Oil/fuel Additives And Fuel Savers

[GadFly]

How many of you use products like XlR, FX1, Nitrus Octane Booster, Soltron, PowerClean(Caltex), Magnatic Fuel saver, Nanotechnology Fuel Saver and got good results?

Most of the time people get the false feeling or illusion of getting more millage or better acceleration after using those products. I don't know why that happen but that is not my area of interest. I need to share few facts and few thought with all of you so next time you buy any of the above product you will think twice.

XlR, FX1

Both claim that they will reduce the friction and hence all the other benefits like low wear and tear, better fuel economy, better acceleration etc. This is somewhat true since the main ingredient of both product is Chlorinated Paraffin (XlR MSDS clearly say this and I got a mail confirming this from the company who produce FX1). If you guys ever use bleach (which contains chlorine) you may come across the situation that your hands get slippery for a while if you didn't wear any gloves to protect your hand. Same happen to the metal when contacted with CP and effect is temporary.

What are the side effects?

With the moisture and high temperatures of the combustion chamber, CP will produce HCl (Hydrochloric Acid) which is harmful to your motor

Octane Boosters.

What is OCTANE Number?, "The octane rating is a measure of the autoignition resistance of gasoline and other fuels used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines" (Wikipedia).

Modern car engines are designed to use a fuel with a specific OCTANE number, therefore if you use a fuel with higher or lower octane numbers than the specified one, your engine will not perform well. So if your car require 95, then pump 95 and don't use 90 + Octane Booster, because you don't know whats the OCTANE number you are getting. (I never used any afternarket OCTANE booster, so I dont know if they will increase the OCTANE number or not, but reading few articles from the web what I feel was most of them are fake)

Soltron

They say that it is a enzyme fuel treatment and they have published some test results for the test done by University of Moratuwa. If the test are correct, then you need atleast 3-4 days for your fuel to be treated by the enzymes. So you cannot expect any results by just adding Soltron to your tank just before pumping unless you use one tankful for more than 4 days (Allowing soltron to kick in after 3-4 days). Since UOM is a credible body I have used Soltron in my Diesel car and I felt that there was a positive effect on the acceleration after 4 days, but I didn't notice any significant fuel economy (I'm driving in Colombo area so I'm not expecting that anyway)

Powerclean

This is a fuel system cleaner. I have few friends who used this and they said that it is working, but you have to use this in regular basis, you cannot just put one can and forget. You can increase the time interval between injector cleanings using this product.

Magnatic Fuel Saver/Nano Technology Fuel saver

Their claims can be true if they use some technology from a UFO. Why Toyota and Honda create complex systems like VVTI or VTec if you can get the same results just by putting two magnets around the fuel lines or by placing a small rubber tubing (Which is less than Rs. 2000 with the profit margin) around the fuel lines. Petrol and diesel are Hydrocarbons and cannot be ionized, so you cannot do anything to the fuel by a magnetic force. Other most significant proof of fake is there are lot of people I know who installed this two products and after few weeks (After coming out of the illusion) accepts that they are fake.

I haven't used any of the products other than Soltron and PowerClean so I may be wrong, but next time you buy think twice.

Edited December 27, 2007 by GadFly

[gunat]

references:

http://www.carbibles.com/additives.html

http://fifthgear.five.tv/jsp/5gmain.jsp?ln...ection=Consumer

[Sparky]

http://www.fuelsaving.info/ is also a pretty good resource.

[Nilantha]

Magnatic Fuel saver - Not work for me.

Soltron - Not work for me

ABRO fuel injector cleanner - works for me.

3M fuel injector cleanner - works for me

90 octain petrol better than 95 octain for me.

i have 5AFE EFI one.

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/reports.htm

Edited December 27, 2007 by Nilantha

[GMI]

Soltron gave a better acceleration and PowerClean helped a better mileage gain through cleaning the fuel system in my Nissan March K11.

But both the products were not significant in my 1.3l single point injection Rover Mini. However I still use PowerClean as it worked better comparing to other injector cleaners along with their prices.

Edited December 27, 2007 by GMI