Fuel Additives.

[bobjol]

I know its a controversial subject, but would welcome any constructive opinions on the use of fuel additives.

My LS430 with 94,000 miles, starts and runs perfectly in all conditions. The engine feels good and has no issues.

Every few months or so, I tip a load of Redex into the tank, only because it costs £2 a bottle at my local shop and has always been around

on forecourts for as long as I can remember (and that's a long time). Am I just wasting my money or is it actually keeping the internals clean?

I use supermarket fuels most of the time, and at £1.27 a litre, who can resist it.?  For longer journeys its always the BP super fuel.  I feel guilty about

putting cheap fuel with all its nasty extras into a V8 engine.  I am happy to continue with the Redex, but if anyone has bad experiences, I would love to hear about it.

[Vlady]

Hi Bob, it was discuss a little in this thread. Personally I use it very rarely but do not think it is bad for engine and the fuel system. Also Depends on the mileage you do, for me the use of Redex may be once/twice a year is enough and I do about 8k miles, I also use mostly SHELL gas stations.

Cheers

Vlady

 

[Malc]

I was putting one squeeze of redex in for every gallon I dispensed as a forecourt attendant some 50 years ago when I was a lad ...............  never did me any harm 

but that was into simply leaded petrol, I've no idea what the intricacies of it all are with hardened " heads " and lead removed from fuel just to what benefits there might be .  apart from the obvious it sells more product for the oil majors.

My V8 has never had redex nor much other than supermarket fuel for decades .............  she runs well on that and is 214k miles young

Malc

[MLW]

I also pop the odd bottle in at £2 from ASDA. Does it work. Maybeish. It really needs a proper empirical study to determine results. At £4 a year, I can feel it does work, but in reality, no idea. I feel better though!

[bobjol]

I agree.  It cant be doing any harm as I've used it regularly for many years and car has never failed on emissions.

I recently found a blog on another site where a Biker dropped his spark plugs into a small dish of Redex and all the

carbon crap fell off straight away, leaving them bright and shining.  I am sure that the use of Redex will keep injectors

and plugs clean.  Have to say that I am not a representative or have any connection to Redex. This is my opinion only.

[Newbie1]

The high octane fuels have extra detergents over regular. 

[Malc]

I've only ever used regular unleaded and zero additives ..............  now 215k miles young ..............  if in another 215k miles summat fails I'll just know I'm not doing it right 

I'll let you all know 

Malc

[malcolmdc]

Fifth Gear on TV - Jason Plato did some comparative tests on "cheap" things to improve performance on an old-ish Golf VR6. He started by putting a bottle of fuel cleaning additive in a tankful of gas, after running it for a week it gave him 6 bhp on the dyno, which was more than he subsequently got from oil/filter change, then plug/leads change. I do this on my LS400 Mk 1 about every 8/10 tankfuls and it seems to wake the motor up a bit each time. Can't do any harm, anyway . . . . .

[cornershop]

I use the Archoil 6200/6400 product and find it makes my 400 smoother and with better pick up at low-mid rpm.m; some low speed hesitation has also been removed.

I don’t do many miles a year, so I’m thinking it improves combustion qualities of the fuel, which may off whilst sitting in the tank.

As long as you stick to the dosage I don’t think you’ll go wrong; too strong a dosage can cause oil dilution, ie thinning of the oil - with a 5w/30 oil you can’t afford much thinning.

[Guest]

All personal choice naturally but for me for my MC's and cars including the LS premium unleaded everytime. This cars petrol engine is one of the best engines ever made and not likely to be bettered for obvious reasons. Its the best give it the best, worth the money balanced by better MPG. In addition I flush a tankful of juice treated with Unipart Fuel Injection treatment or similar through all my cars/bikes twice yearly,  all of them run as sweet as you like.

WM

[black400]

Cataclean twice a year or before a mot.any time I buy a new care a bottle goes in I find it great 

[runsgrateasanut]

On 10/15/2018 at 7:46 AM, Malc said:

I was putting one squeeze of redex in for every gallon I dispensed as a forecourt attendant some 50 years ago when I was a lad ...............  never did me any harm 

Malc

Also used to open up a Forecourt as a Teenager and squirt the odd red-ex into customers tanks. I use a half bottle of Wynns Injector cleaner on our 600 mile trip to France based on the fact that otherwise I'm only using the Car to go a  mile or so to the Supermarket regularly. (must soot it up)  Especially necessary just before the MOT I've found.   Bought of the Bay for under a fiver.

ps. One day Brian Poole and the Tremeloes appeared on the forecourt in a fancy Yankee job. Made my day,  to serve him.

[MLW]

I did actually put a whole bottle of Red X in my LS430 on the basis that the bottle says 1/2 for a 'typical' tankful, but the 430 has a 80litre+ tank, so it all went in.

No ill effects and I think the MPG has increased a bit, but it is summer and I use it on long runs. Never mind........ makes me fell good.

[scudney]

I use momentum 99 in my is250 f sport all the time(have occasionally used shell v power) and every now and again pop in a bottle of red x too(usually get them from my local Tesco's when they are on offer for 2 quid).Currently have about 4 bottles in the boot of my car lol 😁👍

[bobjol]

I have been using Momentum 99  for some time now, but only on every third refill. It sometimes gives off a very strong odour. 

The Momentum is the same price as BP regular fuel in my area. Redex is only added when on special offer.

Car passed MOT last month with no issues concerning emissions. Tester told me he had to carry out emission test again, as results were lower than expected for a 14

year old car..     Renewed my car insurance in June, and received all the usual quotes from price comparison sites as expected.  Tried Direct Line and was offered same policy for £25/year cheaper than any other quotes.  Renewed policy with them and had great customer service.  Last week, decided to add one of my sons to policy and requested a quote and expected my policy to rocket in price.  They quoted an additional payment of £8.98.   I had to query this quotation in case it should have been £89.80.

£8.98 was the extra payment required. Happy days all round.