CaliBenzDriver

Catch-can prevent engine oil from contaminating the whole intake track:

1. intake plenum
2. MAP/MAF
3. carbonated valves
4. O2/Lambda

Can we get oil to stay where it belongs??
Yes, I think we can cancel the oil chaos that used to require catch-cans.
This is caused by low viscosity oil getting vaporized on dry pistons when squirters are disabled at driving RPM.


1- Minimize piston blow-by crankcase pressure

2- Keep oil away from vaporizing temperatures.

= oil stops disappearing away!
= crankcase pressure stop spoiling brake booster
= engine pressure stops blowing past oil seals
= plastic CPS sensors stop "oil-in-harness"

The outcome does more good than "catch can" only. Viscosity booster cost $5 every oil change.

Nice and easy

ChuangTzu

Questions about the viscosity booster:

1. What booster and what percent added to what weight oil?
2. Why not just use a more viscous oil at 100%?

Edit:

My car has 0W-40 in it now because it gets cold AF and hot AF here. It looks like the manual says I can use 5W-50 down to -25C and 10W-60 down to -20C. If I only need down to -15C, I can put in 15W-50.

There might be two solutions: run 10W-60 year round and suffer some extra cold start wear in the winter, or run 10W-50 for 3/4 of the year and switch to 5W-50 for the coldest months, but suffer some of the problems previously mentioned earlier in this thread...

CaliBenzDriver

The owner's manual is written with misleading oil info. I don't think M276/8 engines hydraulics are compatible with high viscosity w50/w60 oils.

The key is inclusion to the "APPROVED OIL" list.
"MB Approved" "Euro grade" oils provide additives for dry cylinders coating formula and extreme 400F heat range base stock.
Really tough oil for tough dry lubed engines. These select oils are indeed special!

I did not have the exact answer as to what oil viscosity works best so I started experimenting:
-- 0w40 is too thin
-- 5w40 worked well for 2000.Mi
-- 15w50 is too thick
> so I added a splash of 15w50 in my 5w40.

Surprisingly my engine EXTREME HEAT VANISHED. Now when I park in the garage, it stays cool like a normal car

​​​​I want a litle bit better viscosity... like 5w41.
I am unable to find a qualified 10w40 or 15w40 full synthetic.
​​​​​
I am prepared to keep mixing a splash of thick oil in approved base oil when its viscosity wears out.

The key is approved additive package PLUS viscosity to open piston sprayers at normal driving RPM.
​​​​Driving with dry pistons causes extreme heat, burned oil and reduced performance.
It's easy to remedy BEFORE damages stack up.

• Engine responds extremely well with normal lube.
• Consistant hot/cold hard performance
• Gas pedal is pressure sensitive
• Tranny likes ATF temp as well: strong converter!

6W-41...viscosity tuning M276 3.5-NA

ChuangTzu

To solve the dry piston issue, why not just disconnect the oil pressure relief solenoid thingy or whatever that is called?

Edit: also, why do you think the manual erroneously specifies higher viscosity oils? The cold temp viscosity is only seen by the oil in cold temps. A 5W-50 oil has the same viscosity as a 15W-50 oil when they are both at operating temp... A 0W-40 oil might be lower viscosity than a 15W-40 oil when cold, but it's still a higher viscosity at that point than a 15W-40 oil when the 15W-40 is at operating temp. Because it's cold and syrupy... And the engine only sees the 0W weight for a minute or so before it warms up.

maw1124

I'd try a bottle of Castrol Edge 5w50 for the next 5k interval and see what you get. I had good success with it in an Allroad 4.2 that was smoking the 0w specified oil like unfiltered Marlboro's. The Edge held up better than everything except Amsoil. And I'm recommending no one go to Amsoil extremes for 5k intervals.

maw

CaliBenzDriver

I and Master Surya are the two original fathers of "disconnect your solenoid"... cancel culture.

We analyzed then pulled the plug to test our ideas.

We have been sharing notes to deal with challenges from our "Best or Nothing" MB purchase.

Overheating our engine/tranny oil is going to become a personal choice. Savy owners have $5 simple options.

Testing ideas is the best way to separates the good ones from the bad ones.

Problems are what motivate actions to search for solutions.

I was not trying to drop extreme heat.... I wanted early stable VVT pressure... couple days ago, I've come to realize the piston squirters were disabled at normal driving speed. Naturally I opted-out of extreme heat to get better A/C air con
We understand what change the oil means...
it means old oil viscosity is close to 10w30 stock
unable to cool pistons it gets burned to cause carbonized rings .

When oil requires a top off add a splash of viscosity booster w-50.

JettaRed

iTrader: (1)

@CaliBenzDriver you said early on that you added ½ liter 15W-50 to your 5W-40 (I believe). I wouldn't consider half a bottle of oil a "splash". Those of us who like to think we know how to cook would think of a "splash" like a "pinch", both terms I hate because I'm too much an engineer.

The "problem" is that I would want to remove ½ liter before adding anything. When I added Cera Tec after a recent oil change on my M276 3.5 NA, I first suctioned out the amount I was going to add.

CaliBenzDriver

Okay let's get more accurate with the formulation.

The engine hydraulics are extremely sensitive to viscosity. I really was not expecting viscosity to be so potent. The ECU totally ignores what oil pressure and temp it's working with to jockey VVT position.

By a splash I mean a small variable Qty.
I added about 5% of Mob1: 15w50 to my 2000.Mi old oil that had gradually started to get low being vaporized into hot smoke.

This excellent Motul 5w40 has a strong honest viscosity to begin with. At first it was cooling my pistons normally until its viscosity degraded.

Meaning it's hard to know exactly what true viscosity our current oil truly is. New or aged the viscosity numbers are padded (50% Marketing + 50% Science) - We can work with that, no problem.


> SPRAY RPM LAW:
-- Higher viscosity lowers spray RPM such that:
when viscosity is boosted, MOD2.1 spray RPM comes down from 2500.RPM towards target 1500.RPM.

-- Once our mixed oil ages, viscosity will degrade and require a tiny 100ml extra booster to get back to around 1500.RPM.


> HOW TO GET THERE:
We know what we want, how to get it?
You definitely need room to fill additional amount. When viscosity is too low, my engine vaporizes oil on burning pistons so that I ended up with room on my dipstick at 2kMi.

From scratch use less than total oil capacity ie. 7Qt instead of 8Qt then top off with X amount of 15w50.


> FORMULA:
At this experimental stage we don't know exactly what it takes to boost everybody's favorite oil to spray pistons at driving RPM.

I'll give you the way to figure out your own formula.... it will be very fun and exciting to test drive the best transformative response you ever got.

You're going to add MUTIPLE SMALL SHOTS of 100ml or 200ml (bottle side window measurements). Start at 300ml then test drive around town normal RPM. (expect tranny to act a bit confused). This is the range we want to exercise to spray around 1500.RPM.
Your target is not more is better - We dont want to spray molasses at idle.

THE KEY IS TO UNDER-SHOOT, NOT OVER-SHOOT THE TARGET.
We can not remove % away once mixed in! If overshoot wait for viscosity to come down with mileage.


> CHAOS UNNECESSARY:
Eventually we are going to get a concensus of what approved oils require how much viscosity boost to spray cool engines abnormally well.
MOLY 10w40 + 200ml ?
MOTUL 5w40 + 300ml ?
MOBILE 0w40 + 400ml ?

These numbers heavily depend on the oil mileage!!

Ex: I boosted my 2kMi oil with 500ml: that would be WAY TOO MUCH with same oil when new.

I see a near future where clever MOD'ers keep adjusting oil viscosity with shots of 100ml to keep spraying on target as viscosity gets degraded.
Oil viscosity specs will last a lot better without being burned on dry hot pistons.


> OUTCOME... BEST OF BOTH COMBO:
-- We've seen that advanced oil additives packages are proven well capable of dry lubricating modern engines.

-- When we use these approved oils at conventional temperature range the excellent oils work better to cool engines.

-- The outcome is the engine/tranny response remains identically strong hot/cold because the oil/ATF temperatures are well regulated.
This allows ECU/TCU to properly adapt timings for excellent driveability. Overheated thin oil disables goodness out of reach. Viscosity must be kept in range.


> ELEPHANT... TARGET PSI?
-- How can we measure exactly when pistons are being cooled at normal RPM range ?????

Liar gauge is useless...
M276 has no oil pressure nor oil temperature

-- I guess the target is getting the right amount of oil PSI available at 1500.RPM for all squirters to spray well all cylinders 1 to 6.


> LIMITS:
-- We want enough viscosity/pressure for all cylinders to be cooled not just front ones and dry rears!!

-- Meaning the target RPM needs to cool reliably during everyday normal driving.

-- 1500.RPM range better than 2000.RPM to start spray cooling.

Enjoy strong engine on MOD2.1.

ChuangTzu

Are you saying that the oil pressure at cruise RPM is too low to spray the pistons with oil even when the oil pressure reducing solenoid thingy is disabled? Is this the same on the M276 and the M278? Sorry, I've only been a W212 owner for a month and I'm still catching up here...

CaliBenzDriver

yes, that's an acurate summary

Congrats, you are quick learner.

This feature is inherited from the Bosch design shared across many car manufacturers to save gas.