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So called engine fuel additives - are all snake oil (or not)?
- Thread starter Thomas_A
- Start date
I bought a get this..LoL... A CDN $20 Ford Cortina GT2000 and then drove it 124 miles a day back and forth to a drafting study @ a college for 10 months. It never broke down on me but it did get a brake job and a new muffler. I used a decarboning additive to clean out the cylinders and heads because it was on the shelf at the service station and I thought it to be cool. It was comprised of hundreds of round black balls about 1 cm in diameter and it was applied by running the engine, opening the throttle butterfly valve @ the venturi and dumping the balls into the engine. WOW and did it create huge clouds of dark grey smoke out the exhaust. It gave me a sense of doing something positive for my vehicle but I never knew if it did anything beneficial..LoL...
they are effectively
i used to be a mech in a previous life a long long time ago and really the sort of deposits you see on injectors are not cleaned up by those little 1/3 of a quart "squirt into your tank" detergents for a few bucks
when i was a mech i was getting free samples from a major supplier of these kinds of engine cleaners and i tested them and they didnt nothing
the car i was driving at the time was a high performance japanese import... you may have seen such cars in a documentary series called "the Fast and the Furious"
now in the day of direct injection its even more snake oily
i think what i would suggest is service the car on time, use the oil weight recommended, use a reasonable quality oil... and that's it
for certain performance processes high end oil (eg. for gearboxes and diffs.) is good
i used to be a mech in a previous life a long long time ago and really the sort of deposits you see on injectors are not cleaned up by those little 1/3 of a quart "squirt into your tank" detergents for a few bucks
when i was a mech i was getting free samples from a major supplier of these kinds of engine cleaners and i tested them and they didnt nothing
the car i was driving at the time was a high performance japanese import... you may have seen such cars in a documentary series called "the Fast and the Furious"
now in the day of direct injection its even more snake oily
i think what i would suggest is service the car on time, use the oil weight recommended, use a reasonable quality oil... and that's it
for certain performance processes high end oil (eg. for gearboxes and diffs.) is good
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In my searching in the past, Keropur from BASF has engine cleaning effect and there was some thread somewhere in the internet that this material is used Aral gasolin and diesel.
I bought an older, low mileage motorbike. Unfortunately that meant it had sat for a long time, somewhere damp, with the fuel tank nearly empty. Looking into the tank it was quite rusty.
The bike would sometimes lose power at higher rpm and it turned out to be that the inline fuel filter was getting partially blocked. Cleaned the tank as best as possible and replaced the fuel pump and filter and it now runs good.
On my mechanic's recommendation I used BG44K in the fuel. Can't say it did anything for performance, but it did seem to clean/treat the remaining thin orange rust layer inside the tank. So I'm happy with it, for that reason.
With ethanol added to our fuel (which traps water), some sort of rust inhibitor is likely a good preventative measure if you leave your bike over winter. (And top up to max too).
The bike would sometimes lose power at higher rpm and it turned out to be that the inline fuel filter was getting partially blocked. Cleaned the tank as best as possible and replaced the fuel pump and filter and it now runs good.
On my mechanic's recommendation I used BG44K in the fuel. Can't say it did anything for performance, but it did seem to clean/treat the remaining thin orange rust layer inside the tank. So I'm happy with it, for that reason.
With ethanol added to our fuel (which traps water), some sort of rust inhibitor is likely a good preventative measure if you leave your bike over winter. (And top up to max too).
OP
- Thread Starter
- #8
Yes so I've read. There are different diesel and gasoline though, so one question is if they also differ in "cleaning performance" as well.
For example, in Swede there is the "OKQ8 GoEasy Diesel" and a recent addition of "OKQ8 GoEasy Diesel Extra", containing even more additives to keep your engine "healthy".
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As with almost everything there is not just a yes or no answer, there exist quite many experiment and reports which show what they can do and what they cannot.
Would you like to use some for your engine(s)? If yes, please write some details about it like mileage, usage and what you would like to achieve.
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Yes, it is one of the better ones, even Mercedes and other brands relabel it and use during inspections at problem cases, for example https://www.ebay.com/itm/325009387042
Lots of threads on this in BobIsTheOilGuy.com. Mostly anecdotal, but it will broaden your sample of opinion.
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BMW has it as well.
OP
- Thread Starter
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I have a diesel car with a yellow alert on one of the injectors. Serviced by the book. Around 260,000 km now. Tech says no worry until red alert. I am thinking of switching to the diesel ”extra” fuel with more additives. But will it change anything?
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It might but those additives might be not dosed highly enough as they are more for maintenance to rather keep them clean.
Personally I would get one of the stronger dosed products and add it to 30 litres of fuel in the tank, for example this:
Pro-Line Diesel System Cleaner
Reduces pollutant emissions, thus optimizing smoke opacity prior to emissions test. Successfully tested in international test bench analyses. Cleans injection nozzles, the entire fuel system and combustion chambers of any troublesome deposits. Prevents any seizing up and gumming up of nozzle...
Svet Angelov
Active Member
In Bulgaria, both diesel and petrol are of poor quality, but especially diesel - a lot of impurities. It is not just recommended but damn near mandatory to use additives for some older diesels.
Add some XADO, go on the highway, and clean the DPFfilter - works like a charm
No such problems in the Netherlands, thankfully.
Add some XADO, go on the highway, and clean the DPF
No such problems in the Netherlands, thankfully.
Years ago I had a valve tick in a minivan and put ZMax in during an oil change. 10 miles later the ticking was gone and got 1mpg better. Carroll Shelby used it in his cars so I gave it a try and it did the job. I've put it in my other cars since, just ask at the oil change to leave it a quart low and put it in myself.
sam_adams
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Nope. This stuff is the only thing that gets my thirty-year-old daily driver to pass smog inspection every two years. With out it it fails. With it, it passes with flying colors.
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Come on guys, be rigorous. Everyone knows it is better after you put something, anything in the tank and expect a result.
I haven't used additives. I've done the reverse. Back in the 1970's had two different cars with the bad old Quaker State oil in them since new. Various issues. Removed the valve covers which were so gunked up only open space was where the rockers moved. Cleaned that out. Used a paintbrush and kerosene to clean up other areas. Flushed some passages. Buttoned it all up with fresh Havoline oil and all was better. One of them began using lots of oil. And changing the oil and filter at half the interval the filter was super dirty. It was better the next go around and fine while no longer using oil after the 3rd oil change. You don't need additives. Just removatives. Dumping some bottle of something in and hoping for results is the lazy way out.
Anyone want to discuss radiator stop leak? We can do magic fuel economy things after that. Fish carburetor anyone? Or maybe a Pogue carburetor? Or magnets?
I haven't used additives. I've done the reverse. Back in the 1970's had two different cars with the bad old Quaker State oil in them since new. Various issues. Removed the valve covers which were so gunked up only open space was where the rockers moved. Cleaned that out. Used a paintbrush and kerosene to clean up other areas. Flushed some passages. Buttoned it all up with fresh Havoline oil and all was better. One of them began using lots of oil. And changing the oil and filter at half the interval the filter was super dirty. It was better the next go around and fine while no longer using oil after the 3rd oil change. You don't need additives. Just removatives. Dumping some bottle of something in and hoping for results is the lazy way out.
Anyone want to discuss radiator stop leak? We can do magic fuel economy things after that. Fish carburetor anyone? Or maybe a Pogue carburetor? Or magnets?
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