RobertG

A trained nose can tell if there is gasoiline in oil.
I dont have any experience with Midas so I can't comment on the experience or competence level of mechanics working there.

Pope

Changed the coolant temperature sensor and it fixed the fan issue. Going to take the car in next week to have the Midas oil flushed and have the correct oil and filter put in it. Thanks for help guys, all very knowledgeable.

ericgoh

Pope, I don't mean to thread-jack but I'm having a similar issue, so perhaps my info might help.

Guys,

I sent my oil out to Blackstone and it looks like I have too much fuel and copper in my oil. The oil only had 2500 miles on it (but it was a year old, so I did the oil change). Blackstone seems to think it's an injector issue. I'll be changing plugs and the valve cover gaskets this week so I'd love to have a look around to try to figure out this fuel in oil issue.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Glyn M Ruck

Strange - we are having a number of fuel dilution problems. It's shows in the viscosity drop & bearing/bush wear (Cu) - Once again no elevated water which would indicate short trips not warmed up. Looks like dribbling injector

What mileage has your car done?

ericgoh

Glyn,

The car just passed 50k miles. It's my wife's car and she hasn't been using the car regularly for the past year and a half. She only uses it once every couple of weeks. I think you're right about the injector. Is it usually just o-ring replacement or how do I go about diagnosing the issue? I don't have a CEL but might there be some codes that might help?

Thanks in advance. I just took over servicing duty for the car a few months ago, and I don't know what I'd do without you guys.

Glyn M Ruck

At that mileage I would start by running a couple of tanks of fuel with Techron concentrate.
It is probably just a dirty injector rather than a damaged one.

If damaged you would have to replace the suspect injector or have it repaired/refurbished. Hook up an OBDII scanner to the plug under the steering column behind a rectangular flap and see if the car is storing any codes (too few to trigger a CEL). A misfire code on one cylinder might point you to which injector is dribbling. If you don't want to buy a scanner then Autozone will usually loan you one or read codes for you.

Good luck!

ericgoh

Thanks again! I'm in the market for a scanner. Is this one any good?

http://www.equus.com/Product/Detail/...A-AA8D790E6DA4

Or do you have a favorite brand?

C230 Sport Coup

Wow, thats pretty expensive.
If your car is 2004 or before you could go with the
Carsoft 7.4 attached to a laptop and read out more than just
standard OBD codes for $100 + time to install which is a little tricky.

I recall that the reason you don't want to leave oil in a car even when it has low miles on the oil, is that gasoline does get into it.
Thats what I remember in the back of my mind, no idea where I 1st heard it.

I recently was just about to purchase Techroline and a guy a the auto parts store, said it contains chemicals which can be corrosive.
He suggested the Redline FI cleaner, which I ran.
I didn't notice the difference till the next tank of fuel, but it was noticeable.
It does cost 10 bucks but the guy was swearing by it, uses it in racecars etc. Practically ripped the Chevron crap out of my hand.

http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=80&pcid=12

As far as scanners go, check alpha-bid.com
They have lots of scanners for better than average prices including the carsoft unit.

Glyn M Ruck

I use an Equus 3130 - paid about $130 for it on Amazon.

You either buy a $50 Harbour Freight baby or a decent one.

As long as they tell you what the code means that's fine. Looking up codes is a pain.

mskembo

People can be pretty passionate about their favorite additives/oils/gas/air filter/butt hair. I have yet to see any conclusive testing that shows which one is truly superior. I think the most important thing is to run a fuel system cleaner through your engine at least every 10th tank of gas, and not to wait till you start seeing decreased mileage before you start.

Oh, and as far as scan tools go. This is the one!

GL1-OBD

Glyn M Ruck

Techron is the only Benz approved system & Chevron have advertised as "unsurpassed" for many years in countries where the competition can have advertising cancelled pretty quickly if not substantiated.

Out of interest the closest in clean up/keep clean performance of both inlet & combustion chamber is the latest BP product.

ericgoh

Got my code reader after a bit of delayed shipping from Amazon. No codes, no misfires. So, I'm hopping I just have a slightly dirty injector. Going run a couple of tanks of fuel with Techron concentrate as per Glyn's recommendation. I thought I was doing this every oil change, but realized I've been using the inferior Costco Chevron Pro Guard, not the real deal concentrate.

Glyn M Ruck

I'm pretty sure that will fix it. Out of interest Techron works best in a lot of around town driving with warm up - stop & soak conditions.

Adding it to a tank of fuel before embarking on a long trip will slow down it's effectiveness. It will still work - just takes longer.

ericgoh

Glyn, That's more helpful than you know. I was going to do the exact opposite to get "maximum results." Thanks!

mskembo

Yeah, me too. Looks like I wasted money... again.

ericgoh

Glyn,

I just finished replacing valve cover gaskets, resealing the recirculating covers, and changing the spark plugs (50k on them, but almost 9 years old). I noticed a bit of what I think is oil around plug B of cylinder 5. I'm not sure if it's from the leaky valve cover or if their is another issue. Any thoughts?

BTW, do you have an amazon wish list? If you were in Texas, I'd buy you a beer but I'd love to buy you at least a book or something for all your help. PM me if you do.

Many thanks

Glyn M Ruck

That oil leaked there - nothing to worry about. Good you replaced the plugs. I did mine at 5 years. My car is also low mileage. Just clocked 62,000 Kilometres.

Glyn M Ruck

BTW - Thanks for the offer - you don't owe me anything - I enjoy helping & learning.

ericgoh

Thanks again Glyn! Your knowledge and help is incredible.

ericgoh

Glyn, What do you think the maximum number of Techron treatments is that can be done between oil changes. I've read conflicting stuff about fouling the oil, etc. I've run two bottles of Techron through so far and my "nose tester" tells me the leaky injector is better but still leaking a little bit (I'm still detecting some fuel smell when the car sits).

I'm planning on doing an oil change after 3000 miles (1k on this oil right now) so I can send a sample to Blackstone to get a progress update.

I'd love to remedy this with some easy fuel treatment. Otherwise, I've located a local shop that does ultrasonic cleaning/repair of the injectors. (~$15-$20 USD / injector...not bad).

Thanks!

Glyn M Ruck

You can put one bottle of concentrate in every tank if you wish although it is overkill. You should not exceed one bottle per tank as in very high concentrations Techron can become slightly agressive to some yellow metals. So it's a matter of not overdoing concentration in gasoline.

ericgoh

Thanks again Glyn!

I'm going to do another couple of bottles over the next two tankfuls and hope I don't have to pull the injectors.

Have a great week!

contact148

IF you pull the injectors its an easy job

BUT learn from my problems (bottom plastic disks that hold the lower injector orings on, snapped when i removed them)

blow all dirt away from each injector use silicone spray or oil on the injectors where they insert into the manifold you want to lube the orings so the come out and NOT snap the retainers like i did

pay attention the how the clips hold the injectors onto the fuel rail BEFORE you remove them all!!!!

take your time

I did NOT remove the wire harnes just moved it enough to get rail out I did cut all zip ties holding harnes covers on and took them off thru

ericgoh

contact148, Thanks for the heads up. I followed your other thread carefully and it's the main reason I'm trying to resolve this the "easy" way.

contact148

i tried the techron thing with no luck.... and it was a ***** to get as techron is NOT avail in canada and im 4 hours from the U.S boarder