Fuel additives

Gramera flash · January 19, 2017

I would like to canvass the opinions of other is250 on the subject of fuel additives, the pros and cons, the types that are available, and what's considered the "best" . Any feedback and knowledge of products would be appreciated.

steveledzep · January 19, 2017

What are you wanting the additives to do ?

I've never felt the need to try any.

Gramera flash · January 19, 2017

29 minutes ago, steveledzep said:

What are you wanting the additives to do ?

I've never felt the need to try any.

I'm wanting it to;

A prolong the life of the engine.

B give me better MPG

C give me more umph

D clean and keep clean certain components of the engine.

Now if additives do any of these and more I'd be interested to hear from others more knowledgeable than myself, or would I be wasting my money.

peachy · January 19, 2017

I've tried them all over the years on various motors. Never noticed any extra umph or extra mpg.

On an old motor that's not been serviced in donkeys adding a can of fuel additive may be beneficial.

Regular fuels do a decent enough job of keeping engine /fuel system clean along with a regular italian tune up to blow out any muck

It's cheaper and more fun too. 😄

Verbout · January 19, 2017

I use injector cleaner a couple of times a year, whatever's on offer at Halfords usually. Millers, Wynnes and Redex are the usual suspects.

normski2 · January 19, 2017

I use the Archoil AR6200 at 1ml per 10 litres of fuel every 4th fill up. Think it was around 16p per ml or thereabouts. They do good discount offers from time to time. I use cheapest fuel I can find ... which is nearly always supermarket.

The additive seems to last for ages.

From here.

http://www.powerenhancer.co.uk/archoil-ar6200-fuel-modification-complex-high-concentrate.html

They also supply the BG44K and AR6400 bulk petrol/injection cleaner.

I put a tin of BG44K in to a tank refill (50 litres) every 10,000 mls. Varies from £16 to £20 a tin. Halfords also do some similar products from the likes of Wynn's.

If you can spare the time, .... not a huge amount, this is worth a read. I'm not preaching to anyone ... just offering observations.

http://www.oilem.com/fuel-catalysts-archoil-ar6200-2/

Gramera flash · January 19, 2017

Thanks for the input, after reading up on this subject its clear that its not clear, bit of a Marmite subject.

PCM · January 19, 2017

Shell Nitro sometimes - trip up the motorway...

I've used additives too - never know if they work, or not.

Farqui · January 19, 2017

Additives often have add pinch of octane (cetane for petrol). Which naturally makes the car feel more spritely. Until they wear off/dilute down..

I've not personally not found any major improvements from additives. But that's not to say they don't work, as I've not done a before/after teardown.

I can tell you that diesel goo buildup on the intake system cannot be cleaned out easily. The only way is to phyiscally get down/dirty and grubby.

Rebecca · January 19, 2017

I did use additives in my previous IS220D, I bought some from Halfords called millers ecomax and ran the car with super diesel but it didn't stop the egr and dpf issue I suffered.

I run shell nitro on my current IS250 as I hear they can suffer a build up of carbon and I'm hoping the better fuel will help combat it.

Farqui · January 19, 2017

I'm sure the innards will benefit from a good shot of say Shell every now and again. It's well know to contain cleaning agents.

Over the past few years I've consistently found the BP gets me a few more mpg. The old derv Civic tends to run a bit quieter on it too, tho not by much!

Linas.P · January 19, 2017

On 1/19/2017 at 7:55 AM, Gramera flash said:

A prolong the life of the engine.

B give me better MPG

C give me more umph

D clean and keep clean certain components of the engine.

A - won't help, maybe more applicable for oil additives and frequent oil changes (which is basically the same thing as fresh 5w30 has plenty additives which are lost over miles and time. I guess after 10k miles 5w30 becomes something more like 15w20).

B - pretty much myth, a bottle of additives won't make any difference. Theoretically, they can help to clean carbon deposits, but real life tests shown that they make very little difference.

C - same as B. Theoretically, if you use fuel additive which increases RON in fuel, then you can advance engine timing and hence get more power, but standard Lexus ECU is not known for advancing timing.... however, if you use bad fuel ECU can retard timing hence you might get less power and by using additive you can improve that poor fuel and get back the power.... So just to summarise, no additive can make you any more power than 204HP/252Nm, but can help to keep that power... hence in certain circumstances one can say it adds power.

D - that is something more realistic, I do use petrol fuel system cleaner few times a year when it is discounted. As well I have seen some real world tests on like 5th gear claiming that it definitely helps to restore engine power etc, by cleaning injectors and fuel lines.

Ishaq · January 21, 2017

I have used a company called engine carbon clean for past 3 years. They come and give my car a 30min service which is adding Hydrogen through the air inlet and then revving the car every 5 mins while running. They have website and come out to you...this is not the same as Terraclean which use so much chemicals.

There is a thread somewhere on LOC about Carborn clean, mention LOC and get the service for £75

i can really see the crap coming out of the exhaust and also feel the difference instantly. My car drives and idles so smooth.

also like Normski I use the archoil at every fill. Worth the extra pence and keeps the engine squeeky clean.

Linas.P · January 21, 2017

That is not exactly additive, but I would say it was about time to touch on that.

As I said I only use fuel system cleaner, but don't use "miracle" HP adding and engine cleaning additives, because based on test I seen they don't work. Instead I would suggest as mentioned by @Ishaq to save money by not using additives or premium fuel and instead use either hydrogen decarb or terraclean (btw terraclean is not "chemicals" it is actually just same fuel filtered/cleaned to the degree where it is so clean, it doesn't leave deposits and actually burns exiting ones).

Rebecca · January 22, 2017

I picked up a bottle of redex in town this morning on offer at £3.99 and added it to my tank. This evening driving home from my days hiking on the brecon beacons I noticed a lot of gunk coming from the exhaust when I gave it some boot.

PCM · January 22, 2017

On 19/01/2017 at 7:07 AM, Gramera flash said:

I would like to canvass the opinions of other is250 on the subject of fuel additives, the pros and cons, the types that are available, and what's considered the "best" . Any feedback and knowledge of products would be appreciated.

For me the jury's out ... though I do sometimes try them...

I do wonder if the 'muck' coming out of the exhaust is simply the product burning off?

I tend now to use quality petrol ( Shell Nitro ) when I can ( afford it ).

Who knows?!

Edited January 22, 2017 by PCM
Link added.

Gramera flash · January 22, 2017

21 minutes ago, PCM said:

For me the jury's out ... though I do sometimes try them...

I do wonder if the 'muck' coming out of the exhaust is simply the product burning off?

I tend now to use quality petrol ( Shell Nitro ) when I can ( afford it ).

Who knows?!

I've done a fair bit of reading up on this subject and its clear from what I've read that there are as many against the idea as there are in favour, so I suppose if you think its doing good then use it, personally I am not going to bother.

Just my view, for what its worth.

Also I might add my car has only done 22k, so my situation is probably quite different to most others.

Linas.P · January 22, 2017

2 hours ago, Gramera flash said:

Also I might add my car has only done 22k, so my situation is probably quite different to most others.

Well it depends... e.g. when it comes to oil and oil additives not only miles counts, but time as well. Same can be said about fuel system cleaners, if you sometimes leave your car standing for extended periods of time (e.g. for month or so) the fuel goes off (or at least theoretically can...) and there is higher possibility of all kinds of gunk forming in fuel lines, tank etc. Which in turn means that at least fuel system cleaners might be good idea.

Bluesman · January 22, 2017

5th Gear did a good scientific trial with 4 different types and none of them made any difference at all and all showed a minus on what they claimed they could do. Snake Oil Salesman it never worked and it never will work but the sales pitch is good. Don't know how they are allowed to make such claims knowing full well there is not a cat in hells chance of doing what it says on the bottle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jbcCr2ll3c

RedX. Have a look at this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03nL8Z0dRkI

Linas.P · January 22, 2017

Thanks Bluesman, you have linked both 5th gear video to which I have referred to.

1. Fuel additives don't add power, nor improve MPG.

2. IF you have gunk in Fuel system, then fuel system cleaners really helps

On the same topic.... if today I have found no-brainier deal in Tesco... and now have enough Redex fuel system cleaner for whole 2017 (8 shots -1L) for just £3 (where normally 2 shots are 4-5..):