Moly.

[digimark]

My uncle in Ohio is a retired supervisory electrician for the Ohio State University and is an "old school" mechanical systems guy. He's always telling me about things I "have to do" around the house and with my cars. For example. he insists I look into getting an engine block heater even though I live in Maryland and not Alaska. (And that was on a gasoline Honda Odyssey minivan!)

[Required disclaimer -- I have no relationship with the company and moly product described below, other than my buying a case of it ten years ago.]

So getting to the point, about ten years ago he had me buy a case of this stuff called "Moly Plus" from the American Lubricants Company of Dayton OH. It comes 20 one-pint cans to the case and he wanted me to mix some in with the engine oil every time I changed the oil. Well, I did this a few times and then forgot about it.

I came across it this morning when I was cleaning out the garage and wondered about using it in the W164 diesel. There is a reference to "Liqui Moly 1052" on Wolfgang's ML diesel page (Mercedes-Benz diesel engines) as being recommended by many of the MB engine technicians. I went to their website (liqui-moly.de) and downloaded the PDF data sheet (attached) -- it seems to be substantially the same stuff as the description on the back of my can:

"MOLY PLUS contains Molybdenum Disulfide in Extremely Fine Form..., recommended for use in gasoline, diesel, LP and natural gas [engines]..., use 1 pint to 5-8 quarts of engine oil." etc.

Has anyone used this before and/or have an opinion on it? I feel like I should use it to justify having paid for it, but don't want to hurt my new baby. And I don't want to ask the dealer because I'm sure I'd get some boilerplate "only MB-approved fluids..." speeches.

Thanks in advance. -Gary

[DUTCH]

Originally Posted by digimark

My uncle in Ohio is a retired supervisory electrician for the Ohio State University and is an "old school" mechanical systems guy. He's always telling me about things I "have to do" around the house and with my cars. For example. he insists I look into getting an engine block heater even though I live in Maryland and not Alaska. (And that was on a gasoline Honda Odyssey minivan!)

[Required disclaimer -- I have no relationship with the company and moly product described below, other than my buying a case of it ten years ago.]

So getting to the point, about ten years ago he had me buy a case of this stuff called "Moly Plus" from the American Lubricants Company of Dayton OH. It comes 20 one-pint cans to the case and he wanted me to mix some in with the engine oil every time I changed the oil. Well, I did this a few times and then forgot about it.

I came across it this morning when I was cleaning out the garage and wondered about using it in the W164 diesel. There is a reference to "Liqui Moly 1052" on Wolfgang's ML diesel page (Mercedes-Benz diesel engines) as being recommended by many of the MB engine technicians. I went to their website (liqui-moly.de) and downloaded the PDF data sheet (attached) -- it seems to be substantially the same stuff as the description on the back of my can:

"MOLY PLUS contains Molybdenum Disulfide in Extremely Fine Form..., recommended for use in gasoline, diesel, LP and natural gas [engines]..., use 1 pint to 5-8 quarts of engine oil." etc.

Has anyone used this before and/or have an opinion on it? I feel like I should use it to justify having paid for it, but don't want to hurt my new baby. And I don't want to ask the dealer because I'm sure I'd get some boilerplate "only MB-approved fluids..." speeches.

Thanks in advance. -Gary

Have you read all the information about the very strict limitations of what can be in an engine oil in the OM642 (ML320 CDI) engine? Sheet 229.51 oil is pretty unique stuff for the sole purpose of protecting the particle filters in the exhaust; and your Moly additive just might give serious problems there.

I wouldn't!

[BigKutta]

Considering that the stuff has been sitting in your garage for 10 years....i wouldnt bring it near the ML

[j_dawg_85]

Originally Posted by BigKutta

Considering that the stuff has been sitting in your garage for 10 years....i wouldnt bring it near the ML

AMEN! Throw it away. Dont add anything to your oil. That was fine for engines that didnt know any better cause there weren't the electronic gizmos, sensors, filters and monitors to cause problems if it did change anything. Now days? Your exhaust is putting out too much of one chemical? It'll foul your engine, computer generated of course. Then you have to explain why it fouled it, then you void your warrenty, then....so long!

Dont bother with it.

[drivbiwire]

Moly falls under the category of "Ash" which will contaminate the NOx trap and O2 sensors. This will cause them to plug and not self clean leading to reduced power or even engine damage and a resulting fire.

The oils in your motor contain specific additives that were formulated to provide optimal protection for upto 19,000 miles at which point the wear rates are LOWER than when the oil was new.

Oil additives MUST NEVER be mixed with any MB 229.XX specification oil under ANY CIRCUMSTANCE!

Oil additives may cause those that were in the factory approved lubricants to break down or even stop working. This will cause severe damage or even failure of the motors internal components.

Unless you have PhD in Chemistry and work for a company like Lubrizol or MB don't play with additives in these motors.

DB

[digimark]

So you think I shouldn't put it in the engine, right?

Just kidding. It won't go near the Benz. Although I'm not going to throw it out -- I called the company and they said it's still fine after ten years, and quite expensive to boot.

Thanks for the advice.

[eckerhill]

It would help if one would read the information. The engineers suggest adding it to fuel NOT oil.

[digimark]

On a second read of the article, you're right, it does say to add oil to the fuel. But it's a little confusing , because it then refers to the Liqu-Moly which says its a oil additive in their documentation.