Techron and sulfur deposits on gas tank sender

[McKittrick]

Does anyone know what in the Techron concentrate plus actually cleans the sulfur from the gas tank sender silver or silver palladium electrodes?

The new techron bottles I bought had this additional cleaning stated first on the cardboard neck cover.

I have an old truck that slowly lost the accuracy of the gas gauge and after a search here in the Fuel, additives and cleaner section I thought I would give it a try, but I also want to know the chemistry

 

[Doc8404]

it contains little known molecules called this$hitreallyworks.

 

[JHZR2]

Id be suspect of such a thing really ever working. Strip the top monolayer, perhaps, but AgS and Pd-Ag-S are both thermodynamically stable especially at the conditions in a gas tank.

Perhaps it is some sort of corrosive chemisorption, but I doubt there is much if any real 'cleaning' going on of those parts if it is actually sulfur chemistry. Short of oxidatively regenerating them at about 450C, not much will help. I am running an R&D project on a similar set of chemistries used for another purpose right now.

JMH

 

[Doc8404]

not sure, but if you research other posts (and Chevron's claims, yes, it's marketing) you'll see that Techron has helped time and time again....even with the naysayers' attacks.

 

[JHZR2]

Im not saying that a corrosive chemisorption of some sort can strip the top layer of AgS from the electrodes, or something similar happening...

But 'cleaning' in the gentle and happy sense is almost certainly not the case. Thermodynamics wouldnt generally let that be the case.

If it works, great. I just wonder the byproducts of it working...

JMH

 

[McKittrick]

JZHR2

Do the amines have an affinity for sulfur? Or would it have to be some other chemical that would have sufficiently favorable thermodynamics to break the sulfur-silver bond?

I know that if you are in a fairly stable state, that it would have to be something rather agressive to break that bond.

I am interested in what may have changed in the Techron formulation recently so that the marketers could place this on the label

Thanks

 

[John_K]

Some people claim 3M Fuel System cleaner does this. I used it and it did no good.

John

 

[Stooge]

Amines are rather strong reducing agents. They will help to "untarnish" or reduce the silver containing level element in your gas tank back to the "reduced" or metallic state - the (reduced) state the metal was in before exposed to sulfur (sulfur being a weak oxidizer (opposite to a reducing agent)). FP60 will do the same. Test this by rubbing a tarnished silver piece with the Techron or FP60. Does it shine it back-up and leave a black residue on the rag/hands. It will do the same to the fuel sender in the gas tank, although slower, not as dramatically and probably never completely. The oxidized (sulfurized) silver level element in the tank does not conduct electricity the same way as the reduced (normalized) level element and thus you get all kinds of effects to include a wandering level indicator (gas guage). There's alot of non-sweet crude oil(meaning with alot of sulfur) flooding the world market from folks like Chavez in South America and the Russians, and removing the sulfur (sweetening the products) is expensive. The auto industry needs to install a level element more resistant to these effects in the future.

 

[GMorg]

From the Chevron page linked below:

"One treatment with TECHRON® Concentrate Plus can help:

* Clean corrosive sulfur deposits from fuel gauge sensors
* Restore operation of sulfur contaminated fuel gauge sensors
* Prevent harmful sulfur species from attacking sensitive electronic fuel sending units
* Protect the FSU against malfunction by coating all metal surfaces of the fuel system"

http://www.chevron.com/products/prodserv/fuels/additives/concentrate_plus.shtml

 

[McKittrick]

The Chevron page talks about what it is supposed to do, I am just wondering if it is a new chemical added, or just new marketing of what has previously been in there.

And if possible would like to know how it works

That way I will know if Techron has to be the going forward PEA type cleaner or can I still use REGANE

or perhaps alternate them

Thanks

 

[Doc8404]

From what I've researched on this site, Regane is as good, some say better.

 

[McKittrick]

Yes rsylvstr

I was lurking on this site for about a year before I joined, and have been using REGANE as a slighly less expensive alternative to Techron.

Hope to find out of Techron concentrate plus has an additional component that someone knows about that works against the sulfur deposits.

 

[psudaytona]

I am wondering in the amines are the ones responsible for helping that problem. No other additives make the claim about that, other than techron I think.

I noticed a similar effect when I ran doses of Redline and Regane. My fuel gauge had this "wiggle room" where slight changes in the angle of my car would result in a +/- 1/8 tank reading change. After running any of those, it eliminates the problem for about a month(I suppose the time it takes to build back up).