Fuel Additives

[ArKiTeCkT]

I know this may be a noob question, but I was wondering if fuel additives do anything and is it worth it?

[ahausheer]

Of course this is debatable but I have seen no research other than that done by the additive companies that suggests they are ''worth it''. If you have an old carbureted engine that was poorly taken care of then they could help clean stuff out but in modern engines and with modern fuel standards they don't do much if anything. The additives designed to increase the octane rating will foul plugs pretty good, usually turning them orange, test it yourself, the plugs foul in as little as a tank or two and the octane increase is negligible at best. I have used chevrons fuel additive a few times as it seems to be a quality product that wont do any damage, still have no idea if it actually did anything productive. I know importtuner.com tested a few additives with a dyno and found none of them were worth it. May want to search their site as well. Also on a personal note I properly cleaned my 1986 camry engine with seafoam, it got rid of all the gunk, but that gunk was helping fill in wear in the cylinder ( I think) and the car started burning significant oil immediately after I did this. Look at it this way, if they actually did anything most of the mags/reporters would have already proved it and all us car guys would be using them. If they really worked well it would not be debatable.

[ArKiTeCkT]

Thanks for your knowledge, I was planning to purchase a BRZ here in Canada and wanted to ensure that the car lasted more than 5 years at least.

[Bristecom]

Quality fuels like Shell V-Power have enough cleaning agents and are well tuned for direct injection. If you stick with quality fuels, you should have no need for additional additives.

[Jordo!]

The short answer is: NO.

Use top tier fuels and don't waste your time with octane boosters -- you will be lucky to get even a full point increase from any of them.

[RRnold]

Why does this thread reminded of the guy who put NOS energy drink in his gixxer and went global!

[Bristecom]

Originally Posted by Sleeperz

Use synthetic oils like Mobil 1 to increase the engine life. One of Synthetic oils claim to fame, is it lubricates better when first starting a cold engine left sitting overnight which is when the most engine wear occurs.

He was talking about fuel not oil. :P

[Baldeagle]

Wouldn’t logic dictate that since top tier gas distributers add their own additives (ie: techron), that the fuel system, intake valves and cylinders would in fact get gunky if they were not “cleaned” regularly by these additives? If one were to claim additives were bad, then why buy top tier fuel since that is what they contain? If one were to agree that engines naturally get dirty and that top tier fuels with their additives are beneficial, wouldn’t that be an argument that other store-bought additives may in fact help an engine?

[ahausheer]

Originally Posted by Baldeagle

Wouldn’t logic dictate that since top tier gas distributers add their own additives (ie: techron), that the fuel system, intake valves and cylinders would in fact get gunky if they were not “cleaned” regularly by these additives? If one were to claim additives were bad, then why buy top tier fuel since that is what they contain? If one were to agree that engines naturally get dirty and that top tier fuels with their additives are beneficial, wouldn’t that be an argument that other store-bought additives may in fact help an engine?

I doubt it's that simple. Obviously ''additives'' are extremely beneficial when comparing modern fuel with that from a few decades ago but the fact remains, there is only very limited evidence that off the shelf ''additives'' have benefits above and beyond the additives already in the fuel. Don't get me wrong I still use the occasional can of Techron because I reserve the right to be a hypocrite. I just dont think the additives in the occasional 12 oz can of anything can compare to the additives in thousands of gallons of modern fuel. I am not an expert and have no literature to support my thoughts so the debate will continue something along the lines of this:

[Dimman]

Apparently octane boosters used to be pretty effective but not anymore. Environmental, health/safety or economic changes?

In Canada I'll be feeding mine 94 from Chevron.

[serialk11r]

Octane boosters I've heard of all kill your cat or related emissions equipment or worse...

[Dimman]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Octane boosters I've heard of all kill your cat or related emissions equipment or worse...

Could be why all the new ones are nerfed. They don't want to or aren't allowed to screw up emissions.

[2jzge]

Helpful tip:

There was one time I ran out of gas (I had a malfunctioning level gauge in an old car due to fuel system modification) and the gas station that I stopped 40 yards away from was out of gas tanks. Instead of pushing my car to the pump I grabbed 3 bottles of Octane booster. It was just enough to get me to the pump. This is the only time I've used an octane booster.

In the SVT community octane boosters are used when VP racing fuels aren't on site at the strip. However I do not think its the boosters sold at gas stations.

[Sport-Tech]

Originally Posted by Dimman

In Canada I'll be feeding mine 94 from Chevron.

May be a bad plan unless they guarantee no ethanol - see http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4925