Just watched an assembly video of an AMG V8.
Each piston with rings got about 4 oz. of oil...

4oz. applied where? I used to make them dripping wet years ago, until people smarter than me said not to. Just a smear I'm told now.

thought you were talking this

4 oz of oil will not stick to any piston I've seen. 3.5 oz of that oil will drain to the pan. I say it don't really matter how much oil you put on a piston as long as there is some.

Well there you go - it was seen on the internet therefore it must be true for all applications ................tin foil hat time!!!

Showing my age, back in the day, oil came in cans. You took a crank type can opener and removed the lid, dipped the piston /rings down in it, pulled it out and installed it. We were not too sophisticated back then, but it worked!

Yep, back when I was an apprentice mechanic, I was taught to dunk the entire piston into a container full of engine oil before installing it into the block.

Applied like syrup on waffles

the latest consumer report listed all used Mercedes Benz as cars you do not want to buy because of poor quality.

so are you guys telling me I shouldn't dip the assembly in used cat litter after the oil dip ?

I think a lot of guys on here psych themselves out over some of this stuff. Dunking a piston in oil isnt gonna bother ring seal, especially after it mostly drains off. Come on.

I've done that for a lot of years, I do wipe the excess oil off of the skirts and push the rings in and out of the grooves and let the pistons drip into the can of oil while installing one of the others into the bores before installing them
I also wipe the bores clean several times while assembling the motor and degreeing the cam

This was known to interfere with break-in and leak-down over 20 years ago.
Trust me: when interviewing for the "gunk boy" job at a major race engine builder, the first question on top of the list is chosen to remove as many "you're in the wrong place, Pizza City is next door" as possible.
Question: "How much oil of the same weight as in the pan should coat the rings and lands of an engine being assembled?"
Correct answer: "None, there are better choices".

With every cylinder firing cycle you generate say 1000 degrees of heat and 500 pounds of pressure.

I would think that would be enough heat and pressure to burn and blow any excess oil from the rings in a couple of cycles. After about 5,000 cycles, just about enough time to warm and engine for a couple of "seat the rings" hits, I would think there wouldn't be much "excess" oil in there.

I'm guessing this is like a couple of other topics that show up here, opinions, but no physical proof. There is lots of "this was done, and this happened", but that is not proof.

no physical proof. There is lots of "this was done, and this happened", but that is not proof.

A cause which produces an effect is not proof? It's the very definition of scientific experimentation.

Poly, your point is well taken. But what I meant was, you put an engine together with lots of oil, no oil. Then what happens, happens. How about the way you started it, flooded, to much timing, too little, what crank oil, how long did it sit...…..what is the cylinder finish, how tight the bore....

Everything that could affect it is thrown in there, there is a lot of possibilities that can change.

What to the "big Three" do? Whatever they do, that is probably what we should do.

Anybody know?

Here is another possibility, it may not matter.

Quite disappointing

I was told by a buddy, who has worked in a serious engine shop for a lot of years, excessive oil in the lands will burn and coke up causing problems with the rings. He told me I was using too much. I never used more than a few short squirts of motor oil on the rings and the skirts, spread evenly by hand, just enough to coat them with a smear. And a squirt in the cylinder evenly spread. Dunk them in a bucket of oil? I can't imagine making such a mess.

And then there's this. When I hear so many different opinions, I always go searching for what the experts have to say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z66MXpVKc_0

Kind of simple, really. A very light coating on all sliding surfaces, just like you find when you would pull a freshly run engine apart. If you have pre oiled the system there is plenty of oil dripping/splshing onto all those parts right away.

If oil distribution is limited to pre-oiling there will be no oil above the oil ring.