Thank you, I appreciate the kind words.

Since very few people have posted this info, I figured I could help give at least my perspective and it could perhaps help others.

The oil and new filter will be added this week. The Driven oil will be gone in two hundred miles or less.

I’ve included my oil filter after all of the chemicals. I mentioned nothing was found out of the ordinary. There a few tiny carbon pieces, the oil had 1250 miles on it before the cleaning and flush and oil change. The pieces are very hard to see from the pics but are generally right above the thumb.

For anyone that loves ceratec, this might be a case against constant use, or use at every oci, especially short intervals. As some will say, good oil is all we need, however I disagree as we see certain oils and additive packs are better for our engines and their spray in liners.

 

Good stuff, thanks for this contribution. I appreciate how guys like you take ownership of the m157 to the next level

 

So I’ve come back to change the oil at 249 miles since the “cleaning”. I did not take a pic of the oil as it was still golden colored.

Here is the pic of the oil after the sea foam cylinder drench, the Berryman induction clean, the liquimoly flush and 1250 fast miles before the treatments.



There’s was also ceratec visible in the bulk of the oil



The oil filter after 249 miles of Driven DI40


Tiny carbon spec above my thumb. There were maybe 10 specs visible as I checked almost every pleat. It’s hard to see if the white speck is ceratec or something from cardboard box because I did put the filter down before I took the pictures.






I refilled with castrol edge 5w50. It was the only sp rated 50 weight oil available locally. There’s no 229.5 50w oils so it’s the choice between 5w or 15w and sp or sn ratings. I’m not really a fan of 0w oils because Md does have all of the temperatures throughout the year.

I have to say the car is really feeling great. I’ve put about twenty miles on the new oil. After I drive for a bit I’ll report back on the cylinders and whether they are still wet, and if they are cleaner.

Yes I did the oil valve mod way back in the beginning.

This car has burned oil within spec since Ive owned it. I don’t track it but do open it up every time I can and like to drive in boost. With every added maintenance item from check valves to pcv, and previously always using motul, the oil use always decreased. I had done 8 oil changes (all sp motul since 2020) in 28k miles but likely caused problems with ceratec and that made it so the oil didn’t clean but instead deposited in too much many areas it was not needed. Fortunately the walls of the cylinders were well protected. I think getting the rings clean(er) and 50w oil and no other additives will help tremendously. Thick oil had to come last to really compare the difference and not mask any other issues.

Any thoughts on the Castrol. Other options are motul, and Mobil supersyn in a readily available 5w50 sp rating.

Fwiw, I’ve also logged my cam adjustment angles so will see if they change at all with the new oil. My left bank shows between 2-4.5 degrees of adjustment. My thought is they the adjusters got some wear before the checkvalves and new tensioners were installed around 15k miles ago or so.

 

First real cold start with 5w50. No smoke, not that there was before. I would only see any sort of exhaust at a high rpm shift at speed. I’ve not seen that since cleaning.

 

Your open oil filter with carbon + ceratec gives us proof of what got removed by cleaning agents.
It can't be from intake valves or piston crown... so we can guess its from your rings!


Which brand of 5W50 SP will work best ???
Right now the big deal is it will never shear down to W30 and burn into more ring carbon.

It would be interesting to compare specs. The Lubrizol SP chemistry is shared leaving the base stock to dictate how viscosity grade will last.

5w50 will shear into 0w50 grade exactly what's best: not too high, not too low to remove piston heat effectively above 1200 RPM.

You can look forward to sealed rings and balanced contributions as oil further removes contaminants.

As far as Ceratec, it could be viable if it stayed in suspension within oil that doesn't burn and leave deposits behind...

 

Thanks Cali for the suggestion of dirty rings. I originally thought of valve stem guides or seals due to these cars history of that possibly happening. Those will be a future thing to monitor as I track the progress and decide if it’s time for walnuts The car is absolutely quieter and more responsive to drive, and the automatic shifting also remains better. I would not say cold start sounds different but once warmed up, it’s sounding as as though it has a better buffer in there. The car is a bone stock p30 in cases that’s been missed.

I agree it’s doubtful anything in the newest oil filter was from up above since all of the cleaning was on the prior oil and it was drained very well.

It will take me some time to get mileage on this oil but I will peek back inside in a few weeks. Ive wanted to use 50w for a long time as suggested by Cifdig years ago. One thing that dissuaded me was mb approval…even though that’s often just pay to play. These engines are HOT and need the higher weights. I’m glad I looked inside to stop my addition of the ceratec. I honestly think it is just a product that falls out because I average only 125 miles a week and the car can sit for weeks at a time.

The trip mileage was reset so the next indication of success will come from seeing when it may call for oil, which hopefully will be later then normal. I drive 90% in sport plus so should know before the next oil change how it’s all working. It gives me incentive to drive the car during the cooler weather, though tomorrow is a trip to Assateague island to drive the beach in the LX.

As an aside, Modern Masters on YouTube has some m157 projects underway. I hate that they love vrp, but think they are an excellent and underrated channel. Seemingly really great guys, introduced by Alex from LSC who is continuing to be excellent as well.

 

Cerratec particles are blended within the lubricant.
When the oil gets burned on randomly spray cooled pistons, solid particules get left behind.
This is the heavy build up of black and white deposits.

This dry-lube strategy was part of the ZDDP SN chemistry to create a soft-carbon lubricant similar to graphite carbon.
It's effective but really dirty for pistons rings and delivers high blowby losses.

 

An interesting test in ceratec suspension. It’s my understanding in working on formulating homogenized products that the ingredients are too disimilar to stay in suspension.Chemical emulsification or ultrasonic homogenization or high speed shearing homogenization won’t help in this situation, imho.

Check out this thread. My kind of test. Look to at least post 23.

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/thr...ll-out.133741/

Its definitely better for dailies.

 

@Baltistyle have you seen this thread?

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...linders-3.html

 

Yes, I have read through it previously. What’s your takeaway? Thanks for any insight.

 

takeaway was - iron liners are superior but not infallible. Why the 278 and not the m157 received these liners - unclear unless they knew they were phasing out the m157 sooner than the 278, or typical Benz (drag it out and bury the issue)

disconnecting the oil solenoid, of course may possibly improve the lifetime of the M157 cylinder lining however this is all speculation and reasonable theory but there's no long-term evidence yet.

Benz knew how to improve the m17X - better more stable rods (taso speaks about this at length), better cylinder lining? What does the m17X use for cylinder lining?

 

Yeah, I read it as there being a need to change to something better lasting. The 177 has nanoslide tech. Id venture to guess that between alumisil, sillitec, and nanoslide coatings there is little difference in lasting nature...especially with poor oil specs. These direct injection engines are dirty(er) in all car models and fake cylinder walls are there for mpg during the warranty period and were never meant to last a "lifetime" on an average car. Most owners dont know about the issues to ever care and very few of us try to address these concerns early. Carbon dropping from a DI valve and dirty oil rings from years of non proper oil spec (Benz didn't use SP when my car was made) have all but proven all the car manufacturers have zero clue on how to make a reliable product that still meets CAFE regs. as mentioned above, even the iron cylinders score. It took a decade for the oil companies to even address the fact that the oil and engine combo is disastrous for owners. I envision darton sleeves if it ever comes to that for me. Im not sure thats a wise spend but its not like the newer vehicles are any better in their own respect. Until then, im happy to keep using thicker oil thats additive free. Im ok losing a little mpg or top some horsepower for the safety it provides. Besides, the power packs rated for 550hp dynos at about 563 and its all enough for me. It should be telling when I get to scope again. Im just pissed at myself over the ceratec deposits defeating my short oci. I cant find any deposit pictures like this but did read that it happens with stuck rings, and FWIW it does look exactly like boron which I believe is used in that product. Boron is soft and slippery but also abrasive in its own right. I hope all the crap can make through the exhaust without effecting the cat. Boron does not melt until about 3700 degrees so when it does break off, I hope its light enough or small enough to exit vs drop in the cylinder.

 

Took a few pics inside both of my motors this week. Found it rather interesting how different they look, and wonder if folks here could quickly guess which is the 57k mi non-tuned motor va the 125k mi tuned motor? Hopefully I successfully attach these pics…

 

I will ASSume the tuned motor has the worse look, the top pictures.

The 57k untuned motor is the bottom pic and it’s cleaner but still has wear.

Are we to guess the untuned motor is the 178 showing early wear and the tuned motor is the 157 showing “normal” wear.

Let us know so there’s not ten posts of the guessing game in this thread.

Thanks for adding these comparo pics.

 

Top two pics are the m157 E63S stock with 57k miles, just purchased 2 months ago. Bottom two pics are my m278 coupe with ~130k miles and a tune for past 60k miles. Both pics are cylinder 5 on respective engines. The m278 has a low boost issue seemingly needing a new turbo.

Already unplugged oil solenoid on both cars. m278 received mostly M1 0w40 or 5w40 regularly, driven hard. Appears it is actually a good candidate for turbo replacement, given the cylinder and piston appearance anyways

 

Thank you for this. Looks like I ASSumed incorrectly. Great info.

 

well I ASSumed it would look opposite as well!

Now I’m a bit flummoxed on how to proceed. I want to clean up those piston heads! Advice?

I put in fresh Motul 5w40, plus solenoid will stay detached. New coils ordered, new plugs already installed. I really want to do whatever I can to stabilize/improve this engine and its longevity.

 

Yep! I thought you were trying to trick us. I wonder if the M1 57 had some ceratec love considering the orange and white color. The 278 looks great compared to the “general thought” of how they should look at that mileage and with a tune.

 

To me white = hot
What is going on with that stock M157?

 

I do look forward to seeing your next round of pics, especially re valves after that thorough cleaning! I need a better scope so I can take a peek at mine…I can only see down towards pistons w my depstech model

 

I REALLY wish I knew! I’m trying to get ahold of the VMI now. This car was bought and serviced regularly at the same local dealer, and obviously has low mileage. The car appears in very good condition overall. Perhaps the lack of ‘Italian tuneups’ contributed…?

 

No misfires or knock retards or detonation, lean condition?
To me it's either that or a gasket/coolant thing HOWEVER I did not sleep at a Holiday Inn last night!!!

 

maybe it was tuned... just not anymore

 

it has thrown two fits in the month or so since I bought it. The first time was a full-blown multiple misfires and limp mode one Saturday morning while going 65mph. I pulled over, cleared all codes, turned off car, and started back up with zero issues (like several others have reported). A week later, it did a single Cyl#5 misfire at which point I immediately let off the gas and drove grandma style to my destination. Again I cleared code and had no further issues. Just after that incident, I swapped a few coils and all plugs…no incident since in last week or two.

 

I guess that is entirely possible…it doesn’t really match the profile I see in Carfax history, though that’s perhaps just my bias. Though the VMI wouldn’t show that detail either, I hope it further informs on issues reported to dealer…? It was a CPO vehicle under second owner, also brokered by original local dealership