Mercedes E55 AMG hunt (W211)

[kevm14]

I need to think about what tools/stuff to bring. Before I list the tools I guess I can list the possible things that could happen and plan from there.
- Extra oil though I have not yet baselined oil consumption after fixing some leaks and switching to the M1 Formula M so this will be a bit of discovery. Nominally I should bring a quart per 1,000 miles plus an extra. What is that, 3?

That seems right. I calculated the trip should be in the 2,000 mile range. So at a quart per 1000 that rounds up to 3. It still rounds up to 3 if it's a quart per 800.

Needed to add a quart at 800 so that seemed quite predictable. But then I needed to add the second quart only 450 miles later. Ugh. Most likely I got to 800 because 9 quarts was a bit overfilled. Or oil consumption picked up. I have definitely seen some tailpipe emissions on this M1. Either way, I am ditching this M1 Formula M 5W-40 and switching to LiquiMoly Molygen 5W-40 which Amazon reviews claim does actually reduce oil consumption on terrible German engines. So maybe I can get it back up to 800 or even 1000. A little risky changing it AGAIN, right before my road trip but I can't run with this 450 miles per quart crap. Interestingly, it was cheapest to order the 2 5L bottles from Amazon but I ordered 5 1L bottles (for the trip) from Rockauto. The Wix filter was like $2 cheaper on Amazon too so I just did that there. But yeah the savings was significant. Maybe like $50 even.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076ZQ4KDK?ps ... yp_imgToDp

[kevm14]

Added a little over 1 oz of PAG 46 oil to the A/C (low side). I used this injector which I tried first on the STS. Other than some mess while priming, it is super easy.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085V ... UTF8&psc=1

And I used this oil which has a UV dye in it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002E ... UTF8&psc=1

This will give me some piece of mind. Only thing is I have no clue how much oil it may have lost over time. So I figure this is better than nothing. Don't want to add multiple ounces and put way too much in so I settled on this for now. Goal is to prevent the compressor from exploding due to lack of oil in the system.

[kevm14]

Taking this oil thing a step further.

https://www.liqui-moly.com/en/us/gescha ... -1981.html

Ordered 2 bottles of the flush from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CR ... UTF8&psc=1

Reviews are similarly positive as with the Molygen oil. So, flushing and then doing the Molygen ought to give me some serious results!

Here are some from the flush:

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2018
Verified Purchase
I bought a used vehicle pretty cheap, 2011 Subaru Impreza STI, it has high mileage and suffered it's fair share of neglect. Oil in this car had obviously not been changed in a while, and it definitely didn't get regular oil changes for a decent amount of mileage. I began trying to clean out the engine by doing oil & filter changes every 2500 miles. After four of these, I wasn't making any progress. Oil was still turning black pretty much the next day after changing.

After reading reviews I went out on a long shot and tried this product. I was extremely surprised to find just how well it worked. Granted all these newer vehicles use Synthetic Oils, so I did not see any sludge in the drain pan, but the oil poured out blacker than the blackest night you had ever seen. After one use the engine was significantly cleaner, and it took a couple weeks before the oil was dark black again. Another 2500 miles later I used it once more, and now my oil almost looks new at 5000 miles. I'd say one more use and I'll be good to go for quite some time. Very happy with this product!

As an added note, my car is Turbocharged, and I was concerned if this engine flush was Turbo Safe, so far I have not faced any issues going on 10,000 miles since first use. Hopefully this helps someone else with a turbo car make a decision on this product.

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2021
Verified Purchase
We bought a prius with 82,000 miles on it and later found out that it was using about a quart of oil every 1,000 miles. So after living with it for nearly 2 years we found an online forum that talked about how the prius can use oil if the piston rings get gunked up, and that an engine flush can do the trick. So we ordered this with fairly low expectations, flushed the engine as directed, then changed the oil and have had no oil consumption since! While this scenario will not likely be the norm, we think it does prove that it's a very good product, although there are likely others that do the same job. We've put 2,000 miles on the car and still have not used a drop of oil so we are pretty happy.

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2020
Verified Purchase
I ordered this to try on a 2003 toyota tacoma with around 100K miles that I recently purchased, for one of these trucks you can easily get 300K miles, so 100K miles was nothing to worry about, unfortunately the previous owner probably never changed the oil. This became apparent when I noticed the truck started smoking and I needed to add half a quart of oil every 200miles. I tried changing plugs, some other oil additives, but nothing worked. I saw some YouTube videos on this product and decided to give it a try. To my surprise this has reduced my oil consumption by two thirds, and this is just after one treatment. I'm planning on using the lolli molly engine flush for a couple more times and hopefully I can get my oil consumption down to normal.

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2019
Verified Purchase
This thing even cleaned out my oil pickup pump i use to do the oil change. Now the oil on my dipstick is so clear that’s it difficult to see. Greatly reduced oil consumption in my VW GTI.

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2017
Verified Purchase
My car (2007 Audi A4) was burning a quart a week, about every 500 miles. I used this product only once per the instructions. Now I can go about 3000 miles before needing to add a quart of oil. My car has 140K on it. I plan on using this product again to see it I can reduce the oil consumption even more. I also switch to using Liqui Moly 5w-40 synthetic oil.

Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2019
Verified Purchase
I started off with oil that was due for a change in my 1994 roadmaster wagon LT1. The oil was still a nice light brown and looked in decent health. I did the treatment according to the bottle. I let it run for about the reccomended time. I then broke the oil drain plug loose while hot and very carefully popped her off while at full temp. I had driven the car 10 miles and it was somewhat warm prior to me starting this. The oil came out pitch black. Darkest stuff I have ever seen. I removed the filter after that. Which was also very very very heavy with sediment versus what a normal filter feels like on a normal oil change on this car. I own multiple of them. I let it sit and drip for 30 minutes till almost nothing left was dripping.

Immediately, within half the run time of the cleaner all my engine noise had gone down considerably. No more lifter noise. Nothing.

After adding the ceratec and the fresh royal purple and filter. I let it sit and idle for another 20minutes. I now have a motor running so smoothly and quietly that in my next oil change I will be switching every product I put into my car to Liquimoly. I am a believer.

[kevm14]

Added 1L of the flush hot and idled it for 10 mins, plus another minute of about 1000 rpm just for bonus time. Drained that. It was pretty black and only 1450 miles on this oil. Replaced 4 more of the underbody panel nut inserts so they don't fly off on my trip. I think it's all solid now.

Then I flushed the sump with my remaining 4 quarts of the M1 Formula M plus a quart or two of Liquimoly regular stuff that I had. Added 8.5L of the LiquiMoly Molygen 5W-40 and reset the oil life monitor again.

Very curious to see if I get an improvement. I am also not opposed to doing another flush if my results are not good enough. Frankly I think if it doesn't improve to a quart in 3000 I will do another flush. And that would be a huge improvement.

[kevm14]

Washed yesterday. Now I have to avoid getting it dirty before my trip (where it will get dirty).

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Also vacuumed interior and wiped down some surfaces, plus a little glass cleaning. Vacuumed seat crevices. Ideally I would clean at least the rear seats and spray some 303 to protect from....the kids. I still can though it is going to be hot until we leave.

[kevm14]

Road trip report.

Summary:
Left RI on 7/1 around 8:15am. Pulled into hotel in WV around 5:15pm. We all lasted 4 hours before a single stop which was incredible. Filled up at a Sheetz in PA and got 21.7 mpg. Then I electronically checked the oil and it said to add 1.5 qts, about 447 miles since the oil flush and change. So I added 1 qt.

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Also, there were no snacks, and I mean on the entire trip (other than a banana I had for breakfast). I know, that seems impossible. But it happened. That day was around 430 miles? I'd also like to report that the air suspension worked perfectly to keep the car level even though the trunk was completely packed. I'll review the car separately but it was amazing. Here is the trunk.

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On the way down I think the first rain was in PA, around 11:30am.

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Lunch at a Ruby Tuesday in Bethlehem, PA. Front wheels still clean.

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Sheetz in PA. So many octane choices, plus E.

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Day 2 was WV to Black Mountain, NC. Similar mileage but a solid hour faster. I filled up in VA and got 21.5 mpg. Ended up checking again after we pulled into Black Mountain and it said to add another 1.5 qts. Once again, I added 1 qt. This would be a 538 mile interval. Pretty consistent(ly bad). This is as bad as it was with the M1 and I was disappointed to see no improvement after flushing and changing to a supposedly better oil.

Cruised with this silver V1 for a while in VA.

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Cruising in northern NC.

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I began to get nervous and ended up buying some Blue Devil Rear Main Sealer at a local Advance. Even thought I had used 2 of my 5 quarts and only just arrived at our Air BnB, I declined to buy oil. Here is the product I used:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0079 ... =pd_gw_unk

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I decided this was similar to AT-205 which has gotten decent reviews, including from Scotty Kilmer. It pours clear and thin just like AT-205. Also, FWIW, the Advance Auto lady said Blue Devil was the best product as far as she could tell from returns and stuff. It said treats up to 8 quarts and the E55 holds 9 but I just used one bottle.

Drove around the entire week including some harder driving with Bob and the Vsport. Before we left on 7/9, I checked it again it said to add another quart. So I did. This would be another 327 miles which certainly didn't give me a warm and fuzzy. I was thinking, if I have to stop to buy oil, fine. This was only my third quart so I had two still in the trunk.

Got gas in VA on the first return day. 22 mpg. Checked oil level, it was fine still.

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Hot, cruising and pulling down some numbers.

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About to leave the hotel on 7/9 (WV). So dirty.

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On the second return day, we stopped in NY and I got 21.5 mpg. Amazingly the oil level was still OK. Actually, I think it said reduce oil level! Then I checked again and it was fine. Kinda odd. Drove from there all the way home.

Here are some specs for the second return day.

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The one RI plate I think I saw on the entire trip was on the return trip, day 2, in PA. Vanity plate, too.

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So it has been 878 miles since I added the last quart and I checked it this morning cold. Still said level OK. I have to say that clearly seems like an improvement, even though it's still quite terrible. I believe the car needs a rear main and probably valve stem seals. But I'm not rushing into that just yet as those are both fairly labor intensive jobs. I may even add another bottle stuff, AND/OR do another flush and oil change or something like that. Or just continue to drive and see how far this next quart will really go.

I guess the good news is the car threw no codes or malfunctions on the entire drive. TPMS worked perfectly every time I checked pressures. I did not inflate the rears to fully loaded pressure. Meh. Didn't even have to use any spare parts or tools.

Aside from all that (and the window/door handle episode documented in another thread), how did the car really do? Well it COMPLETELY brake dusted the front wheels. Like really bad. Total trip mileage was 2,085 (remember I predicted 2,000). Which means this is only like ~2,000 miles of brake dust, though some heavier driving for a stint there with Bob. I mean a lot of it I didn't even touch the brakes obviously. 2,000 miles of daily driving should be a lot worse and yet this is still really bad. Good old German brake dust. Just on the front though. Rear is still relatively clean.

Other car thoughts.

It is very comfortable. A/C works very nicely, no fiddling required. Jamie boosted her side occasionally but then I just pointed her vent towards me and that seemed to help and I was able to leave all the temps on 71F and everyone was comfortable regardless of the sun or whatever.

The power is quite something. I will admit it felt slower with a full load, and at elevation but since it has power to spare this did not present any issues. Passing power was always in reserve, no matter the circumstance. It is just such an effortless cruiser. Really nice car to drive on a long trip like this. I think we would have done fine in my STS or Jamie's SRX but this was clearly better than those, at least for driving purposes. Aside from getting tired toward the end of each long driving day, I was good to continue. It's just a pleasure to drive. This is all good news, and frankly what I was hoping for.

For fuel economy, I think I was hoping for 23+ but maybe due to some of my cruising speeds and full load (plus I did not use the loaded tire pressures), maybe the 21-22 is all it gets. Even still I think that is quite satisfactory considering everything. I used Shell as much as possible, which was all but one tank.

I had my uncle drive it a bit. He liked it. He was impressed with a variety of things such as the door hinge detents, turning radius, visibility, power and overall road feel. Bob also drive it. We switched cars for some decent road driving (as in actual turns, tire squealing, a few hair pins and some WOT) and I drove the Vsport. As far as the E55, I think Bob liked it. Being an older car, I think he was impressed that overall the powertrain felt quite capable (particularly the old 5A), and even said the overall capability was better than expected.

As for my impressions of the Vsport, I might want to put that in another thread. I have some thoughts.

[kevm14]

I just checked the oil level. It still says the level is OK and it has been 1,026 miles since I added the last quart. This is a clear improvement so I am curious how far this will go. If it actually stays above the 1,000 mile/qt range that could be enough for me to just defer this repair...

[kevm14]

Checked electronically again and it still says OK, at 1,356 miles into this quart.

I became a little suspicious and checked using the dipstick (which I never trusted). Somehow I got the clearest reading I've ever seen (and the oil itself is much cleaner than I expected at 2,6xx miles on this oil) but I would equate the reading to maybe a quart low. Like I said, I don't trust it but at least I feel like the engine isn't several quarts low or something. I can check the electronic quarts readout and see what it says I guess. I think 7.3 quarts means full (which is really 9). So if the dipstick reading is accurate, it should say nearly a quart low, but maybe not quite enough to trigger the "add 1 quart" message. That would corroborate all the readings. I will do that. I guess I'd expect something like 6.5 and that would probably match the dipstick. Anything over 7 would mean A) it is really not using much and B) the dipstick still isn't trustworthy.

OK I checked. Says 7.1 quarts! Of course there is only one sensor but unless the sensor is fouled by the oil leak stuff, this means I am like only 0.2 quarts down from full if it's all to be trusted. This extrapolates to nearly 6,800 miles to the quart. That is a little hard to believe. That would amount to like a 15x reduction in oil consumption/leaking. I already said I was happy to get over 1,000 miles/quart. 2,000 would be quite good. 2,500, half an oil change. But the full 5,000 mile interval?? Crazy. No long road trips planned so this will take months.

The forum claims that 145mm on the dipstick actually equates to full. This is about what I saw on the dipstick when I checked. That differs from the paper it came with that said I want to be more in the 160s. I guess that paper is worthless. So....it's still pretty full??

On the other hand, if the cluster reading for a full sump is more like 7.8 qts then I am more than halfway through the quart and will need to add around 1900 or 2000. I mean that would still be pretty damn good, too. Next time it says to add I will have to see what the quantity says. Should be something like 6.3-6.8 qts I suppose.

[kevm14]

Fun fact. The oil level sensor is actually more than an oil level sensor. It also measures temp and oil quality. How?

Capacitance, my dear boy. Anyway, that would make this more sophisticated than what GM has done. Of course, more sophisticated doesn't necessarily mean better. After years of doing pretty good predictive oil life calculations, GM went a little astray in the like 08-11 timeframe (my estimate) and predicted way too much oil life, leading not just to dirty oil, but very low oil levels because people don't check. Not checking is REALLY bad when you are running your oil for 10k or more, and the engine uses some.

Anyway, even though the car can measure stuff I put the E55 on a 5,000 mile interval. It's unlikely that the computer would tell me to change it before that so whatever.

[kevm14]

Rotated tires left to right. About the 5,000 mile mark. Rears showed around 8-9/32" and the fronts showed 9-10. New spec on these AS4s is 10/32".

Also the check coolant light has been coming on and I want to change the coolant anyway so put that back on the list. Also needs an oil change soon.