fuel additives

[DaUsedMCR]

im sure its been discussed but, i was wondering what peoples opinions on them were. ive used STP and Lucas before, and my cars seem to do a little better with them. i was wondering about stuff like BG 44K, Seafoam and RedLine? or is it all just snake oil?

 

[ezdaar]

cleaning or performance additive?

Cleaning, seafoam or chevron stuff..

Performance, none. its all garbage. The amount it takes to raise octane is rediculos

 

[RedPark]

Seafoam... amazing stuff.

 

[DenaliAK]

Seafoam is a great treatment.

I have never used it in my truck because I'm afraid to, but I used to use Torco Accelerator for octane boost in my car. Doesn't take much to raise the octane level, but it's pricey so you don't want to drive around using it all the time. Use at your own risk....I take no responsibility if you blow your engine.

 

[DaUsedMCR]

90% of the time i put chevron gas in my cars, even though its usually a little more expensive, its better gas and it has the techron stuff like ezdaar said. if not, i use Shell or Mobil (if i can find one). ive always steered clear of Arco gas cuz ive heard bad stories. 76, im not sure about, but thats pretty much all there is in my area besides Valero, which ive never used either. anyways, i almost bought some seafoam today, but i thought id see what the TYforums and other sites said first... im kinda iffy about it now...

 

[chip]

cleaning or performance additive?

Cleaning, seafoam or .........

Performance, none. its all garbage. The amount it takes to raise octane is rediculos

+1 Also, Octane doen't raise performance. It's to keep from detonating. Octane should be matched to compression ratio. That's all.

I like Lucas and Seafoam personally.

 

[DaUsedMCR]

so you put it down the brake booster lines as well as the tank? my tahoe has 211k miles but has ALWAYS been run with full synthetic and theyre all highway miles. the car was maintained excellently, so im wondering if it would be beneficial to run the seafoam?

 

[chip]

so you put it down the brake booster lines as well as the tank? my tahoe has 211k miles but has ALWAYS been run with full synthetic and theyre all highway miles. the car was maintained excellently, so im wondering if it would be beneficial to run the seafoam?

I think so. Follow the directions, do it right, and you can treat all 3 with one can of Seafoam. Lucas is just an additive.

If you do the Seafoam, just look around on the boards here. There are some really good threads on Seafoming your truck already. I can help too.

 

[DenaliAK]

+1 Also, Octane doen't raise performance. It's to keep from detonating. Octane should be matched to compression ratio. That's all.

I had a Subaru Legacy GT....STI engine in a Legacy Wagon. You're supposed to run 93 octane fuel, but the highest you can even get at the pump up here is 91, so I boosted it a bit. Made a big difference in performance with the turbo.

 

[chip]

I had a Subaru Legacy GT....STI engine in a Legacy Wagon. You're supposed to run 93 octane fuel, but the highest you can even get at the pump up here is 91, so I boosted it a bit. Made a big difference in performance with the turbo.

Absolutely!! Running too low octane can cause major engine damage. Too high octane just wastes a few pennies per gallon. Better safe than sorry, but best to just know what it needs.

If you know your compression ratio (I.E. 9.0:1), you can just move the decimall point over (I.E. 9.0 = 90) to figure out which octane you should be running. 9.5:1 Compression would mean that ideally, you would want 95 octane gas (for optimum performance).

This is my understanding.

 

[SunlitComet]

Never heard that theory before.

Sent from HTC EVO mobile

 

[chip]

If I'm not mistaken, I heard that from the Professor that designed the engine in the Dodge Neon.

 

[napp e roots]

the method of moving the decimal is not an accurate calculation by any means. Most cars are around 9.0-10.5 meaning all cars would run on premium gas which is not true. the new toyota prius has a compression ratio of 13:1 so that would mean it would run on 130 octane? my cobra has a CR of 98.5:1 so i would need 98 octane which isnt happening. it may work out as a coincidence in some situations.

 

[ezdaar]

there's more to just compression to determine octane rating you need.
You can run 9.0 comp and run 87 on the correct tune and not knock in say 70* air temps all the way from idle to WOT.
But try the same run in 104* air and you will be knockin bad.
Combine that with emgine heatsoak, poor plugs, leaky valve seals, carbon build up on pistons and valves etc etc.. and you can clearly see, its ALWAYS better to runthe best fuel you can to avoid potential problems..

If you look at the cost diff between 87 and 93 fuel Over a year VS a new engine..
Im sorry but only 93 will EVER go in my vehicals..

 

[chip]

the method of moving the decimal is not an accurate calculation by any means. Most cars are around 9.0-10.5 meaning all cars would run on premium gas which is not true. the new toyota prius has a compression ratio of 13:1 so that would mean it would run on 130 octane? my cobra has a CR of 98.5:1 so i would need 98 octane which isnt happening. it may work out as a coincidence in some situations.

It's accurate under optimal tune (See below).

there's more to just compression to determine octane rating you need.
You can run 9.0 comp and run 87 on the correct tune and not knock in say 70* air temps all the way from idle to WOT.
But try the same run in 104* air and you will be knockin bad.
Combine that with emgine heatsoak, poor plugs, leaky valve seals, carbon build up on pistons and valves etc etc.. and you can clearly see, its ALWAYS better to runthe best fuel you can to avoid potential problems..

If you look at the cost diff between 87 and 93 fuel Over a year VS a new engine..
Im sorry but only 93 will EVER go in my vehicals..

+1 ........Thanks!! I really didn't feel like typing all that.