Miracle Fuel-saving Devices that Didn't Work ...

[RobertISaar]

i don't know if there are any fuel economy benefits from it, but TC-W3 sure did quiet the fuel pump in a 92 ranger.... i have to actively listen for it now.

was slick50 ever considered a fuel economy improver? because i got burned on that once.

 

[MarkM66]

Originally Posted By: bvance554
Car manufactures scratch for every bit of fuel economy they can to put on the window sticker and to meet CAFE requirements. Car companies have even been sued because a certain vehicle did not get the claimed fuel economy. So I always figure, if there were some magical device or potion to increase fuel economy, don't you think they would already be using it?


Exactly. You'll get the mpg the car was designed to get. No aftermarket anything is going to make a measurable difference. The best way to improve stock mpg is to driver correctly.

 

[redbone3]

All of them!

 

[RF Overlord]

The Fitch Fuel Catalyst. No, I didn't buy one.

 

[Number_35]

I kind of miss points ... I could almost always do a roadside repair if there was an ignition failure.

The best system was the one GM used on its V8 engines - there was a little window on the side of the distributor cap that slid upwards. You could adjust the point gap (and thus dwell angle) with an Allen key while the engine was running. No trial and error or feeler gauge required.

Having said that, electonic ignition allows for a hotter spark and almost zero maintenance.

 

[Number_35]

Near the end of the 307's days, consumption had risen to an unsustainable 70 miles/litre. I had several sets of plugs - could swap in a clean set in about 20 minutes, and clean the old ones at my leisure.

At 176,000 miles I bought a parts car ('69 BelAir) for $100 and swapped in the 327 and TH350. The tired old 307 & Powerglide were retired. The Powerglide had never had a problem.

When I pulled the heads off the 307 the ridges at the top of the cylinders were incredible.

 

[01rangerxl]

I remember my parents put a tailgate net on their '86 Ranger for a short time back in the mid 1990s. Didn't do anything for MPG and was an inconvenience over the tailgate, so it got tossed.


Not their truck, but for those who aren't familiar with this former fad...

 

[bvance554]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
I remember my parents put a tailgate net on their '86 Ranger for a short time back in the mid 1990s. Didn't do anything for MPG and was an inconvenience over the tailgate, so it got tossed.


Not their truck, but for those who aren't familiar with this former fad...

That one did at least make some sense until Mythbusters came along...

 

[Clevy]

I've tried tons of different things to improve mileage. Today I'm set in my routine and I've proven to myself over countless tanks of fuel what works for me.

 

[MarkM66]

The biggest "snake oil" device I think was a few years ago when people were making those "hydrogen generators" out of mason jars and some wire connected to the battery. Seemed like a lot of people were getting on board with those things.

 

[kschachn]

But like your last paragraph states, today you don't have ignition failures. You don't have to do roadside repairs.

Originally Posted By: Number_35
I kind of miss points ... I could almost always do a roadside repair if there was an ignition failure.

The best system was the one GM used on its V8 engines - there was a little window on the side of the distributor cap that slid upwards. You could adjust the point gap (and thus dwell angle) with an Allen key while the engine was running. No trial and error or feeler gauge required.

Having said that, electonic ignition allows for a hotter spark and almost zero maintenance.

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: Number_35
The best system was the one GM used on its V8 engines - there was a little window on the side of the distributor cap that slid upwards. You could adjust the point gap (and thus dwell angle) with an Allen key while the engine was running. No trial and error or feeler gauge required.


While the distributor caps with the hatches did make points adjustment easy the one on my Catalina caused constant issues on stormy days. The distributor on that car was at the back of the engine, and low. I had to keep a rag and screwdriver handy on days when it was raining heavily and big puddles formed. If I drove through a puddle too fast water would splash up and get into the distributor cap, thus stalling the engine. I'd have to get out in the pouring rain and dry the inside of the cap. I had far less of that trouble if I used a Blue Streak branded cap and eventually I started using silicone around the hatch, partially defeating its purpose. Once I switched to the HEI distributor there were no more of those issues since there was not access point for the water.

 

[MarkM66]

There was nothing "better" about a points distributor. There's a reason why they're gone, and people with old cars that have them have since swapped them out for a electronic system.

 

[DBMaster]

+1!!

 

[Number_35]

Hey, I'd forgotten about those hydrogen generators ... they were featured in our newspaper's auto section a long time ago (c. mid '90s) and I was very interested. They were big coin at the time - $1800 installed IIRC. Glad I didn't do it!

 

[Number_35]

I have had a couple of electronic ignition failures over the years - in an '82 Mazda GLC, and an '80 Plymouth Volare wagon.

However, the Mazda was in the late 80s, and the Volare in the mid-90s. I guess I'm coming up on 20 years without ignition system problems - point made.

When I worked as an oil change/tune-up tech many years ago, my coworkers told me about a weird one they'd seen before I worked there. A Honda Civic had come in (I worked there in 1980, so the Civic couldn't have been more than a few years old) running terribly. They put it on the scope and got a firing pattern like a V8. It turned out the rubbing block on the points had worn down, leaving deposits on the distributor cam. So, the cam had its regular four lobes, and four secondary false lobes made of deposits. The deposits on the cam were built up enough to open the points slightly in mid-cycle and fire the plugs (weakly, and at the wrong time). Apparently someone had converted the system to hybrid electronic ignition, where the points served only as a mechanical switch, carrying only low current. Therefore, the point faces remained good, and the points didn't have to be changed ... until the rubbing block wore down. Told to me as true, but sounds like a Gus story out of Popular Science.

 

[bullwinkle]

Originally Posted By: Number_35
I have had a couple of electronic ignition failures over the years - in an '82 Mazda GLC, and an '80 Plymouth Volare wagon.

However, the Mazda was in the late 80s, and the Volare in the mid-90s. I guess I'm coming up on 20 years without ignition system problems - point made.

When I worked as an oil change/tune-up tech many years ago, my coworkers told me about a weird one they'd seen before I worked there. A Honda Civic had come in (I worked there in 1980, so the Civic couldn't have been more than a few years old) running terribly. They put it on the scope and got a firing pattern like a V8. It turned out the rubbing block on the points had worn down, leaving deposits on the distributor cam. So, the cam had its regular four lobes, and four secondary false lobes made of deposits. The deposits on the cam were built up enough to open the points slightly in mid-cycle and fire the plugs (weakly, and at the wrong time). Apparently someone had converted the system to hybrid electronic ignition, where the points served only as a mechanical switch, carrying only low current. Therefore, the point faces remained good, and the points didn't have to be changed ... until the rubbing block wore down. Told to me as true, but sounds like a Gus story out of Popular Science.
Yup, I had a couple slant 6 powered Mopars from that era-carried a spare ballast resistor & ignition module in the glovebox! Good thing they were easy to change!

 

[Number_35]

Ha ha, yes, I wasn't even counting the ballast resistors on the Slant Six. One time my wife phoned me at work with the car doing the classic stall as soon as the key was released. I stepped her through bypassing the ballast resistor with a piece of stranded copper wire. Worked fine for the day or so it was in place. It's OK to do in a pinch, but because the resistance isn't there, you shouldn't leave it in place indefinitely. Some 70s Datsuns used the same system, and failed similarly.

 

[1 FMF]

lubecontrol fp60,
was pushed by people on here a few years back and they were a sponsor yada yada
i track mileage and gas used on my car since day 1 and naturally recorded it during the fuel power usage. no change.

if they are still a sponsor, let's see if this thread gets closed/deleted.

 

[jhMalibu]

I never bought one, but does anyone remember the "Blade" exhaust filter that was supposed to reduce air pollution, CO2 and increase fuel economy simultaneously?