Will fuel additives benefit a well-maintained car?

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televascular

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My car has 37,000 miles. It has been fed Shell V-Power for 98% of its life, and M1 5W-30 for all but the first 10,000 miles (5,000mi OCIs). Gas mileage is consistent, hovering between 26-30mpg depending on my leadfootedness.

Having used a Top-Tier gasoline and a synthetic oil high in detergents, will fuel additives (FP, Techron, etc.) provide any benefit at all? Are my valves/injectors/rings going to have any deposits that regular use of Top-Tier gas can't handle?

I'd rather not use additives because it might interfere with UOA results.
 
I use RLI's gas additive and it's worth 1 mpg in my wife Turbo Volvo, that is 26 mpg without, 27 with, about a 4% improvement. I want the extra lubricity and cleaning and I don't trust the distribution system to get an accurate dose of additives in when the truck drives away with a load and I think that errors would trend toward less rather than more additives. If you use a strong cleaning additive like Techron do it on the last tank of gas before an oil change.
 
A strong "injector cleaner" may or may not do anything for you. It could also taint your UOAs.

A continuous-use concoction like LCD's FP+ or Lucas Fuel Treatment (UCL) can certainly have a lot of benefits. Better lubrication of fuel pump, injectors and valve, better fuel economy (generally the better fuel you use the less difference you notice), reduced carbon buildup, and a gentle cleaning of valves and other traditional areas.

I don't think anyone has found any evidence that Lucas or FP skews UOAs.

Something like ARX seems to help with ring packs and the like. A maintenance dose or occasional (every 50k?) ARX cycle may make a noticeable improvement.

My recent UOA with FP60 in the fuel at every fillup is here
 
Add a bottle of Amsoil PI. I think Pablo posted a link to the presentation on it.
 
Top tier gas has additives.
You can often have benefit by a more concentrated solution of these additives.
I like a top end lube, like Lucas UCL [which has decent cleaning], or 2 stroke oil [just for lube].
For real cleaning, Chevron Techron, REdline S1, or Gumout Regane are proven good cleaners for anything they touch.
 
Well, that's what I'm debating. I think my engine is ALREADY clean, so I don't want to use unnecessary additives and skew my UOA. To be absolutely honest, I don't care about gaining more fuel economy. It's the thought of black, carbonaceous deposits sitting in my engine that perturbs me, regardless of whether they are doing damage or not.
 
Quote:

Well, that's what I'm debating. I think my engine is ALREADY clean, so I don't want to use unnecessary additives and skew my UOA. To be absolutely honest, I don't care about gaining more fuel economy. It's the thought of black, carbonaceous deposits sitting in my engine that perturbs me, regardless of whether they are doing damage or not.

Click to expand...


Add a bottle of Amsoil PI every 4k miles.
 
Your engine probably has an amount of Carbon if you haven't rev'd it up on occasion throughout it's life.

I would do as the others mentioned, but definitely would pour a 1/3 can of Seafoam in the power brake booster vacuum line to get rid of most of the build-up...
thumbsup.gif
 
What mechtech2 said.
i think that it would be hard to make a case that adding reputable fuel adds would do any harm.... and will help imo.
 
I have to agree with what Terry AND the Amsoil reps said. Fuel is dirty. I, reluctantly, have to routinely treat my jeeps. Every UOA that was fouled with fuel was lessened with a fuel system cleaner (RLI and later Amsoil PI).

Terry subscribes to the perpetual treatment method, while Amsoil goes with the 4k+/- deal. I DO believe that Terry's recommendation is preferred/ideal ..and that Amsoil's is more universally practical for the average consumer. It is WAY more maintenance than I've ever figured would be required ...but we are in dynamic times with evolutions in fuels (ethanol, etc.).
 
Hello all...1st post here.

I usually use the least expensive 87oct gas I can find which could be considered cause for concern, refering to fuel cleanliness. But I also use an 8oz bottle of VW/Audi gasoline additive about once/month.
As a part of preventive maintenance, I recently replaced my fuel injector seals. While the the fuel rail was off, I shone a flashlight down into each injector port and was pleased to see a reflection off of each intake valve. This was a big relief and gave be a bit of confidence regarding my fueling habits.

speedyswede
 
Unfortunately, I don't think that there's a top tier offering within buying range that I encounter. Even the local Sunoco (is that top tier?) gets deliveries with the same transport truck that delivers to the major convenience store chain. They may both come from the same refinery in Marcus Hook ..or the same terminal. Either way, the price difference more than pays for an additive added on a perpetual or periodic basis.

What's funny is that Exxon had to pay some fine or sign some consent decree for falsely promoting the idea that premium fuels benefited your engine in terms of additive potency. There was an assertive effort to then promote that all fuel had the proper standards for cleanliness/additive levels and that differences in fuel were merely limited to anti-knock requirements for higher performance engines. Brands were promoted to be "transparent" in the marketplace.

Then we saw some movement for infusing distinction in the fuel marketing. Mobil's drive clean theme (since moved to their oils as I think that fuel refining and fuel marketing have become much more divested from each other) ..Chevron's Techron theme ..and I'm sure that Shell's "something-or-other" is in there too. Still, and AFAIK, OEM manufactures and the federal government asserted that the standard offering at the pump was perfectly fine for use without the added costs of anything special in terms of added expense.

This no longer seems to be the case. Then again, there may be a "sensible life" component to the need for better fuels. I didn't see any evidence of fuel system issues for about 100k ..and even when it did show itself in analysis, it never showed itself in terms of impacting fuel economy. At least above the normal driving process variable. It appears the technology in fuel management compensated well for fuel system degradation over time.
 
I believe automakers generally do not recommend fuel/oil additives because they don't want to increase the perceived Total Cost of Ownership. However, it is an established fact that all engines develop deposits over time. Part of the issue may be that automakers don't believe untreated deposits will become problematic within the useful life of the vehicle, assuming proper maintenance. They couldn't care less about what kind of gasoline is used as long as it meets minimum federal standards.

Top Tier gasoline is supposed to go above and beyond the minimum detergent requirements, so my car is fed nothing but Shell V-Power (I must have faith that the V-Power I am being sold at the station is truly V-Power). I also use FP60. Had I not taken these precautions, would my engine's lifespan be cut shorter?

We'll never know.
 
I used to work at the Delphi fuel injector plant and I once replaced the injectors in my car at 112k miles (3.1V6) and we closely inspected them. I had owned the car since 58k miles and never used a fuel system cleaner and often bought my gas at a no-name place on my way home from work (a high volume station however). Those injectors had very slight deposit formation on the director but nothing inside the actual director holes so there wouldn't have been a performance reduction in the spray pattern of the fuel injectors. If those were clean can I assume my valves were clean as well? I don't know. Since you've been using V-Power all the time I would gamble extra cleaners aren't worth it or would offer little improvement. I recently sold a '94 Grand Prix with the 3100 V6 (different car) and it had 210k miles on it. I bought it with 18k miles on it and used a fuel system cleaner 1-2 times over the course of ownership and it got just as good of gas mileage when I sold it as when I bought it. The only thing that ever made a difference was a shorted plug wire and the model of tires on the car. Nothing else ever seemed to matter with regards to fuel economy.
 
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