Piston Soak

[Dean Sheaffer]

I am starting a piston soak with Berryman’s B12 on a 2015 Audi Q5 that is burning a ton of oil. After pulling the sparkplugs I used an endoscope to inspect the pistons. There appears to be metal bits and/or carbon bits at the top of the pistons. I assume this is not normal and would like opinions on whether or not to proceed with the piston soak. Thanks in advance!

Topic

[EricTheCarGuy]

In my experience, if an engine is burning a lot of oil, there are really only 2 things for it. You can replace or rebuild the engine. otherwise, you’re likely wasting your time and money.

More info on burning oil here: https://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/finding-and-fixing-leaks/finding-and-fixing-leaks

Good hunting and please keep us posted.

[Dean Sheaffer]

Thanks. I am trying to avoid selling the car (it’s probably not worth the engine rebuild / replace). I completed the piston soak, oil and sparkplug change, and certainly see/hear/feel an improvement. I did get several miss fires at very high rpms as I attempted to blow the crud out, but it seems to have settled back down. Check engine light reset and giving it back to the wife. Not sure how long any perceived improvement will last or if oil consumption will actually be reduced…I will report back here the results – one way or the other.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Thank you for the update. I hope it works out.

[Dean Sheaffer]

Well…I can report a marginal improvement on the Audi Q5. I’ve gone from burning a quart of oil every 200-250 miles to burning the first quart at just over 600 miles. I suspect the treatment “unstuck” the rings one cylinder and not the others. Since this is a fairly straight forward process, I will do it again at 3,000 miles and report back the results.

[Author]

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