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Thread: Finally no more noise! Oil verdict, and octane boosters

  1. #1
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    Finally no more noise! Oil verdict, and octane boosters

    Well, this time around when I changed my oil I decided to get away from BMW synthetic 5w30 and go with something heavier b/c I had

    1) Extreme racket at start-up
    2) Lifter/valve tick
    3) Engine just runs loud

    Here we go:
    I got the car up and started running into a few problems right away.

    Apparently last time I changed my oil I snapped my oil drain plug bolt. Lucky for me it snapped after the point where it was bored out, so the oil just drained through that hole. I've ordered a new one and will extract the broken one next time I change my oil. It drove like this for 6k miles and I figure it will be fine for 6k more. I put some thread lock on it and some RTV around the edge of the bolt to be safe/leak free.




    After using Castrol Syntec 10w40 all of those problems have ceased to exist. The car runs MUCH quieter now and the aweful sound at start up is gone. Lifter tick is GONE. And the engine just feels like it runs much smoother. Change the oil before you go changing your VANOS, gears, chains, etc.

    So thats what worked for me and my ///M? Castrol Syntec 10w40 (which meets all of BMW's oil standards)

    I also purchased a different octane booster than normal. I usually purchase the 104 octane booster or the NOS octane booster. But I decided to try this one. Like normal, can't really "feel" a difference, but I do notice that the car runs smoother. What octane boosters do you guys use, recommend, live by?

  2. #2
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    The "octane booster" I use has the same MSDS formulation as the "injection cleaner" that they repackage with a different color bottle. This leads me to believe that "octane boosters" have injector cleaning properties.

    Be warned that octane boosters and some injector cleaners have been known to foul plugs and O2 sensors, even though they are "sensor safe".

    Also consider picking up a magnetic oil drain plug. I see them on ebay for $4.
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  3. #3
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    Octane boosters are spark inhibitors. They don't help a non-turbo car unless it's tune requires such octane. I've had a couple turbo cars and higher octane means you can crank the boost up until you reach detonation, then back it down. If you aren't getting pinging, then higher octane doesn't help right?

    Now I don't know if the M3 ECU automatically strives for the most aggressive mix and backs itself off when detonation occurs. Then higher octane would let the ECU advance timing more. Tell me if I'm way off base here.
    2002 E46 M3 Conv SMG - M for life!

  4. #4
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    5w30 is much too thin, good switch. I run Mobil 1 15w50 and recommend that for the next oil change. As far as octane boosters, they raise your octane minutely. It might bring the fuel from 93.1 to 93.4; when it says points, that's what it means. It will not raise it to 97.1. If you want to raise your octane level use a gallon of pure Xylene or Toulene in a tank of gas, not octance booster.


  5. #5
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    the ONLY real octane booster is Toulene u get by the gallon at sherman-williams, the rest are crap and just marketing gimics, they only increase octane by 0.3, toulene can increase by nearly 3 full octane point for a single gallon (aka from 91-94 or 93-96).

  6. #6
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    yep, tol or xyl, remember the formulae? instance, 1gal toluene is 114oct, and 10gal of 93octane fuel, ((1x114)+(10x93))/11=94.909091, 11 is total gallons used, hence we get basically 95 octane. xylene is 117 octane btw. but actually higher octane fuel is going to do little to even possibly decrease performance. very high octane fuel is harder to ignite, can lead to hard starting in the morning. it all comes down to your programming, if the dme can crank the timing up then you can take advantage of a higher octane fuel. afaik, i think on a na car you want to shoot for the lowest octane you can run without getting ping/detonation. i cant remember the exact reasoning behind this exactly but it was posted by a member and it really made sense. as for the oil, i just switched from 15w40 to 20w50(conv) for the summer, much quieter motor.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by nightkrawler
    yep, tol or xyl, remember the formulae? instance, 1gal toluene is 114oct, and 10gal of 93octane fuel, ((1x114)+(10x93))/11=94.909091, 11 is total gallons used, hence we get basically 95 octane. xylene is 117 octane btw. but actually higher octane fuel is going to do little to even possibly decrease performance. very high octane fuel is harder to ignite, can lead to hard starting in the morning. it all comes down to your programming, if the dme can crank the timing up then you can take advantage of a higher octane fuel. afaik, i think on a na car you want to shoot for the lowest octane you can run without getting ping/detonation. i cant remember the exact reasoning behind this exactly but it was posted by a member and it really made sense. as for the oil, i just switched from 15w40 to 20w50(conv) for the summer, much quieter motor.
    LOL, you only want to run the lower octane sans detenation if you want to make the least power possible.


  8. #8
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    Why would you need octane boosters if your car is not FI? You will LOOSE power if you run higher octane than needed.

  9. #9
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    are you saying your car doesnt sound like a diesel truck at first when you start up now?

  10. #10
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    as for the lowest octane fuel, i just am going by what one of the members of this board said in a post. as i said, i cant remember his reasoning behind the statement but it did make sense. i tried some 89 ocane fuel the other day and the car ran great on it, but i still went back to the 92-93oct. the toluene i use pretty much only once in a while as a good fi cleaner.

  11. #11
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    As far as oil viscosities. Model year 99 and newer are ok for BMW synthetic 5w30. Older than that and you should use what is recommended. I'll get the bulletin from work on Monday.

  12. #12
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    Very good article on octane boosters with lab testing in Sport Compact Car July 2005. The test includes toluene, mmt product, and ferosene product. The small bottle of the mmt product actually ends up increasing the octane the same amount as 3 gal of toluene. they use the lab equipment that is actually used for determining octane by gas companies and not some dyno test or whatever.

    JOEY

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by amdspitfire
    are you saying your car doesnt sound like a diesel truck at first when you start up now?
    Correct! No more big rig w/ a M3 badge on it

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by 96cosmosM3
    Why would you need octane boosters if your car is not FI? You will LOOSE power if you run higher octane than needed.
    Exactly, it's like running a colder plug or retarding timing.
    2002 E46 M3 Conv SMG - M for life!

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    In order to lose power with high octane u have to be running crazy octane like over 100+ . Here is the common misconception... octane boosters MAKE power.... this is incorrect. Octane boosters FREE UP ROBBED POWER. there is a big difference. All of our ECU's are constantly robbing power all the time, even when u think its running its best its still robbing power and pulling back timing. Toulene insures that u are running at your maximum potential. And just 2 min after you put it in you will notice exactly what i am talking about. The power delivery is so unbelievably smooth its insane, its not so much it makes a ton of HP as it makes the car delivery its power so much smoother than before. I ran it for 9 months straight and absolutely loved it, zero problems and car absolutely loved it. i definately recommend.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by SupaBimma
    In order to lose power with high octane u have to be running crazy octane like over 100+ . Here is the common misconception... octane boosters MAKE power.... this is incorrect. Octane boosters FREE UP ROBBED POWER. there is a big difference. All of our ECU's are constantly robbing power all the time, even when u think its running its best its still robbing power and pulling back timing. Toulene insures that u are running at your maximum potential. And just 2 min after you put it in you will notice exactly what i am talking about. The power delivery is so unbelievably smooth its insane, its not so much it makes a ton of HP as it makes the car delivery its power so much smoother than before. I ran it for 9 months straight and absolutely loved it, zero problems and car absolutely loved it. i definately recommend.
    Finally someone who agrees with me on Toulene and Xylene. I thought I was the lone believer. :-D


  17. #17
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    i thought this was about oil

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by nydog
    i thought this was about oil
    Re-read the original post. It's about oil and octane booster.


  19. #19
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    to tell you the truth... I tried both Toulene and Xylene but i felt that even though toulene is technically a lower octane, for some reason it felt much better with toulene and also seemed to mix better (took less time to kick in), so i used toulene instead of xylene (plus its cheaper anyways). just thought i'd share that.. ttyl

  20. #20
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    So how much toluene to add to a full tank of gas??



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  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by SupaBimma
    In order to lose power with high octane u have to be running crazy octane like over 100+ . Here is the common misconception... octane boosters MAKE power.... this is incorrect. Octane boosters FREE UP ROBBED POWER. there is a big difference. All of our ECU's are constantly robbing power all the time, even when u think its running its best its still robbing power and pulling back timing. Toulene insures that u are running at your maximum potential. And just 2 min after you put it in you will notice exactly what i am talking about. The power delivery is so unbelievably smooth its insane, its not so much it makes a ton of HP as it makes the car delivery its power so much smoother than before. I ran it for 9 months straight and absolutely loved it, zero problems and car absolutely loved it. i definately recommend.
    Well said, I agree with this.
    2002 E46 M3 Conv SMG - M for life!

  22. #22
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    yeah supa, what final octane rating did you use, when you used the T? i know how to calculate the raise in octane by adding the T, just dont know what # to shoot for, 95, 96, 97oct? what did you go with?

  23. #23
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    ok so here are some rough calculations to give you an idea.

    91 octane: 7 gallons (roughly half tank) + 1 gallon toulene goes from 91 to 93.875
    93 octane: 7 gallons + 1 gallon Toulene goes from 93 to 95.625

    sometimes if i was going to the 1/4 mile track or something i'd run 1/2 tank and two gallons of toulene which would equate to...

    91 octane: 7 gallons + 2 gallons Toulene = from 91 to 96.1
    93 octane: 7 gallons + 2 gallons Toulene = from 93 to 97.6

    ONCE, i even ran 1/4 tank with 2 gallons of toulene just to see what it would do.... MAN it ran EXTREMELY strong and the smoothest it has ever ever run. However, its not very practical at all b/c thats $20 extra thats burned very quickly, but just so yall can see how high u can go with this stuff and still have no problems (if you use once in a while, again this is above the 30-40% mark so i dont recommend normally).

    91 octane: 3.5 gallons + 2 gallons of Toulene = from 91 t0 109.3 !!
    93 octane: 3.5 gallons + 2 gallons of Toulene = from 93 to 110.7 !!!


    As long as you keep it below the 30-40% mark its safe... however i know a chemist out in AZ that runs his mini on pure toulene at 114 octane even though BMW does not recommend it he runs it at the track and has had zero problems, and he's beeing doing that for months. And he has access to much more pure toulene than I like 99.9% pure toulene. He said that Mini/BMW state around 110 u start running into burnt valves and things start melting and malfunctioning. Our motors are not designed to run those temps for long periods of time but i guess his car is holding up perfectly so i dunno the validity of that statement. Would even I do that?.... no, but it has been done.

    I always use Toulene before a dyno especially to help extract every last bit out of the ECU's timing. You don't really see much gains on dyno in terms of toulene but the smoothness of the graphs are amazing which indicates it does help smoothen out the powerband. so just thought i'd mention that too.

    Those are some rough calculations to help yall out. you definately do noticed a difference between 1-2 gallons but anything over that i think would be bigtime overkill b/c u don't want to run too much b/c you start changing the combustion characteristics inside the cylinder too much and delaying ignition point and etc. hope that helps....

    Oh BTW, I always wear chemical and solvent proof gloves when i put this stuff in the car (also availible at sherman-williams), and also be SURE not to spill any on your paint.. after all the real use of toulene is to clean paint of paint products, so just FYI. but i have had zero problems. as long as u use a good long funnel and wear gloves (and eye goggles if you really want) you should have zero problems.
    Last edited by SupaBimma; 07-18-2005 at 12:00 AM.

  24. #24
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    Be carefule with both Toulene and Xylene. Mixed improperly they can damage the engine seals and gasket because they have HIGHLY Corrosive properties.
    M3 Sedan Club President #21

  25. #25
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    this is true, thats why they say below the 30-40% its safe but over long periods of use anything higher will damage specific components so you are correct in that statement.

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