Post year of car and miles as well.

Apparently Lex's detective skillz are not as sharp as I may have thought.......
Let me give a clue:

08_ms3_gt

Still no mileage and could be an 08.5 Mr. FreeFly

This was also a general comment as I think there's value in knowing the age of the motor when looking at compression.

thanks for noting that - i've updated it. see above.

Sorry for the OT, but what is this COBB fix for the PCV? Are you talking about installing an OCC? Or did Cobb come up with something else?

go away, he was sarcastic and is pushing almost 400 on the stock bottom end

:bryce:

You really have no idea what you're talking about. So just do everyone a favor and move on or stop posting before you do some reading.

I'll give you a hint. In DI applications, the gas does not come into contact with the back of the valves where the "deposits" form as is the case with your 1997 T-bird. If you hate this car so much, go back to driving your T-bird because right now you're really starting things on the wrong foot.

^^wow^^

If you can't figure it out do some reading. It's one of the most documented issues here. Now GTFO of my thread.

go and have a read mate, and stop cluttering up this thread........

sigh, go read some fuckin threads and stop clogging up good ones.

POWERTRAIN is 5yrs/60k

you cant clean the back of the valves with fuel injector cleaner if theres no fuel in the air when it goes past. please stop bitching and go do some reading.

thread cleaned up...

:)

How big of an effect would popped injector seals have on a compression test / leak down test?

probably not much since mine only leaked at 15psi or above... it depends on bad the leak is i guess, but unless its a huge leak, its probably not enough pressure to affect results.

If they leak under dry compression they will definitely give you issues while driving.

Got around to testing mine this morning when I changed spark plugs.

2006 Mazdaspeed 6

Close to sea level. 30 feet I believe.

72,000 miles

19psi daily driver. :) Damn near fully bolted. Synthetic oil since 32k miles.

Cyl 1 - 192psi
Cyl 2 - 192psi
Cyl 3 - 192psi
Cyl 4 - 192psi

All were 192psi dead on. Engine was heated up. Actually drove the car 10 miles before I came home to pull it apart.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3458/...69519860db.jpg

wow. lucky dogs!!

Great compression for the mileage. Must take care of it well!

190
190
190
190

11k built engine. Minor boltons for another week. 440 ASL. Engine was warm.

I think my low compression is coming from the timing slipping a tooth. Isn't there a known issue about the tensioner on our cars and it being loose? If so can someone link me to that thread. My compression tests perfectly 130 across the board but I don't think it's worn rings.

When I go WOT and do a hard pull, I can feel tiny "surges" (for lack of a better word) where my car pulls real hard like it used to, then goes back to meh, then hard then meh. Sometimes this come in terms of reciprocal surges, sometimes the whole pull is meh and on very very VERY rare occassion it pulls hard all the way.

This is not to say that the car runs like garbage. It is still a fast car, as evidence of dusting a 2000 Mustang GT in a most embarrassing way. Though I was fortunate that was one of the times the car decided to pull hard, lol. It just doesn't run or pull like it's supposed to most of the time. You can decidedly feel it when doing a pull with these surges.

I'm convinced my timing is somehow slipped a bit. I have new plugs (NGK Stock Iridium, pregapped) and just recently cleaned out the EGR and pipe. But yet I still experience an odd idle most of the time. I still plan on stocking out oneday soon when I get some time, and take it to the dealer. I only have a few bolt ons. I'm just really busy and when it comes to downgrading the car, somehow lazy. lol

Dude, if your engine timing had "slipped a tooth" you'd be picking up pieces of your engine not dusting off Mustangs. The valvetrain is chain drive not belt so, it's pretty unlikely that the cause of the low comp is a mis-timed engine.

Do a leakdown test to determine cause of low comp. Air out the crankcase oil fill is rings, air out the exhaust or intake is valves on that side of the cylinder.

did mine yesterday

2008.5 MS3 16k on the ODO

Drivers side
185
185
183
185
Passengers side

Did mine this morning, I'm almost at 73k. I don't know if this was normal with the gauge when I would crank it would go to target but then lose pressure quick. Like cylinder 1 would to 180 but it would drop so fast by the time I get out of the car to look its at 150 psi. Is that normal for the gauge to drop so fast?

From passenger side.

1. 180
2. 175
3. 160
4. 170

I think pretty decent for my mileage, driving habits and mods. Isn't there a roomer that cylinder 3 gets low because of the balance shaft? If thats tru then next mod.

The gauge that i use stays at the highest pressure recorded until you relieve the pressure then it goes back to zero. Maybe yours was broken..

Yeah I think it was cause it would drop real quick and looking at vids of other people doing test. I couldn't even get out of the car to check and it would already lose 30-40 psi. Maybe that mads it read lower than actually was cause it had a pressure leak..

Normally I dont point out the spelling mistakes..... but I LOLOLOLOLOL'd

the little button you push, is a tire stem take it out and clean it or replace it, then it should hold your reading

Well I rented it from autozone and already returned it. Im gonna try another autzone gauge and try to get a vid this time. if it was leaking that bad im thinking that may have given a lower reading.

On the next one I rent I will try what you said if it has the same problem, thanks!

Hopefully it's just the gauge Joe.

Yeah you think thats bad otherwise? 160 in cylnder3 and 170-180 in the others how bad can that be for 70k fully bolted hard miles? Weren't your results in the 160's?

Yeah mine were, but that's cause i'm at 5500ft. 2.5psi less up here, and with 9.5:1 compression it's like high 180's or so. Regardless of teh specific numbers, usually you look for differences between cylinders.

Your engine was warmed up, right?

2.5 psi ? that doesnt seem like alot does it? I let the coolant temp get to 190 idling then did the test.

Joe
You are still within factory tolerances if those are true numbers. And honestly 70k fully bolted running the higher boost like you do, I would say that is to be expected. I wouldn't get worried unless it starts to dramatically fall off over the next few months. Like mine did. I went from stock, to 155, to 145 from 35k to 45k. I didn't have that many parts, so that's the point at which I started the big battle with the dealer for a new motor.

Yeah thats what I was thinking especially with a faulty gauge.... hope you got your stuff worked out bro!

2.5psi in a 9.5:1 compression motor is close to 25psi difference. (2.5 X 9.5).


Next time you do it, drive around for a while. You want the oil to be up to temp, not just the coolant. Give it a 5 - 10 minute drive and i bet your numbers improve.


And i also agree with cpolly, not really worth worrying about, but maybe check em every oil change or so and look for trends.

Ahh cool I didnt know 2.5psi is close to 25 cause of atmosphere. im gonna do another check next weekend with a different autozone gauge and get it on vid.

Yeah after 2 months and a massive battle I got a new engine. All thanks to Mazda Corp and no thinks to my dealer...

Sweet!!! Its cool that Mazda helped you out! Hey do you or does anyone know if the max variance "28.5psi" applies to all cylinders in general or referring to side by side cylinders. Like with my numbers is my variance 15 or 20?

DISI Compression Results
 

Joe
My understanding is that it doesn't make any difference if you were talking about cylinders side by side or cylinders at opposite ends of the block. If there is a difference beyond that variance from any cylinder to another, it's worth being concerned.


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Thanks yeah just called the dealer and thats what they said too. They said my numbers are well within spec and are good. I'm still gonna get another gauge and try again this weekend.

Just did this, my local AutoZone had one of these in the store:

Amazon.com: Actron CP7828 Professional Compression Tester with Storage Pouch: Automotive

Dang impressive man! I will say though I have heard that gauges read different and why u and some others read higher than 185 seems wierd....

185, 180, 180, 185 good?

Peach 185 is new...

Nice numbers we're seeing on some of the lower mileage speeds. KayWhy, how many miles on the car?

I'm about to begin this battle myself (130 on all cylinders for mine). Any advice? Note I'm not throwing a CEL or anything and the car runs fine, other than the quite dramatic loss of power. I refuse to race anyone anymore, just don't want them thinking they waxed a real Speed 3 when I'm driving around a limped one.

Don't show up with any mods on the car and if your ecu has been flashed in any way, don't bother showing up at all.
Bring your complete oil change records. Write down a list of symptoms - make sure to include loss of power, smoke out the exhaust, and sputtering.
Tell them you did a compression test, it tested low, and you want them to do a leak down test - under warranty. If you don't get the answers you want to hear in a reasonable time frame - couple weeks - call Mazda Corp and explain.

Cool, will do. Thanks man. I have never flashed my ECU or ran an AP or anything like that. Just basic mods so I think I'm good. I'm an oil fiend and have a huge stash of oil. I buy it all the time on sale, so I have enough oil change receipts for 5 cars. lol

Just did mine today for the hell of it...

from pass side

190
190
193
193

25K on the odo, 12,500 on the motor... VERY happy with the results!

very happy to see those numbers, too. I was starting to wonder if mine were off... I mean, I'm pretty sure I did the test right...pulled the plugs, pinned the throttle, turned the engine over for about 6-8 seconds until the needle on the gauge stopped going up...

i'm starting to wonder if the break in of these motors is affecting this. I know i beat this new motor up from day one and am seeing some of the best readings i've seen anywhere... what do u guys think? not askin whether or not to romp on your new motor from day one, but could this actually be havin some lasting effect?

I know I romped on mine from day 1....
Guess I should do a compression test, test ur theory.

This is a huge controversy from what i've read. Not sure how much merit it has, but who know's i'm noob as shit still.

I did the same thing. I drove it incredibly hard right off the bat. Heck, even the test drive when it had 6 miles on it. My compression is completely shot now.

+1
I drove the shit out of my car since the day I got it and my compression started dropping at around 30k and my first motor was done at 45k.
I'm going to stick with what I've always said.
Some of these motors are shit and some are great.

I took my car in. My shifter broke so it made me go ahead and get down to business. They replaced the shifter but told me my car was fine. They said: there is no CEL so the car is perfectly fine. I explained to them that I've lost power dramatically and that I had two independent Compression tests done. Both came back at 130psi on all four cylinders. They said: well our tech drove it and he said it drives like every single other MS3 he's driven. I noticed they drove over 10 miles on my car, so I'm wondering, what he was doing... hot rodding it? How else could he tell if it was missing power?

The tech manager said that if I was losing compression so bad, I'd have plugs fouled out and a CEL. I told him I just recently done a tune up, complete with EGR, MAP, MAF cleaning, new air filter, new NGK plugs, etc etc.

So they say, well, we can do a compression test, but it will cost you $200 for us to do that. I said, well what if the compression is low, do I still have to pay, they said well if it's as low as you say it is, no we will pay to fix it, otherwise you do.

Not sure what to do. I know I've lost power, I've tested the damn compression like 5 times, every single time it comes back 130psi on all 4. But I don't have $200 to spare.

P.s. when I had the shifter fixed, they had it for 4 days and said they no longer offer dealer cars to drive when getting cars fixed. Is this true for all Mazda or just my dealer? I had to borrow a company truck to get around. Not sure if I can borrow it again especially for a long period of time, if they have to replace the engine.

Lastly, does anyone know the EXACT amount of PSI that the car has to be down to before them fixing it? Mine's at 130 which is very low, but is it low enough for them to fix it? The car does run and doesn't throw a cel. The power loss is significant to me, but might not be to them. As it's still a fast car, just not what it was. If the stock car is 264hp, I'd guess I'm down to around 200hp. The torque loss % is probably a tad more than the hp. So it's still fast for most people but definitely not what it was.

Advice please...

Pay the $200

there is a number for how low compression has to be before they would replace the motor. I want to say 120ish but im not sure...

140 is the min i believe - they are also looking for a 40lb difference in between any 2 cylinders iirc

Been meaning to tell u guys I rented a brand new gauge still in plastic couple weeks ago. I got 100-105 in cylinders 1,2,4 and 85 in 3. I don't think those # are accurate that other gauge I had was leaking and reading 180, lesson learned? don't trust those dang gauges. I saw an auto tv show that said the same thing. All gauges read different.

The shop manual sais 129 lowest acceptable and know more than a 28.5psi variance.

sorry joe,
been a while since i looked at that page in the fsm - i was all over it back in december
the real question is, could that cat get any fatter??

haha actually bro his fur just makes him look fatter. He is fat butt twitch in my sig actually weigh's more than big oranger lol...

Yeah I had read the 129 somewhere also. So if mine is 130 (which it is, every time) are they going to say no can do? Over a silly 1 psi? That would be the shits. Have to pay them $200 and lose my car for another week b/c of 1 psi. I honestly don't know what to do now. All cylinders are reading dead on 130psi. Every single time.

how close are you to the dealer?

drive to a spot close by.

go have lunch and let the engine cool down

get to the dealer quick and do a comp test while ECTs are normal, but the block is still relatively cool

cold motor = lower compression. usually you need to go for a nice 15 min drive to bring the metal up to full operating temps

you might've already answered this but have you tried a different gauge?

dealer is not going to want to just do one test and say - hey's its low get this guy a new motor - that's not how it works - trust me i know
first u have to describe to them the symptoms of lost compression - i.e. i'm down on power or my car is smoking -
then you have to sit around and let them make judgments on their own - u can't just go in and demand they do a compression test - if u do - u will pay for the test
there has to be a diagnosable chain of events that leads to you having lost compression and you have to convince people
btw if you are gonna start that battle - don't show up if you have flashed your ecu and don't show up if you have any mods - stock out
also be sure to bring every oil change record you have - to show a solid history of oil changes

I'm %100 stock now. Never flashed my ECU, ever. I didn't have but a few small mods, intake, motor mount, shifter bushings, etc. They are all back to stock. The car has been in since then, they did the shifter fix under warranty. They already seen all my oil change receipts (I'm an oil super fan, I buy tons and TONS of it). They even commented how much oil I have. lol So I'm all good on that front.

I told them about the power loss, and in my mind it's absolutely dramatic. But their "tech" drove me car and told them it drives like every speed 3 he's driven before. They had logged over 10 miles on the car so I'm assuming he went hot rodding to test it out (how else?). Which I'm not sure if I appreciate. lol

170s Across the Board
 

I was changing my spark plugs back to stock today so I decided to do a check. Cylinder 3 almost proved to be a heart breaker at 160, but I didn't crank as long as the others. It too tested at 170 the second time. My MS3 has 25 000 miles and change with no mods. I made sure the engine turned over six times before checking each cylinder. Car was fully warmed up.

I hate the fact they make it so difficult. I had a brutally rough idle and it took three visits with persistent politeness until they cleaned the egr. Same thing: They test drove it twice and concluded that the car ran like a champ until they eventually conceded that it needed attention. Don't give up and keep repeating that your power is way down, stumbles etc.: I hope it works out for you.

Just an update. Also need some advice. Last night, I finally got around to getting another compression tester. I borrowed one from O'Reilly's. After a long drive, car was warmed all the way up. I did the test again. My new Amazon bought compression tester once again read 130psi across all cylinders. Then I used the O'Reilly's one. Please someone tell me what this means...

After cranking the engine over 6 times... it would read 150psi on all cylinders. But it was still climbing rapidly with each crank over.

But if I kept letting it crank to 12 or 13 times, it would go just above 180psi on all cylinders. That's the max it would go to no matter how long I let it crank.

So my question is, what is my reading? Is it 150psi or 180psi?

it's 180 and as long as that's what it is on all 4 u are fine

YES!!!!!!!!

Thank you sir! Whew... I cannot tell you how much this has been weighing on me. To think your car is fubar'd is hard to deal with. In this case, this car is my BABY. lol

Glad I found this thread and the advice in it. A little history about my situation:

I had the VVT TSB done on my car about 3K ago when the car was at 55K. Mazda shared in some of the cost since it was a known issue and I had it in several times before the warranty was up, but I still had to lay out $700 to get it and other things fixed.

About 2 weeks later while on the highway, I had to get out of the way of an idiot in a hurry, so I gave it some gas while in 6th. My DH lit up like a christmas tree with KR, so I immediately let off the gas put the clutch in. At the same time, I was thinking "Oh shit, did I just bend a rod?" Since that incident, I was seeing KR more frequently and higher, so I was really nervous about the engine condition.

After reviewing some posts, I decided to try going with 1 step colder plugs. I did that, but I didn't see a huge reduction in KR. Of course, I couldn't find the compression test thread until after swapping plugs, because that would have been too easy.

Last night, I went to Autozone to rent their compression tester. Hmm, thought it was free, but they told me it was $38 to rent. After seeing it, I decided it looked like a POS, so decided to buy one. They had one for $49, but it had about 2" of dust on it with very few adapters, so I took a stroll across to Sears. Picked up a nice one for $65 with all the adapters that I could every think of needing.

Did the test this morning after warming car for 15-20 minutes:

Pass side
#1 185
#2 180
#3 185
#4 190
Driver side

Sigh of relief ^^^

Just for good measure, test #2:
Pass side
#1 180
#2 180
#3 175ish
#4 180
Drivers side

^^^ Huge sign of relief!

Re-checked gap on 1-step colder plugs. 1 was way off at approx .034, so re-gapped all of them to .028, as I am getting a Cobb AP soon.

My car: '06 Speed6 with 58K miles, Cobb SRI, AWR RMM, JBarone SSP and bushings, Magnaflow CBE, Hypertech tuned, 1-Step colder plugs and Dashhawk (to scare the shit out of me!)

^^ I thought it was free to rent as well. I thought they would charge you a fee then as you return it you would get your money back.

What was the difference between the first test and second? both warm engine/ cold engine etc?

I wouldn't have rented the one they had even if it was free....it looked nasty!

Difference between the 1st & 2nd test......about 5 mins!!!

I figured that since it was all pulled apart, I would just retest. Both were while the engine was warm, but presumably, the second was slightly cooler. :grin

i had 175 all four cylinders with 20 k on my ms6

I don't own a MS3 anymore, but before I got rid of my 2008 MS3 because my dip stick would blow out and shoot oil all over the engine bay, the dealer checked compression and it was within specs... Then they did a leak-down test failed majorly saying I needed a new engine...

Moral of the story, compression test (according to shops in general) does not tell you the whole story... The only and true test is leak-down.

At least thats what I've been told.

I wonder if a bad PCV and leaky intake valves could falsely indicate bad rings on a leak down.

I've had this thought -
It has been proven that the factory pcv valve does leak and it is connected straight to the crankcase/im, but the pressure transfer as to what's going on inside the combustion chamber shouldn't be effected by what's going all the way out in that area...
As for the valves what happens with oil added should do a good job of indicating if this is the culprit.....
My 2 cents anyway

Well, don't they usually just listen for where the air leaks from when doing a leak down test? Like listen to the dip stick, if it's leaking... then it's rings. Or if it's coming out the IM, it's int valves... etc etc etc.

If the pressure leaked through gummed up int valves, through PCV, into CC and out dip stick, it could be falsely construed as rings when it's not.

I dunno, i'm just bored at this point....

well you guys are kinda right. Compression tests done tell you a whole lot. I did a leak down test as the same time as my compression. 175psi all four. leak down test showed 15% leakdown past the rings. this is a normal range.

To do the leakdown you pressurize the cylinder with 100psi air, based on what the gauges are showing thats the percent leakdown. you then need to find where its coming from. only three ways, well four ways it can leak. you listen into the exhaust, if you hear air coming out then you have leaking exhaust valves. Same goes for intake. Note that you can have gunked up intake valves and no air leak past them. The valve seat can be closed fully with gunked up valves. Im starting to get some build up on mine and no valves were leaking. I had leak down past the rings, i took the oil cap off and you can clearly hear the air rushing into it. A rare way for leak down would be between cylinders if the engine was over heated.

It would be hard IMO to misinterpret these readings. if it was leaking past the intake valves and through the pcv. you would still notice most of the air in the intake system and very minimal in the crankcase.


You can also test if your rings are worn by doing a wet compression test. Most are done dry as most people do. If you suspect rings are the issue and dont have leak down test. Put a few drops of oil in the cylinder and retest. The reading should be higher. If theres a huge difference between the two. the rings are most likely escessively worn

^ Or the rings are coked and seized no longer sealing.

195 on all four. Initial pressure was 90 psi on the first crank. 37500 miles with a Sri test pipe ets tmic. Still smokes a little on idle. At least the engine is good.

Getting ready to do a comp test.
I have been reading this thread from the beginning and it's been mentioned that if you have flashed the ECU not to bother going to the dealer for engine warranty work in case its needed.
How about if you have an AP, flash back the stock map, and "unmarry it" from the ECU? can they still find out if the ECU has been reflashed in the past?

When I had my 07 speed 3 at the shop about a month ago I asked if they could do a compression test and they did 180 in all four 07 with 30k at the time

I unmarried my ap when I brought my car to the dealer for a new turbo. They scanned the ecu for trouble codes n whatever else, told me that they found nothing. That's not to say if they really wanted to dive into the bowels of the software they wouldn't find anything. But for general purposes, no they can't detect it.

ok, good. I am bolted except for DP running ATR and will keep it that way then.

note the underlined... i wonder how this genius starts his car in the morning? cuz u do know that "starting" the car is step 3, its just that by pulling plugs ur making sure the fuel ur dumping into ur exhaust is pooling up, ready to blow the insides of your cat all over your drive way lol

also beating the shit out of your car to warm it up is the dumbest idea, i bet this guy has, or is going to have a smoking turbo in no time, since just cuz its a water cooled turbo, doesnt mean the oil is pumping through it full speed, even if you coolant temp guage says so(guage reads even at 160... noticeable performanc gain in keeping it around 190-200 for me personally which takes about 5 more min after the temp guage reads even which seems to mean that ur temp is 160-220)

anyways, pull fuel relay fuse, same as the HPFP rmoval procedure, then crank the car to make sure it doesnt start or starts and stalls

thats it... why not do it te right way? and not make ur exhaust into a 5th cylinder

i honestly think people are just afraid of pulling relays cuz they dont get that its not some scary device, and works much like a fuse, that and poor instructions

:soapbox:

well im done with my 6am morning b!tch!ng

The factory service manual is usually a good place to start looking for a proper compression test procedure. Internet cliff notes will almost always get you a hand full of fail.


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I agree with you about not beating on a car to warm it up. Very stupid. One should wait till oil is at operating temp before anything serious. But the guy is right about pushing the gas pedal down to close the throttle plate being sufficient. Pulling the HPFP fuse is not a necessity if doing this.

did a new compression test this week - 49,670 miles.

(pass side)
cyl 1 - 179psi
cyl 2 - 179psi
cyl 3 - 179psi
cyl 4 - 179psi
(driver side)

the results are more consistent probably because the testing was more consistent - i was sure to max the pressure on the gauge, then jumped from the driver's seat to the engine bay to read it.

from these results, it would appear as though my cylinder #3 is okay, and the pressures have decreased maybe a little bit (if it all) in 15,000 miles.

08_MS3_GT how many cranks did you do on them?

probably around 10. i think it took less than 10 to max the pressure, but i wanted to be sure.

Thanks. Experts... what does it mean when it takes me 17 to 20 cranks to reach 180psi?

Can't say much without more testing ... if it reaches 180psi you can just call it a day and sleep well or worry about it some more and do a leakdown test.

I would do the former.

You may have a bad tester, or a bad battery. 20 is a lot, but I'd go with what Lex said.

I've heard that you should hit about 100psi on the first crank. So if it does that hen I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks. The battery is great actually. My first crank hits like 50 - 70 psi usually. I honestly think my performance loss has came from dirty intake valves now as there's nothing wrong with the car at all as far as starting or driving, other than the power loss. I don't burn oil. In fact, I don't even smoke. Car starts right up. 27k miles now and it runs great other than the power loss. This is why I looked at the compression in the first place.

I should add more to the story though. I bought a brand new compression tester from amazon. Supposedly one of their best ones. Has a million adapters. And with this tester I hit 150psi across the board. Doing a wet test gave me a bit more psi but not 180. Then, using the advice given here, I borrowed a compression tester from a local parts store to test it again and that one gave me 180 psi across all cylinder's... so I took it the one from amazon was just miscalibrated or bad or something. I can't really afford a leakdown test right now so I'm just kind of doing what Lex recommended. The power loss is there and evident but it's still fairly fast car and I don't get on it much at all anyhow so I'm just driving it as is.

So you've had power loss? Have you been getting lots of blowby (oil in intake etc)?

Yeah definite power loss. Very very noticeable. Not sure on the blowby. How do I check for that? You say oil will be in the intake? What do I take off to look in that? I know this sounds really dumb, but I'm not sure where the intake manifold is. lol. Or do you mean I should look in the air intake? I've had the air intake and TIP and TMIC off a few times but never noticed any oil anywhere. I also cleaned the EGR and EGR pipe at 12k miles with seafoam and carb cleaner and also took the hose off that goes to the throttle body and cleaned the throttle body. But on any of these, nothing was really ever very dirty or oily to be honest.

I've also cleaner the MAP sensor at 12k miles and I clean the MAF everytime I clean the air filter, so about 5 times so far, as I like to keep the air filter very clean. I also run synthetic oil's in everything, including transmission (XT-M5-QS) and power steering (Amsoil ATF) and brake fluid (Valvoline DOT 4 & 5 full synthetic) and oil (currently Edge 5w30, but have ran Redline, Royal Purple, German Castrol, Rotella T6 and Pennzoil Ultra European Formula). I've also changed the plugs a few times, as I tried some step colder Denso's, then step colder NGK Iridium IX's, but since have changed back to stock heat range OEM NGK Laser's, which are supposed to be exactly like the stock plugs, gap at .28 as the Denso's and NGK IX's fouled out early on me. I've also put a new PCV valve on it at 20k miles since I was already there messing with it (taking the OCC kit off) and broke the original by accident trying to get the OCC lines off. So I just put a brand new PCV valve back on it.

I took the OCC kit off (matt's) because it caused my car to smoke a bit. Another user here told me that happened to him to when he put an OCC on and it was due to something about CC pressure or some such. When I took the OCC off, it stopped smoking, just like he said, so I've left it off since then. I had it on for about 5k miles or so. It never collected all that much. Maybe a 1/4 of a cup, if that, every 6 to 7k miles. I figured this was due to using high quality synthetic oils.

Oh yeah, last thing, I Seafoam the car right before every oil change to try to help combat the intake valve issue. This seems to regain some of the power, but not all, each time, but it doesn't last long at all. Withing 150 to 200 miles the car goes right back to where it was. So I'm not sure how much this is really helping.