primehacker said:

Figures on fiat from the trip computer which seems ok to me. Figures on montego from fill up tank method.

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Primehacker,

Treat the trip computer mpg display with a H U G E pinch of salt. The best way to get an indication of your car's mpg is to fill it up, note the mileage, drive it until it needs fuel, fill it up and then calculate the mpg.

(end mileage - start mileage) / litres to refill * 4.546 = mpg

The trip mpg on Mrs_G's Doblo is always 5 to 10 mpg out when compared to this method.

My M.P.G is steady at around 40-50 mpg. doesnt really drop on the mway stays in the 40-50 zone at 70 mph. Sometimes which is unusual wen i reset the trip meter after settling down. It reports back 52,53 mpg etc. There is a diffrence in fuel economy. Is it possible for certain petrol stations to have a higher grade of diesel or is there something else in it that enhances fuel economy?Better economy from the major petrol stations than the smaller ones.Always fill on the 94-95 p per litre

howky said:

Is it possible for certain petrol stations to have a higher grade of diesel or is there something else in it that enhances fuel economy?Better economy from the major petrol stations than the smaller ones.Always fill on the 94-95 p per litre

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I know many people who refuse to use tesco petrol because it doesn't contain the detergents/additives found in many other brands & people report problems after filling - rougher running, lower mpg etc.
I always used their unleaded when they were cheaper but now there's the price match I use the big names - and now I'm on diesel I'm laughing, 300 miles & just coming up to 3/4 tank, all around town.

On the subject of fuel economy, I have magnets attached to my fuel lines. On my last car I saw an increase in economy from 23/24mpg around town up to 26/28mpg - depending on how I drove.
If I treated it like a limo (steady accelleration, gentle braking etc) I'd get 28 but so often the chavvy boy racers in their £50 fiestas (with £3k sound system) were often itching for a race.

I didn't do a trial without the magnets so won't know if there's an improvement but I know it worked wonders on the petrol & imagine (hoping) it'll give similar results on diesel.

I've seen first hand how great these things are on the water pipes round here & use them on my gas lines, central heating and hot water system.

Anyone else used them?

sludgeguts said:

On the subject of fuel economy, I have magnets attached to my fuel lines. On my last car I saw an increase in economy from 23/24mpg around town up to 26/28mpg - depending on how I drove.
If I treated it like a limo (steady accelleration, gentle braking etc) I'd get 28 but so often the chavvy boy racers in their £50 fiestas (with £3k sound system) were often itching for a race.

I didn't do a trial without the magnets so won't know if there's an improvement but I know it worked wonders on the petrol & imagine (hoping) it'll give similar results on diesel.

I've seen first hand how great these things are on the water pipes round here & use them on my gas lines, central heating and hot water system.

Anyone else used them?

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And I've got some 'magic beans' for anyone who wishes to sell me their only cow....

Niall_G said:

And I've got some 'magic beans' for anyone who wishes to sell me their only cow....

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And people laughed when they said the world was round.

At my last place of work we had no end of problems with the supply to hot taps around the building (and the place was 8 years old!).
A company came in over the weekend & flushed strong acid through the hot pipes - but one pipe in the boiler room was so bad they had to cut it out, 4" diameter pipe & there was barely room to push a pencil down the middle because of the limescale.

The hot tanks had also suffered so these were replaced - two huge Strebel boilers, 8' tall & 4' diameter.
12 months later the company came to service the boilers. Out of the two boilers they took enough scale to fill a 300 litre metal bin.
Because of this - and the problems it would cause later, we had magnets installed on the hot pipes. The following year the scale they removed filled a 5 litre bucket, the year after there was nothing to remove because the magnets had stopped the formation of scale.
The guy who installed the magnets told me about all the other benefits - improved fuel economy in cars, flames burn hotter in gas boilers, scale reduction in water systems, pain reduction (eases toothache, backache, period pains, arthritis etc).

Had I not seen the improvement on the hot water system I wouldn't have believed it could work.
Having used magnets on my car's fuel system, I noticed an improvement in economy, I also used magnets for pain relief (bad arthritis in my wrist, magnets ease the pain allowing me to sleep better). Also used magnets to help take the edge off toothache & OH uses magnets to ease period pains.

They aren't 'magic beans' - although I can understand your scepticism but with all the miles you're dobbie is doing, would it really harm to try fitting a magnet around your fuel line?
It takes a tankful or so to start seeing benefits but what have you got to lose? £10 for a magnet. Mine paid for itself within a few months.

Sounds really interesting. I know that heating engineers fit large magnets to the feed pipes on boilers in our area because of the problem of very hard water. We have one on ours.

RichDoblo120 said:

Sounds really interesting. I know that heating engineers fit large magnets to the feed pipes on boilers in our area because of the problem of very hard water. We have one on ours.

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I was very sceptical when I saw them advertised & so steered clear. I actually thought it was some new age mumbo jumbo from the tree hugging brigade.

However, since seeing what the magnets did at work I was a convert.
The best tell is my kettle now never needs to be descaled & if my kettle is clear, my hot water tank must also be clear, as must my central heating pipes.
As I said earlier, they really help take the edge of pain and I had proven increase in fuel economy.

sludgeguts said:

They aren't 'magic beans' - although I can understand your scepticism but with all the miles you're dobbie is doing, would it really harm to try fitting a magnet around your fuel line?

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OK lets run a test. Mrs_G keeps a record of mileage covered and fuel bought. Will any old magnet do or does it have to be aligned with the fuel flow in some manner?

Niall_G said:

OK lets run a test. Mrs_G keeps a record of mileage covered and fuel bought. Will any old magnet do or does it have to be aligned with the fuel flow in some manner?

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The magnet I have is a two parter, each half being a 'W' shape and the two halves being held together by cable ties. As you put the halves together they want to repel each other.
I bought this about five years ago, no doubt the 'technology' has somewhat improved with improvements in magnets.

I've got a catylist that I bought for my old Sherpa van. It's basically 3 balls of a certain metal, I don't know which one, inside a cage that you drop into the fuel tank. It's supposed to create some sort of chemical reaction that improves fuel quality and gives more mpg. It only works with metal fuel tanks as it needs to be in contact with metal. It sounds like hocus pocus but I could get up to 50 mpg from my 2.0 Perkins Diesel Sherpa van. Magnets on your fuel line sounds like pure logic in comparison.

RichDoblo120 said:

I've got a catylist that I bought for my old Sherpa van. It's basically 3 balls of a certain metal, I don't know which one, inside a cage that you drop into the fuel tank. It's supposed to create some sort of chemical reaction that improves fuel quality and gives more mpg. It only works with metal fuel tanks as it needs to be in contact with metal. It sounds like hocus pocus but I could get up to 50 mpg from my 2.0 Perkins Diesel Sherpa van. Magnets on your fuel line sounds like pure logic in comparison.

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I had a similar thing on my old Metro - allowing it to run on unleaded without all the problems with pinking. Apparently, the technology comes from RAF in or just prior to WWII. Something to do with availability of suitable fuels & developing this technology to convert the fuel they had so the engines on bombers etc could run. On the plus side, they discovered that not only did it effectively convert the fuel but the converted fuel would burn more efficiently so more power from the engines - leading to increased mpg, cleaner engines etc.


I'm always scepticle of claims made by people who sell these things & would rather wait for the technology to become established & proven. I had no choice with the fuel thingy as 2 star was being phased out & my old metro just didn't like unleaded, a local metro specialist (one man band who only ever worked on Metros) told me about the thing you drop in the tank.
I have to say that it worked after about the second tankful.
Internet wasn't available at the time, it was only much later that I stumbled across an article.

I do wonder how much technology is out there that the public aren't made aware of that will suddenly become available when the public's need is great?

Have you got a link to this catalyst on t'interweb?

RichDoblo120 said:

Have you got a link to this catalyst on t'interweb?

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No, sorry. This was quite a few years ago, when t'intynet was just becoming widely available.

http://www.broquet.co.uk/history.htm

Just found this link (quick google for 'fuel catalyst'). This looks very familiar & seems to confirm what I said (although my memory wasn't 100%).

Thanks very much

You might also be interested in this...

http://www.carbonflo.co.uk/sales%20info%20files/sales%20info.htm#prices

Seems to be the same thing - even mentions Mr. Broquet - but the product is less than half of the cost of the Broquet.

At £80-odd for the Broquet & £30 for the carbonflo, it won't take anywhere near as long before the latter has paid for itself in terms of economy.

I'm going to send an email to see if this product can be used in conjunction with the magnet - don't want to mess around with the properties of the fuel with one thing only for another to change it back.

I think carbonflo is the one I have but it's about 20 years old now. Looks completely different.

I sent an email to carbonflo but it came back from the link with the message "Recipient address rejected: User unknown in relay recipient table".
Maybe they aren't around anymore? A pity asd they seem to be the same thing as the broquet but much cheaper.
According to their website, they got a pasting from the AA and Rover - of course, Rover want you to buy their new head & possibly a few of Rover's hierarchy control the AA?

Have look at www.frenchclassics.co.uk
The DS's are something else.
Click on the fuel cat system.

topcat5 said:

Have look at www.frenchclassics.co.uk
The DS's are something else.
Click on the fuel cat system.

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http://www.fuelcat.co.uk/mainpage.html
Yes, I was looking at that site earlier. £90 for the diesel version.
The site does say that the inline version not only has the tin in gauze but also passes the fuel through magnets for added benefits!

(wonders) If I fit enough of these items in my tank & install magnets the whole length of my fuel line will my economy reach such a point that I need never refuel my motor

Just filled the tank properly for the first time since buying the dobbie, 424 miles covered, mostly round town but 50-odd miles on motorway yesterday (so a chance to blow the cobwebs out). Worked out at 46mpg.l
Can't wait to go for a propert run to see what I can squeeze out of her. I had a lovely clear run on a daul carriageway so floored her to see what she would do, had to hold her back at 90 as there was still plenty of space left under my right foot. My lads also discovered a new pastime - as I overtook cars with women in, they realised the high seating of the dobbie gave them a bird's eye view down cleavages!

There's also a strong rumour that soon you'll be paying to go on the M25, works out at 90p per hour. Apparently, NCP have won the franchise :-D