Technical Fuel Cleaning

[fubar]

Hi all,
Was just looking for details on the Fiat Coupe 16v N/A fuel tank capacity (63 Litres) when I came across a thread discussing best petrols.

A lot of people said that Shell V-Power was the best as it had a higher octane and actually cleaned the engine.

I have always gone for Tesco Super-unleaded (99 octane) and tipped in half a bottle of Red-Ex to help clean the engine.

Does anyone have experience of Red-Ex and if it is actually effective? Can it be used with Shell V-Power or would that petrol be doing the same thing?

What petrols and mileage do other Coupe users get on a tank of petrol?

 

[jimboy]

Personally & there is a vast amount of stuff on the subject on the net [snake oil] waste of money at the best. At the worst over use can cause problems..........
That is additives..

 

[Rustbucket]

Most fuel cleaners RedEx included are 90% kerosene with a few other things and fancy colouring added. You'd get an equally good job using 100mls of AVTUR (aviation kerosene) or kerosene heating oil...personally I'm cautious about dumping any additive in the tank or in the oil. If the stuff was any good the petrol company or oil company would add it anyway.

There's a yellow sticky gunge marketed under the name of Bard...which is supposed to seal worn piston rings, coat worn cylinders and generally do Good Things to worn engines. Its actually the expoxy polymer cousin of Araldite glue, without the hardener. Do you really want that in your engine?

Mostly expensive smoke and mirrors

 

[fubar]

Hmmm,I see your point but if 99 Octane petrol was so good why do the oil companies make 95 Octane petrol?

Surely any additive added over the millions of gallons sold would add a lot to the price of petrol, gain the oil companies unwanted bad publicity due to high prices and deter customers who see a mere 1p increase on a litre a sin.

And there's always the democracy of allowing people with sparkling new engines or engines that may not like the additive to opt out and not pay for everyone else to make use of it... that's why the government has held off putting fluoride in tap water & folic acid in all bread.

QuikFit seem to put stuff in your car to clean the engine and they sell RedEx for petrol & diesel cars, they seem fairly clued up (but then again I'd be clued up if someone offered me an envelope of cash, LOL!)

 

[bridges]

Hmmm,I see your point but if 99 Octane petrol was so good why do the oil companies make 95 Octane petrol?

99 octane is required for the timing on highly tuned cars that would otherwise knock due to the pre detonation of fuel.
Modern performance car ecu's can automatically re-time themselves and as a result achieve more bhp.

The effects of running a 99 octane can be seen as it does over time clean the upper engine, I have taken engines identical apart that have run on the two I think more from the way occurs it burns more efficiently. I do know that shell and 99 do have cleaning agents in though.
The reason additives are not put in fuel as standard is the cost.

I run a fill up of high octane fuel every now and then on my coupe.


Redex etc does work, I have tipped it into many a blocked carb in order to remove debris, the result is initial plooms of black smoke and a car that runs fine

unless your car is noticably running poor then id just run a higher octane fuel through it every now and then.

 

[Rustbucket]

On the subject of additives I'd refer you to the US Federal Trade Commission which did an examination of the additive market a few years back. The report is on Google somewhere.

The conclusions were that the effects were marginal, the claims outrageous and the cost extreme. They also prosecuted some of the major companies for misleading advertising.

If you want to use it fine..but IMHO its mostly hype. Not to say that a tin of carb cleaner won't clean, just don't believe everything on the tin..Its no wood preserver either.

 

[bridges]

On the subject of additives I'd refer you to the US Federal Trade Commission which did an examination of the additive market a few years back. The report is on Google somewhere.

The conclusions were that the effects were marginal, the claims outrageous and the cost extreme. They also prosecuted some of the major companies for misleading advertising.

If you want to use it fine..but IMHO its mostly hype. Not to say that a tin of carb cleaner won't clean, just don't believe everything on the tin..Its no wood preserver either.

I'd agree with this, I only really use it neat,
although the diesel additives are a different kettle of fish.