iblaho

Quote:

Originally Posted by LILBENZ230

Placebo effect, Exhibit A. Not sure how this would improve ANYTHING to do with the transmission.

I've been playing with this for a couple of weeks to be sure it wasn't just a placebo effect. I took a few 100-mile one-way trips, too. Some highway interchanges were modified and opened up, so I had to make surprising, quick, multi-lane changes, and other things.

When I had too much in the tank, it revved up to 5500 if I stepped on the gas the old way. So I diluted it with a few gallons as I went along and kept track of the numbers. You're right about getting 92 at best. I had that during my Oregon trip and saw the difference. I didn't know what "10 points" meant, so I just experimented under different conditions. If it's just cleaning the engine, it's doing a better job than fuel injector cleaner.

Who wouldn’t be happy with such a good placebo effect for just 7 cents/gallon?

LILBENZ230

Redline is 6250, no? Your car won't rev past 5500rpm? I can diagnose this as USER ERROR. Recommend replacement of user.

I don't understand what you're trying to say. The gas pedal only works in one way, how exactly do you change that up? The car makes lane changes quicker? So Gumout Octane Booster has made your car faster, the transmission smoother, and increased the car's agility? Impressive.

I'm glad you're enjoying your C230 but perhaps you should put the pipe down and back away slowly.

Note: Mercedes-Benz approves only Chevron's Techron as a fuel system additive.

W203E35

Today I have seen changes in my car also.

My friend got into an accident so I was rushing from Burbank to Woodland Hills (maybe 30 miles?)

Anyway I was driving like an idiot (thank god freeway was empty)

I noticed my car wouldnt change gears. It holds it all the way till 5K rpm then slowly brings it down untill I redline it then it changes or untill it goes down to 3-4K.

Now is this a problem (torque converter) or is this the adaptations?

Thanks Guys

P.S. I heard that octane stuff is BS. I'm surprised you felt a huge difference.

LILBENZ230

I'd be inclined to say the car had adapted to your maniac driving style. Do a throttle reset now and see if it stops behaving that way, or just drive normally for a bit and it should calm down. If it does that again and it's not appropriate, you can always just bump the shifter to the right and make the transmission shift gears at your command.

PS. Octane stuff is BS. Iblaho is experiencing some extreme placebo effects.

W203E35

Thanks brother, I'll give the reset a try.

Sometimes when I wash my car it feels faster too

LILBENZ230

Oh good, Karo - then it's not just me.

e1000

if you drive very agressively, your car will temporarily hold gears for a long time. After a couple seconds of normal driving, it will go back to being it's lazy self.

iblaho

Easy does it, guys. I think the octane booster and long trips were just doing a better job than fuel injector cleaner. I expected a few disputes. I'm trying things in the spirit of reverse enginering - a talent I admire.

If anybody secretly duplicates my experiments but won't tell the group, they owe me buck!

The seven gear transmission with adaptation makes some of us think there are bugs in the logic, and they deal with it by resetting it. I'm wondering if the the situation should be reframed as a "design feature" that works best when the car in general is working well.

Stay tuned... more bad ideas to come....

W203E35

Thanks e1000 always a big help.

LILBENZ230

Hey.. not bashing you personally!

There's not a person on this board who hasn't, at one time or another, thought "wow it really does drive better" after a good wash job. We're all guilty of the placebo effect. You're just having a bit of euphoric placebo effect.

It's my understanding that it is detergents in the gasoline that clean engine internals, not the octane number - as that has to do with detonation.

iblaho

I used to wash the car myself, but I stopped doing it when I found out that it worked so much better after I went to the car wash. Now I wish more people would tip those guys so they'll put the floor mats back in straight.

I'm going to try a few tankloads with and without the additive, making notes on the shift points, accelleration, etc. as best I can while I'm driving it. I have about half a dozen driving environments and condtions where I live. I want to do what is easy to make this thing get out of its own way in hostile traffic. Everything else is a bonus. I don't think it's a secret that this engine works better when the octane is higher than 91.

I'll report back in about 5-6 weeks. I'd have to drive at 3 a.m. to get mileage over 24. I don't mind recanting.

iblaho

"Replace user."

The car was a rental. The user has been replaced many times. I probably blew it over the edge, and now it's blown me over the edge! In desperation, I reached for the octane bottle... I could hear the gurgle....

iblaho

"It holds it all the way till 5K rpm then slowly brings it down untill I redline it then it changes or untill it goes down to 3-4K.
P.S. I heard that octane stuff is BS."

I solve the stuck-on-5000 problem by holding the shift to the right. If it doesn't work quickly enough I repeat it.

I'll find out if octane is BS after trying a few tanks with and without it. All we can do is control fluids, filters, plugs, and foot pedals. Check how many posts there are for oil, gas, and the transmission. A transmission cure for 20 cents per ounce at Wal-mart really does sound like a pipe dream.

iblaho

25 years ago, Intel gave Ford an engine computer with six inputs. Now there are more. Transmissions were completely physical, using slush boxes. Now they are electronic. We know the engine processes feedback from the sensors to run itself. We know engine data, processed or not, is going to the transmission. Many thanks to the members who posted the manual part number as well as some diagrams. And for wanting to get that transmission logic to reverse engineer it and fix it, a man after my own heart.

I'll get the shop manual and try to untangle the wiring diagrams. I like this puzzle, the schizophrenic transmission.

LILBENZ230

My point is that you're not going to do anything for your transmission by boosting your octane to 92 from 91. Otherwise no 7g would have issue here on the east coast where 93 octane is at the pump. I haven't ever seen a pump in Georgia have anything less than 93, actually.

iblaho

Thanks - I appreciate the hard data. That blows my happy engine=happy transmission theory. The other wild card on performance could be the California fuel mix. I spend so much time in my car I might as well conduct my test, anyway. It's like mapping the innings at a baseball game. All of a sudden it's interesting and you remembered what happened.

iblaho

"No difference going from 91 to 92."

Call me bull-headed, but I'm going to have a blind test of budget octane booster that should be poured into the tank and a fuel cleaner that should be dumped into the trash. Both types will be in identical octane booster bottles. The fuel cleaner will be of low quality, which I hope means low effectiveness only, in case it is accidentally added to the tank.

I'll need another person to check the OK/No! tear-off label on the bottom of the bottle, and do this while I am not looking. I'll have three bottles of octane booster and three of fuel cleaner. I'll randomly pull a bottle out of the trunk and give it to somebody when I fill the tank. I'll make notes on the performance with that numbered bottle until the next fill-up.

I didn't want to get complicated about cleaner-octane mixtures. The octane booster is yellow and the cleaner has no tint. I didn't want to see it by accident.

It will cost an extra $3.50 per tank, about the price of a gallon of gas where I live.

This will make good conversation in about six weeks- October 22. Any bets?

LILBENZ230

I don't understand.

What is your theory? Hypothesis? What do you hope to accomplish?

It is not my opinion that you will not solve transmission problems by increasing fuel octane from 91 to 92, it's a fact. Tests are not needed as it's pretty much common sense. Detergents in pump gasoline clean the fuel/intake system. If you want to include an additive, you should use Chevron's Techron as it is approved by MB. This is not rocket science.

Let's say you have a headache and instead of taking an aspirin, you take a M&M. If your headache goes away, it's coincidence, and doesn't mean candy covered chocolate has medicinal properties. There doesn't need to be a clinical trial of the results to prove anything.

This is nothing like a baseball game where either team could pull out a win. Octane booster off the shelf of Wal-Mart is a waste of your time and hasn't helped your engine (or transmission) at all. To imply publicly that it has is..

iblaho

Quote:

Originally Posted by LILBENZ230

What is your theory? Hypothesis? What do you hope to accomplish?

xnay the transmission idea. I've thought over your previous comments. I realized my lack of education was making me superstitious, to put it nicely.

When I have time, I will scan the posts about fuel from people with credentials and experience. I'll go to Wikipedia for terms I don't understand. This is one of the few occasions when I opened my mouth before looking things up.

This is for entertainment's sake. I'll hook in a few lab assistants for this very important experiment. It's like checking if a cold goes away in a week or seven days. If the process isn't too tedious, I'm thinking of doing it for Arco vs. Chevron gas. They are 1/2 mile from the house. If I don't go through the motions I won't have credibility in the mind of the common man.

Thanks for thinking this through for me. We've pretty much covered it.

The car has not delivered on my hope for short, quick acceleration in hostile traffic. I’m having some fun joyrides, though. I can catch up with anybody in a canyon. My friends like riding in it. They think it’s faster and more expensive than it is. They think I’m being humble when I say it isn’t. Strangers say it looks good. I'm going to revisit this forum in a few years to see what people think of cars that are a few years old at that point. I'll upgrade at the right time.

The best news from this forum is that MB's do not have a lot of frequent or serious flaws.

W203E35

Let me ask this, How much more octane is it with the octane booster? Cause I know Race Gas makes a huge difference but Race Gas is what 110 Octane? and not all cars can handle this right?

LILBENZ230

Off the shelf octane booster will say something like "10 point increase" but in fine print reveal that 1 point = .1 pump point, so it's an increase as if you put 92 in the car instead of 91.

From what I've read, racing gas is usually leaded.. and nope, I wouldn't put that in just any car.

W203E35

Wow no wonder people are getting the placebo effect

From 91 to 92 is barely anything.

Thanks for the info Matt

LILBENZ230

The only thing available in my area for premium is 93 octane. With some octane booster I could have 94! Imagine what that could do for my car.

bdgdl08

There's a gas station in Gainesville that has 100(+) octane gas that's unleaded. It's on the way to gator racetrack from I-75

iblaho

Quote:

Originally Posted by LILBENZ230

Imagine what that could do for my car.

L-B, I suffer... I understand your frustration with people who don't pay attention to advice. I've offered a few solid facts and had them dismissed. You must have had that 100 times over. My repair DVD will arrive in a few days. I'll plop it in the laptop and peruse it in the lazy-boy. I'm going into hiding and coming out only when I have an important question that hasn't been answered already - and under a new user id. I thank you and a handful of other members who've been very helpful. I raise my mouse and offer you all double-clicks.