Fuel Additives Poll

[bowtieguy]

just wanted to see the mood here(and why) for fuel additives NOT for the purpose of gaining efficiency. no doubt most here would tend to lean towards the thought that additives do not increase fuel mileage.

please feel free to add comments about your choice if you so desire.

[add|ct]

Its funny you started a topic on this. It was recently on my mind as well, after reading around about the problems with using certain ones w/ E10 myself the other day.

What I've decided on is using a cleaner/lube with a gasoline like Shell V-Power(or just buy an entire tank of V-Power =P) My intervals are for every 4k or so, then I'll use something like SeaFoam in my gas tank, but not a very concentrated dose nor more often than every oil change, though I've done that before.

My dad uses Lucas' standard Fuel Treatment on his cars, and from time to time I'll slip some in. I don't want to really use a fuel treatment all of the time by any stretch while running gas with ethanol, but those 2 I'd use sparingly to help with any potential problems caused by having E10. I guess that's my attempt at finding a good balance between the extremes and not waste a lot of money either way.

When I've tried to get a used car "up to snuff" here's what I usually do:

- Drop a can of SeaFoam or Lucas in a smaller amount of gas(or more or less what each product specifies); I have used SeaFoam in other ways like in crankcase so that is partly why I bought it to transition between Type II oils to a Type IV(though AutoRX is probably a better option in hindsight)

- After that tank, replace the Fuel Filter

- Then proceed with other potentially affected parts needing service/replacement

I'm cautious about over treating, since of course using the 'cleaners' and 'upper cylinder lubes' tend to decrease gas mileage some during use and who really knows the potential damage to regular/continued use with E10.

Any more than 1 time every 3-5k miles is over treatment, IMO.

[theholycow]

I haven't had any problem that I felt calls for a fuel additive, so I haven't tried any. I find that normal scheduled maintenance is quite sufficient for my vehicles and conditions.

The one exception was when I put some liquid that turned out not to be gasoline in my truck and it barely ran. I tried pouring some additives to clean it up, to no avail

[Jay2TheRescue]

I use fuel stabilizer in the one ton van that we only drive once every few months, and in the other vehicles I use a bottle of BG 44k every couple of years to clean out the fuel system.

[Project84]

I gave up on fuel system additives.

I tried 4 or 5 of them. STP, Lucas, Seafoam to name the few I remember. Didn't notice anything but FE dropping for the tank I added them but didn't substantially raise for the following tank. I deemed them a waste of money and stopped using them.

I've run the gauntlet of oil system additives too... same results. Some seem to clean better than others, but nothing really "solves" a problem if that's what your objective is.

[bowtieguy]

i don't recall having any fuel related issues before E10 made its way into our fuel. marine and small engine owners seem to have more frequent issues i've heard.

both of our DD are nearly 14 years old, so my thought was that maybe these vehicles would have long term issues at some point. what i've researched suggests that fuel cleaner are not so much needed anymore w/ alcohol in gas. there's likely a trade off however--like lack of lubricity.

[theholycow]

I'm pretty sure lubricity isn't an issue, there's additives for that already in the fuel.

Marine and small engine owners having difficulty may have carburetors that were designed for fuel that has MTBE or no oxygenator at all, not E10. It also affects carbureted cars. Besides different vaporization characteristics, it also is not safe for materials for which old formulas were safe.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I know in VA gasoline sold at marinas and airports for air & boat usage does not have ethanol.

[bowtieguy]

this...http://www.fuel-testers.com/is_gas_a..._e10_list.html suggests that no fuel additive should be used w/ E10 or 85--at least not as a cleaner.

[add|ct]

I agree w/ btg.

I read the same article when reading around. Since I don't have the experience, just to be 'safe'; in relation to upper cylinder lubing, I just use something like Lucas or SeaFoam sparingly.

It seems like its more of an issue if a car sits a month or more with the same gasoline in it, being E10. That's another reason why I don't fill up my lesser driven car. Even the VX I don't fill up all of the way.