Anyone ever do a piston soak?

Wayne's World · #1 11-20-2010, 02:52 PM

In my endless efforts to try to cure my oil burning issues on my 06 M54, I'm thinking about doing a 2-phase piston soak. Now I know our engines are not completely horizontal but I could pour enouugh stuff in there just to cover the piston head.

I was thinking of soaking with ATF first for 24hrs the do a solvent-type soak with BG44k or Berrymans for another 24 hours. Let it drain then seafoam the top end and rinse with some HDEO 15w40 then drain and refill with fresh 5w-40.

Does any of this sounds like it would help anything other than satisfying my OCD mind? I've just read a few success stories on a few different forums. Most say the oil consumption issues are lessened greatly and are satisfied.

I current burn about 1qt ever 1500 miles.

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motordavid · #2 11-20-2010, 03:11 PM

I have heard of it, never done it...so, I did some reading on the net out of curiosity.
A very mixed bag of reports, as you have surely read.

Back at the OilConsumptionRanch, what makes you feel that your "oil burning issue"
of a quart ~1500 miles is a serious problem, or one that would push you to try this
seemingly drastic action? Most of us, esp the E53 3.0 drivers, probably have very
similar oil usage. My 50Cts...
GL, mD

Wayne's World · #3 11-20-2010, 03:59 PM

Its not I consider it a serious issue but an issue that gets my attention like no other problem because any car burning oil has got a problem. Whether that problem is worn oil control or compression rings or valve stem seals, the problem exists and by any mechanics definition its not normal. I had a 97 318is with the M44 1.9L motor and a 00 528I with the M52TU motor. The 318 I sold with 263k miles and the 528 with 128k miles. Neither burned a drop of oil between 7500mi changes. I just can't buy into the 'its normal' thing the M54 crowd seems to have succumb to. 'It's acceptable' is one thing as that's subjective but not acceptable to me.

I'm looking at trading this puppy in early next year for an E70 4.8 so its really a last ditch effort to see if there's anything I can do for the M54 community to solve this mystery. Or at the very least get closer to solving it.

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JCL · #4 11-20-2010, 09:29 PM

Personally I wouldn't do it. ATF isn't bad, but Seafoam can be brutal on an engine. I don't know BG44, but it is likely similar in composition. You aren't going to affect the oil control ring unless deposits are changing the tension on the ring. You aren't going to have deposits unless you are using cheap gas or doing lots of short trips. You can address either with a good run, getting it hot enough, unless it has gone way too far.

I don't necessarily agree that any car burning oil has a problem, but I would agree that any car that has a change in oil burning has a problem. My M54 in the X5 burned oil, at about a litre per 4000-5000 km, from new. I had two other M54s, in a 325 and a Z4, at the same time. All three were broken in very similar. All three used the same brand and weight of oil. All three were driven in a similar manner. The 325 and Z4 used far less oil than the X5. I think that with the weight of the X5, the engine was just working harder. I think it is worse with a manual transmission, because it ends up revving more.

Wayne's World · #5 11-21-2010, 12:32 AM

JCL - I was hoping you'd chime in as I respect your opinion greatly. I think I'll pass on the piston soak. I did however load up a quart of ATF in the crankcase for the last 2 days and 60 miles seeing as I was a quart down. I'll be changing out the oil tomorrow, rinsing through some Shell Rotella 15w-40 and draining. Then re-filling with RotellaT 5w-40 as our northeast winter is on my doorstep.

JCL · #6 11-21-2010, 12:39 AM

I feel your frustration, as one would think that with all of BMW's engineering expertise, they could include 'low oil consumption' in the requirements spec for the 3.0 engine. Good luck, and don't leave the 10w ATF in there any longer than you planned to.

Wayne's World · #7 11-21-2010, 12:35 AM

I'm also going to try that 'Engine Restore' stuff in the silver/aluminum cylinder. Lots of good reviews of it on BMW boards in the UK.

JCL · #8 11-21-2010, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne's World

I'm also going to try that 'Engine Restore' stuff in the silver/aluminum cylinder. Lots of good reviews of it on BMW boards in the UK.

Hmmm.

The cylinder is engine restore, compared to fuel system restore and upper cylinder lubricant. It is 95% naptha solvents, according to the MSDS. The rest is proprietary additives.

It is claimed by the manufacturer to seal microscopic leaks in the cylinder wall, thus improving compression. While the solvents would act as a cleaner, I don't see how the surface of the cylinder can get repaired by the use of this additive. And if it can somehow improve the surface finish, why would you need to continue to add a can with every oil change, wouldn't the fix be permanent?

What it primarily does, IMO, is dilute your quality synthetic motor oil with a low quality, unknown viscosity, mineral oil with unknown additives. Those additives may or may not play nicely with the additives in your synthetic motor oil.

It is also available in different 'formulas' for 4, 6, or 8 cylinder engines. I wonder how the different additives know how many cylinders there are?

Colour me skeptical. I would put this solidly in the snake oil category. Specifically recommended against by BMW, and personally I wouldn't put it in any engine that I cared about. But if you like it, and use it, please make sure to check engine compression before and after so you can report the difference.

Wayne's World · #9 11-21-2010, 08:57 PM

Shucks! I did think about checking the compression but after a few rough morning, I didn't bother. I did even have to pull off the valve cover vanity cover too. I don't have a compression gauge but I could've probably gotten one from AutoZone or Advance Auto Parts. It definitely would've been a good test. I took the X to a spot near the highway that has a quick on-ramp entrance with the intention of seafoaming the thing. I parked up, left the car idling and disconnected the intake tubing just after the MAF. As soon as I did that the 'trans fail safe prog' alert popped up on the dash and it shut off shortly after. I was spritzing in some seafoam into the tube at that point. Scared myself sh!tless to be honest. So I cut the seafoam out of the plan and drove carefully home. It drove OK but shifted abruptly. After shutting it off when pulling in the garage I turned it off and back on again and all was OK. Took a deep breath and just said 'screw it, i'm just changing the oil.' I put in 750ml of the Engine Restore stuff. The difference in the '4,6 or 8' formula is quantity. I filled up with the Rotella T6 5w-40 then buttoned everything up and backed it onto the driveway. I let it idle for a bit to circulate then proceeded to rev it between 2500 and 3000 for 3 minutes. This was per reading this article on troubleshooting valve train/lifter noise: Toubleshooting BMW Hydraulic Bucket Tappet Problems: Engine Builder

After the 3 minutes I took my foot of the gas and let the idle drop back. Then the bad news. The engine was idling rough and felt like it would stall. I decided to let it run to see if it would 'catch' itself. Never happened. It started to idle rougher and the SES light shot on. I shut it off immediately. I gave it a minute and cranked it back - perfectly normal albeit not as smooth. So I took it out for a spin around the block. No issues, idle still not as smooth as prior to my oil change. I then took it out on the freeway, really laying into it, revving to about 6K on two on ramp entrances. It certainly felt more sure footed.

Brought it back home and listened to the idle with my ear to the valve cover. It was noticeably quieter and idled as smooth as before the oil change.

So after two scares in my morning, both likely self-induced, I was happy she was running as good as she was. I'll report back on how it feels on the next fill up. I know numbers would have been better but i'm pretty in tune with the feel of the vehicle and its performance so hopefully that means something.

Thanks for the advice JCL. In hindsight, wish I read it and considered it earlier.

FSETH · #10 11-21-2010, 09:19 PM

I would never use that restore stuff. I added it to my e30 318i and the next time I had the valve cover off the engine was gunked up as hell. All of my other engines were fairly clean. I swear the restore just did more harm than good as far as how clean the engine was.