge Sprinter chassis.
While in Sante Fe, Nm this month, October, we had our oil and filter changed at Lithia Dodge in Sante Fe, who is a ***** star Dodge dealership. Next day out on US 25 north bound the oil warning light came on. We stopped on the edge of the highway, turned the engine off and checked the oil on the dip stick which looked pretty good. We continued on with the oil warning coming on then going off every few miles. Stopped for lunch in Las Vegas, Nm and found a Dodge-Ford dealer there. Bottom line was that Lithia had used 10 quarts of OW40 oil when 12!! were required. We added the other two quarts and were ok from then on.
Two things learned from this experience 1) We should have known our oil capacity and 2) You can not always trust the experts. We do believe that Lithia Dodge made an honest mistake, or rather their lube man did, but this illustrates that some of the best dealerships could stand a little more training or supervision.

Best to all..Jack&Rita

[widowsson68]

Just a heads up for owners of Mercedes 6 cylinder powered class C motor homes. Ours is a Fleetwood Pulse on a Dodge Sprinter chassis.
While in Sante Fe, Nm this month, October, we had our oil and filter changed at Lithia Dodge in Sante Fe, who is a ***** star Dodge dealership. Next day out on US 25 north bound the oil warning light came on. We stopped on the edge of the highway, turned the engine off and checked the oil on the dip stick which looked pretty good. We continued on with the oil warning coming on then going off every few miles. Stopped for lunch in Las Vegas, Nm and found a Dodge-Ford dealer there. Bottom line was that Lithia had used 10 quarts of OW40 oil when 12!! were required. We added the other two quarts and were ok from then on.
Two things learned from this experience 1) We should have known our oil capacity and 2) You can not always trust the experts. We do believe that Lithia Dodge made an honest mistake, or rather their lube man did, but this illustrates that some of the best dealerships could stand a little more training or supervision.

Best to all..Jack&Rita

[RV Wizard]

Jack & Rita, thanks for the heads up post. I am glad that the issue was nothing major. Good luck on the rest of your travels and do keep us posted.

[porscheracer]

Interesting . . ..

I wonder if there's some flawed documentation floating around. I say that because our '08 View was delivered new 2 quarts (and exactly that) low on oil.

[widowsson68]

Porscheracer,
Seems almost too coincidental to us. One interesting clue, sidelight, is that they, Dodge Dealers, are retailing the OW40 at $10.25 a quart. Would hate to think that the RV dealer didn't check at dealer prep. The ultimate responsibility rests with us, the owners, and no finger pointing will change that fact. Glad that you found yours before any damage was done though.
Our pulse had just over 1,000 delivery miles on it and the owners manual does state that this engine can go through that amount of oil in that distance if driven hard enough.

Best to all...Jack&Rita

[desertraven]

Quote:

Originally Posted by widowsson68 Just a heads up for owners of Mercedes 6 cylinder powered class C motor homes. Ours is a Fleetwood Pulse on a Dodge Sprinter chassis. While in Sante Fe, Nm this month, October, we had our oil and filter changed at Lithia Dodge in Sante Fe, who is a ***** star Dodge dealership. Next day out on US 25 north bound the oil warning light came on. We stopped on the edge of the highway, turned the engine off and checked the oil on the dip stick which looked pretty good. We continued on with the oil warning coming on then going off every few miles. Stopped for lunch in Las Vegas, Nm and found a Dodge-Ford dealer there. Bottom line was that Lithia had used 10 quarts of OW40 oil when 12!! were required. We added the other two quarts and were ok from then on. Two things learned from this experience 1) We should have known our oil capacity and 2) You can not always trust the experts. We do believe that Lithia Dodge made an honest mistake, or rather their lube man did, but this illustrates that some of the best dealerships could stand a little more training or supervision. Best to all..Jack&Rita

The pre-2007 Dodge Sprinter diesel chassis were 10 quart for the 2.7L engine, but were 12 quart beginning with the 2007 chassis(2008 motorhomes) with the 3.0L diesel.
Yes, probably an honest mistake.

[SeeTheUSA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertraven The pre-2007 Dodge Sprinter diesel chassis were 10 quart for the 2.7L engine, but were 12 quart beginning with the 2007 chassis(2008 motorhomes) with the 3.0L diesel. Yes, probably an honest mistake.

Oil capacity for the 2.7L inline 5-cylinder engine is actually 9.5 quarts --- put in 10 quarts and you'll get an overfill error code, maybe even foul an air sensor.

[two2go]

If at all possible, let that dealer know. A responsible service shop wants to know of any problems. And consider the value of the lesson learned with (hopefully) no damage done.