Hi,

Whoa, I love garage science. That was an eye opener, I was really thinking of putting some stabilizer in my 240D manual tranny to get rid of a grinding noise at startup. Maybe I'll just leave it be. It sounds like dry parts that take a few seconds to get lubed up probably on the primary shaft. I'm just another dummy suckered into using that stuff at the parts counter while twirling the gear gismo.

About the blow-by on the highway vs. town, this makes tons of sense! I always wondered why my Saturn SW2 (notorious oil burners 1qt/1000mi) didn't burn a drop on a 400 mi highway trip from San Jose to Los Angeles. I talked to the Saturn Engineers who do blow-by flow testing (I designed the NTK M100 Blow-by meter years back) and they claimed after much arm twisting that the car had a problem and it happens when you chop the throttle (high vacuum).

My 240D burns 1QT every 1000mi. This is a little different, I notice if I drive on the highway at 70 it'll go through oil fast. Stop and go isn't so bad. I have removed the cyclone oil collector (was cracked) and just looped the vent to the intake. Till I figure out a better way to collect and condense the vapor, I'll send it to the intake and carry a quart of oil in the trunk.

Back when I designed blow-by meters, I used to collect the goo that built up in the flow meters. You don't want this sh.t going back into your oil. It was a mixture of fuel, oil and water. Maybe 20% water. So, I've been reluctant to replumb the separator.

Cheers,
Yoko