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Probably a few reasons:
1. If the oil is doing what it needs to do, why change it?
2. Unnecessary environmental waste
3. Saves you money/time
Changing your oil more frequently/less frequently won't change carbon build up.
well actually now we have the option to stop carbon build up. When oil is not vaporized, it stays in the engine instead of coating valve stems.
Once oil is burnt, its viscosity drops towards the bottom of the W30 range. That's when engine needs chemical lube to protect bearings with low pressure.
My engine that had been ingesting quarts since factory new is no longer loosing one drop.
We have simple options to preserve our valves and SMOG fumes.
We can call that good old legacy cooling.
Cleaning valves without fixing the root cause is a band-aid
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Jun 24, 2024 at 02:37 PM.
How to read a Blackstone report ---- Maybe we can put this on the top so people know how to interpret an oil nalysis report---Peter please look at this article
Magnesium per Black Stone is an additive probably part of the dealership mass produced oil
Per Black Stone Lab, Iron be elevated in case of suspected cylinder scoring and aluminum in case of piston/cylinder scuffing ?
So far, I'd say car's looking good.
I think this Blackstone Laabs thread is gonna be very interesting. Now that these cars are older and most M157’s are showing signs of mild to severe cylinder scoring depending on if you’re modified or stock, oil type, climate, driving style, mileage etc.
I would love to see more owners post their Blackstone results here so we can see what oils and maintenance scenarios are most effective at minimizing cylinder scoring and maximizing engine health.
Mine is a 2015 e63s with 60k miles and tuned about 35k of those on ams93 dyno tune and few times a year ams100 dyno tune. Just replaced my spark plugs and coil packs and definitely found signs of some scoring in three cylinders but nothing that impacts the performance or causes oil consumption or any other noticeable issues.
I’m not a mechanic so about all I’m able to do is replace plugs and coils and do a borescope and send my oil to Blackstone which I wanted to share here…. Using Mobil 0w40 change generally twice a year with under 5000 miles.
attached Blackstone report - who else has reports to share/compare/learn from?
I think this Blackstone Laabs thread is gonna be very interesting. Now that these cars are older and most M157’s are showing signs of mild to severe cylinder scoring depending on if you’re modified or stock, oil type, climate, driving style, mileage etc.
I would love to see more owners post their Blackstone results here so we can see what oils and maintenance scenarios are most effective at minimizing cylinder scoring and maximizing engine health.
Mine is a 2015 e63s with 60k miles and tuned about 35k of those on ams93 dyno tune and few times a year ams100 dyno tune. Just replaced my spark plugs and coil packs and definitely found signs of some scoring in three cylinders but nothing that impacts the performance or causes oil consumption or any other noticeable issues.
I’m not a mechanic so about all I’m able to do is replace plugs and coils and do a borescope and send my oil to Blackstone which I wanted to share here…. Using Mobil 0w40 change generally twice a year with under 5000 miles.
attached Blackstone report - who else has reports to share/compare/learn from?
Are you sure you put in 0w-40 not 5w-30? The viscosity looks too low for a 40 grade oil from the report
It's interesting to see how UOA deliver clues. The stock W40 oil is shown to rapidly shade into W30 within 5kMi interval...
Why not use a W50 that derates into a usable W40 then ??
The engine hydraulics VVT are directly impacted by unstable low oil viscosity + Pistons sprayers as well.
Less oil viscosity...
less available pressure...
less pistons spraying...
more heat accumulation...
lower oil viscosity....
more vaporized oil...
... intake valves say so.
Seek a better oil. Top notch upgrades are PAO based formula.
It's interesting to see how UOA deliver clues. The stock W40 oil is shown to rapidly shade into W30 within 5kMi interval...
Why not use a W50 that derates into a usable W40 then ??
The engine hydraulics VVT are directly impacted by unstable low oil viscosity + Pistons sprayers as well.
Less oil viscosity...
less available pressure...
less pistons spraying...
more heat accumulation...
lower oil viscosity....
more vaporized oil...
... intake valves say so.
Seek a better oil. Top notch upgrades are PAO based formula.
@CaliBenzDriver my friend I knew you would have some helpful feedback here. And good timing because I was about to do my oil change tomorrow with the standard Mobile 0w40.
mobile makes a 0W50 supercar racing oil from what I researched - or do you have a w50 you like?
@CaliBenzDriver my friend I knew you would have some helpful feedback here. And good timing because I was about to do my oil change tomorrow with the standard Mobile 0w40.
mobile makes a "0W50 Supercar" racing oil from what I researched - or do you have a W50 you like?
Do you know how oil topics are politically biased:
Some ppl swear to use only stock "MB Approved" oil to get stock results... I am not one of those
We don't need to bad-mouth any oil beyond reports... they are all somewhat ok.
I am a fan of PAO that hold there viscosity. Be it 0/5W-40 viscosity or higher.
possibly Mobile best??
I've looked at the specs, I am trying it next month. Very generous zinc in a "clean" API-SP formula:
this should run very nicely under all conditions.
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Oct 3, 2025 at 09:40 PM.
I am up, it is late...dealing with a fiasco at the new office. I checked MBW to relax...yeah, I can not read any of that, make any sense of that....cant we get something simple like a failed AMG cooling system or something? Jeesh....
(seriously, folks far smarter than I am will of course figure all of that out as if the are reading an EKG in an L1 ED)
Your professional used oil analysis report comes with both data & description.
The oil specialist suggests you can drive up to 12k.Mi while the viscosity is in range.
A large number of users seem to agree 5k.Mi is a more realistic service interval.... For some reasons lab analysis goes against that wisdom.
Highway cruising can preserve oil qualities with effective cooling much further than driving around town can with accumulated heat at lower rpm... There are various ways available to tweak oil pressure.
report analysis metals got switched... different formulas ??
Numbers show additives in check besides two metals have switched.
Manganese is now up
HIGH Calcium level
CLEAN level of ZDDP protection
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Oct 14, 2025 at 05:20 AM.
The first 2 oil changes were done at the dealer with their spec oil ?
This time I changed the oil myself using Mobil 1 0W40 without any additives
Driving style:
Wait until the car is warmed up
Occasional bursts of speed --- no launching or extended highway pulls.
Always open up the hood to let the engine cool down
What about the viscosity, switch to ?
Glad to see the metals not only got better but are on the lower side of the norm too
Very pleased with the report.
Also it seems like Mobil 1 0W40 stays in thinner side so I agree with CaliBenz in trying out M-1 5W50 to get the desired 0W40 effect
In my case, since the car is garaged and rarely get driven in winters 5/50 sounds good to switch to
The first 2 oil changes were done at the dealer with their spec oil ?
This time I changed the oil myself using Mobil 1 0W40 without any additives
Driving style:
Wait until the car is warmed up
Occasional bursts of speed --- no launching or extended highway pulls.
Always open up the hood to let the engine cool down
What about the viscosity, switch to ?
Glad to see the metals not only got better but are on the lower side of the norm too
Very pleased with the report.
Also it seems like Mobil 1 0W40 stays in thinner side so I agree with CaliBenz in trying out M-1 5W50 to get the desired 0W40 effect
In my case, since the car is garaged and rarely get driven in winters 5/50 sounds good to switch to
The ECU on these GDI engines are really sensitive to smooth oil pressure plus stableviscosity for predictable timings.
At only 3000k.Mi your W40 oil sample tested in the W30 range.
The effective spray cooling begins in the upper 15W-40 range ... such that 5W-50 offers a small reserve margin according to brand/type/viscosity and driving style.
(Motul, Amsoil, M1.Supercar, RedLine, ...)
Today I'll be upgrading to non "MB-Approved" MOBIL1 "Supercar" SP 5W-50 to see how its viscosity runs its course. Advanced specs are promising.
(MB factory stock setup is good)
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Oct 18, 2025 at 05:43 PM.
The real lesson here is, no one oil, spec, or change interval works for every single vehicle/engine.
The analysis will help you pick what works for your use case. For environmental and budget reasons, the less frequent your changes are, the better. But, not every engine or use case is going to be able to see 10k mi changes, or 6k mi changes.
I would not be afraid of a car that saw longer oil changes if there was analysis reports to support the longer intervals.
well actually now we have the option to stop carbon build up. When oil is not vaporized, it stays in the engine instead of coating valve stems.
Once oil is burnt, its viscosity drops towards the bottom of the W30 range. That's when engine needs chemical lube to protect bearings with low pressure.
My engine that had been ingesting quarts since factory new is no longer loosing one drop.
We have simple options to preserve our valves and SMOG fumes.
We can call that good old legacy cooling.
Cleaning valves without fixing the root cause is a band-aid
Cali - shouldn’t the crankcase ventilation system also be a key item of concern for valve deposits?
I really haven’t found any threads indicating venting maintenance or any source for reducing oil vapor on the valves.
It could be good to mention the API rating of the mobil one oil used. The shear stability has increased as it went from SN to SP. It went from an oil I refuse to use to an oil id try again.
Are people seeing the shearing of this new 0/40 Mobil SP?
Regardless, 5/50 as mentioned above is really the best.
Norcal 55 - Typically the m157 is not looked as a model that even needs the valves cleaned BUT in my personal experience my valves were cleaned at 73k miles and were very dirty. A catch can system is available for our cars but very rare as well due to the absurd cost. One might surmise that some of that valve carbon is causing some of the scoring but once again, even though I had dirty valves, my bores were typical of any engine with the same mileage with no odd wear. PCV or venting is not the primary problem in this platform. Heavy boost with blow-by of dirty thin oil are the m157s primary concerns, which is why the main threads are about oil and the need to upgrade from the 2011 thought processes to 2025 thought processes after having witnessed the problems over the past decade..
I can't justify 5w-50.
Just switch to a good 0w40/5w40
By good I mean fully synthetic with Group IV and Group V only. Not liquidmoly type of scam.
I personally went with redline. Really high HTHS and on the thicker side. Like 14.7 or something for 0w40
Cali - shouldn’t the crankcase ventilation system also be a key item of concern for valve deposits?
I really haven’t found any threads indicating venting maintenance or any source for reducing oil vapor on the valves.
Thank you
When you concider what's involved you realize the marketing is disjoined to make no sense.
I am only interested by 700 to 3500.Rpm, driveability range(excluding WOT racing application).
I reckon the bottom line is sealed balanced contributions - Everything else is additional losses: More blow-by ie. lowers contribution.
There is no way even a new PCV can stop the crankcase running blow-by pressure.
What ever pressure is lost going around piston rings ends up 100% back in the intake plenum.
The PCV is helpless to fix the source of the issue here.
Work on the root cause!
The only help PCV provide is to condensate a limited amount of oil mixed within blow-by gases.
Every quart of oil that goes through is ingested through the hot valves and burned into certified levels of SMOG.
The PCV does not need to have failed to build-up valve carbon deposit from day-1.
The best ways I know to effectively reduce oil losses are:
decrease vaporized oil
decrease stuck rings blow-by
Guess what... you can get that accomplished in one single step by effective piston spray cooling... duh!
Practically lossy rings are witnessed by increasing engine vibrations. No need to gun the throttle with limited loses.
High blow-by unbalanced crank rotation disables responsive GDI timings - Never mind dirty valves!
Reading analysis comment about aged Euro oil not wasting crank bearings is not my cup of tea.
Engineers did a fine job delivering on stock targets.
Mob1 Supercar API-SP provides much greater friction control than Euro blends.
The results are based on experimental choices based on non-professionnel opinions.
Mercedes GLS-450 Made in China
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Nov 21, 2025 at 06:02 AM.
And I'll add, I had preventatively done pcv, check valves, short oci, everything to prevent issues, and for me, any issue was likely sn oil, improper warmup, and too much ceratec. ill monitor those valves over the long future.
And I'll add, I had preventatively :
done pcv,
check valves,
short oci,
everything to prevent issues....
For me, any issue was likely SN oil + improper warmup + too much ceratec.
I'll monitor those valves over the long future.
You're right on every count.
Pro-active maintenance with genuine parts is a great way to stay ahead of scheduled surprises.
Ceratec marketing reads well. It contaminates the pistons groves with hard solids.
Which ever way you are comfortable spray cooling your pistons prevents hot GDI pistons vaporizing oil onto carbonized valves.
You can drive at whatever Rpm is effective for your favorite spray cooling setup:
MOD-0 above 3500.Rpm Ow-40
MOD-1 above 2500.Rpm 5w-40
MOD-X above 1700.Rpm 5w-50 ** I've tested 3x of these high-heat PAO.
Removing piston heat is a hell of slow process. This should really no be made a part-time engine function... Sure it works for sometimes until no body want to guess honestly what happened.
Look at Ford Eco-boost, GM Trucks, Toyota : everyone pretend rotating assembly failures are normal. LOL
Collateral damages are recognized by heat soaked parts (injectors (hydro locked cyls.), random COP sparks, cracked CPS, ECU burned capacitor,)
The Bosch GDI has a superior way to balance each individual cylinder timings - Leaky rings disable balanced contribution with legacy timings & vibrations above 2500.Rpm.
My opinion is that's sad MB chose not to showcase this premium Bosch feature to favour limited oiling.
In light of that setup: valves and PCV are not significant details to focus on.
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Nov 21, 2025 at 11:49 AM.
2024 MB GLS580 , 2016 E63 S AMG Wagon, 2011 BMW M3 Sedan
I figured this was a good place to add my oil analysis result rather than a new thread. New to me 2016 e63 wagon with 27k miles (purchased on cars and bids in December)
I had a concern about metallic flake I found in the catch pan which is noted on the report. Filter was perfectly clean (cut open and inspected inside and outside). This car is always dealer serviced so I expect oil was always extracted from above and debris over it’s like was never fully cleaned. My dealership tech confirmed the same even though I understand WIS instructs to drain oil from below. Who knows. In 3k miles I’ll change again, and we’ll see!
Later this year I might have my spark plugs changed and have the cylinder scoped.
overall seems like the analysis is fine. Time to drive it!
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