Fuel Additives

[haviruzz@gmail]

A couple of weeks ago I had Sabre serviced at my excellent local shop. It has a superior record, even recommended by the local state inspector for this particular area. I have used them in the past for my old 2000 Insight. They are outstanding, IMO.

That said, they highly recommend BG additives. As a aftermarket auto repair chain roving manager some years back, I thought additives for fuel, hydraulic, coolant systems were snake oil. But I trust these guys whom I've known for several years.

So I've added the BG44 to the fuel. They recommend burning down to 1/2 tank and refuel immediately for best results. Haven't really had the additive onboard long enough to give an evaluation.

I did some googling and the reports appear favorable.

Anyone to comment?

[singe19]

I have heard great things about BG 44K from the audiforums I used to visit. Ive used it on my old Audi A4 and I think it did a good job at cleaning my fuel injectors without having to remove them...def better than Lucas or any of the other additives imo

[haviruzz@gmail]

Any counter to offset the ethanol crap water collector is worth a look and try.

Talk about a JUNK additive - Ethanol is the the Snake Oil winner.

[Tyrod]

I'm with you on the fuel additive thing. Mostly snake oil. In fact, some can be dangerous or detrimental to your engine. My feelings are that unless you have some compelling reason to use fuel additives then don't. I can't imagine a new car would need injector cleaner for many years. Especially if you're careful about where you buy your fuel.

Contrary to popular belief, E10 is not a federal requirement. The federal requirement is that each state has to sell a certain amount of E10. That amount is not 100% either. So there are some gas stations that sell 100% gasoline. To find out if there are any convenient to you check here:
Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

[haviruzz@gmail]

There is another aspect to this too. Relatively speaking, I am an infrequent driver currently averaging a tad over 3K miles/annum. So I worry about fuel going south. That can and will happen. For example I had a gasoline power auxiliary generator for use in electrical power outages here in my immediate location for any number of reasons - squirrels, snakes, trees, clowns trying to climb utility poles in their 4 wheel drive suv's, construction. Though I had Stabil in the fuel and ran the generator regularly, it apparently wasn't sufficient. With my legs going south, hauling 5 gallon cans became very difficult. So I replaced the gasoline unit with a fully automatic natural gas unit; 80 hours runtime since 2008. I gave the old generator to a friend; it wouldn't fire up for him. He took the carb apart and found it thick with scum the consistency of Goop. Weird;never have seen or of that before.

Thanks for the ethanol-free locations. Unfortunately none even close to home.

[TinTin]

no. i dont use that stuff anymore. I know a lot of those things are real bad for your engine. There was one oil additive that i used that got pulled from the market because it caused premature engine failure. after that ive stopped using any additives all together.

[Scotty001]

^ Agree with Tin...

But if storing or letting the car sit for a prolonged time.. Some additives may be of value...

Edit: an area of interest as I have been keeping my son's WRX in my garage for the past year as he has been deployed to Korea.. Coming back home this Thursday for several weeks of leave.. Mom and I are happy campers..

[Iran]

Most brands of gasoline contain fuel additives/cleaners, pre-mixed. Adding more fool additives to the brew (every other tankful as some aftermarketeers do suggest) would be playing into the proverbial hands of corporate greed.

[Widget]

I've used Seafoam in my 70k mile vehicle.

**** works wonders.

[TinTin]

fuel stabilizers are different from additives.