Least harmful additives to eliminate crickets
 

why hello there,

Like most of you my Brz has been experiencing crickets on and off through out its life, currently I've been on the latest DI pump for 10,000 km and they are becoming more constant than ever, no matter what fuel i use.

I have previously read people using a couple things to stop the friction that causes the chirps, whether it be a cap full of 2 smoke oil, fuel injector cleaner, or octane booster.

I want to hear from you guys what worked best with your 86, and if some people with more expertise could chime in on possible risks, increased wear, or effects on performance on using any additive that could help with crickets.

hoping to find the best way to get rid of this annoyance cause toyotabru ain't gunna do it!! :paddle:

run e85

We don't get corn up here in northern ontario :( not even 93

Some people are using Lucas Upper Cylinder Lubricant which is mixed 3oz. to 10 gallons. Also cleans injectors etc.

This used regularly seemed to help me out a lot.


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Any way there could be side effects?

Maybe if you dumped a whole bottle in...........:iono:

Anybody using Marvel Mystery Oil?

Turn up the radio! :D

Klotz Uplon works well for me.

whats that?




thinking of gunna just try some lucas injector cleaner from the gas station today and see how that does, im pretty sure i remember people saying using it can hurt gaskets or seals or something...

Best way is to avoid petro canada 94 (which contains 10% ethanol) and go with Shell V-Power. Never had the crickets before, used Petro 94 and it started. Went back to Shell V-Power, boom, problem fixed

Some have used 2-cycle TC-W3 engine oil. They add 1 oz to 5 gallons of gas after each fill up. It keeps the crickets away and makes the engine less noisy.


This has been used in may types of cars with positive results and no negatives that I've ever read. There is a lot written on it. (do a search and see!)

yea after doing some research tc-w3 oil seems to be a generally accepted additive for a smoother running engine that also helps ethonol in the fuel.

I use Shell v power 91 regularly and my crickets are literally starting to sound like bird chipring now theyre getting so loud, ive checked oil and coolant 3 times in the past 2 days cause the engine sounds like shit, chirping, woodpeckers, louder than ever, and not even when completely warmed up now... makes me wonder if my pump might actually fail.

Woodpecker?? Now THAT'S loud.............

Woodpeckers WITH the crazy loud chirping, my 86 is trying to create it's own damn biome under there


How much oil you guys put in with a tank? Think ill jus do a cap full and see how it goes

I have herd that using Ethanol Free gas would clear up the crickets, So I gave that a shot and it still didn't help me out. Pointless comment, I know. Just stating a method that didn't work haha

But it's worth repeating it, because the people who insist that it's the ethanol causing the problem need to hear it. If ethanol were the problem, we wouldn't have some folks saying their crickets went away when they went over to E85.

I'm convinced it's not the ethanol, but the additives the different oil companies use when blending gasoline. There are more than 20 blends of gas sold in the United States, and they change throughout the year. You can always fill up at the same station every time and still end up with different blends of gasoline.

In my area, Sam's Club gas causes an alarming amount of noise under my hood. Shell is moderate but varies. Exxon seems to be a little louder but varies. So far my best results have been with Chevron, but the crickets still haven't been eliminated.

Over on Bobistheoilguy.com there is a lot of discussion about consumer fuel additives (not specific to the twins). A lot of people are running ashless two-stroke oil in their cars, specifically TC-W3. Not just any two-stroke oil will do; it has to be ashless. I asked about the Marvel Mystery Oil above because I saw some favorable discussion over there about that also. A lot of people over there seem to think the Lucas additive is a waste of money, but they're evaluating it on the basis of extending engine life and not its cricket exterminating properties. The general consensus seems to be that it won't hurt anything to use it, just that it doesn't really do anything to extend the life of the fuel system.

This is one of the more likely reasons why this occurs, but from my personal experience, every time I've added a 93 octane 10% ethanol blend to my tank, I get crickets and chirps within 30 miles after filling up. As soon as I switch back to Spinx or Red Robin 93 octane no ethanol, crickets go away. This stays consistent throughout the entire year, and I've never had to use any additives.

This also remained true when I drove home to Illinois and back - crickets all the way and back because 10% blends were all I could get easily outside of SC. First tank of no ethanol after I got back and crickets went away.

Maybe the no ethanol here has additives that they don't put in the ethanol blends (or vice versa), and the fuel pump just likes that blend better. :iono:

I think this is probably what is happening. If ethanol were the cause, we would all see this difference consistently, and the E85 people would have cricket symphonies as their BRZ/FRS soundtrack. The fact that we can't seem to get a consistent result would indicate that the problem lies elsewhere.

Least harmful additives to eliminate crickets
 

Used TC-W3 since sept of 2012 on the shop car. Crickets sometimes come and go. Does not seem to be a 100% fix. Car has never been altered by the dealer since delivery in may of 2012.

The TC-W3 and *certain gas seems to work*.... On a few cars we have tested... but it's not 100% so we have never posted it as a fix. Not a scientific answer, so we're not going to spread that.

Some blends of E85 contain additives which kill the crickets.

E85 (united) Stuff we get here fires them up, as does any 10% ethanol fuel, once I go back to no ethanol fuel crickets die or at least lie dormant until you fill e'm up with alcohol again. :lol:

I added 1.5 ounces of penzoil semi-synthetic tc-w3 to my last fill up of Shell 91. Hasn't done a dang thing to help with crickets. I'll probably try Chevron next tank.

Not sure about Canada, but in the U.S. Shell V-Power contains Ethanol. It is actually a requirement of the Top Tier Fuel program that all fuels with that rating use 10% Ethanol.

Actually, the top tier fuel requires additive, not ethanol last I checked =)

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i added an exhaust. my crickets are gone now.

I add a full 3.5 ounces of 2-stroke oil (specifically Amsoil Saber) and the crickets went away. This works out to ~500:1 ratio with a full tank of gas.

I use Lucas fuel injected cleaner and seems to work for me.

I experimented 2-3 full fill ups with Amsoil saber 2-stroke oil and it works. :party0030::w00t:

If youre chirping on the new pump, warranty it.

i have the revised pump, 5k ish on it now, no chirps. but as soon as it makes a peep, subaru is going to know about it.

you didnt pay tens of thousands of dollars to bandaid a problem in design.

So true!

Everybody shouldn't sit on it during warranty. Only repeated replacements can send the correct message.

How much are you adding?

Yes it does!

A full 3.5 oz bottle of the saber oil.

I have a few reasons for going about it the way I did:

1) It's because American gas is shit... yes the Japanese car company should have tested it on our gas but apparently they didn't?

2) I don't like technicians working on my car. I was a tech for 3 years, I know the kind of people employed at dealerships.

3) If a true fix came out, I'd replace it but so far all signs point to an ongoing issue that can't be remedied except with a very small bottle of additive.

Love the car and I'll be rockin' the $2.00 bottle of 2-stroke till she dies :party0030::happyanim: lol.

I just checked. Top tier is in fact required to use between 8 and 10% Ethanol.

http://www.toptiergas.com/deposit_control.html

Huh, interesting. Guess I missed that part. Thanks for the info!:cheers:

Yea I picked up some tcw3 last week, put in two cap fulls and no crickets for last two tanks. Found my additive!

3.5 ounces to a full tank of fuel.

Probably the least harmful additive would be insulation.

Patience.