I always see this stuff at the car parts store... gas additives to increase octane of fuel, stuff that cleans fuel injectors, stuff to add to your motor oil to "slicken" the engine parts, etc. Does anyone here use this stuff?

What's the low-down on gas and oil additives?

 

I think alot of it is snake oil. In older cars that I suspect have carbon build up I've added a bottle of Techron to about 1/8 tack of gas, drove the crap out of the car for a while and then changed the oil. That's about as far as I'll take it with the additives. A couple year old MINI shouldn't need any of that. Spend your money on a synthetic oil.

 

If you service with the type of high-tech synthetic oil recommended by BMW, (and why would you not?) then an oil additive is just a waste of money. the octane boosters you see for gas, I've never known to make any discernable improvement, a better idea would be to invest regularly in better gas, its the same $ anyway...

 

Octane boosters only increase maybe 0.5 octane at best per fill up.

What you need is toulene if you seriously want to increase octane for your high performance setup.

 

Thanks for the feedback, gang! I always use Chevron or Shell fuel exclusively anyway. Glad to know that the little bottles are a waste of money.

 

All gas comes from the same handful of refiners. Just buy the cheapest gas you can find from a high volume retailer (for freshness). Costco and Arco tend to fit those requirements around here. No point spending any more than you have to on fuel!

 

While it is true that most gas comes from the same refinerys, each company has it's own proprietary additives. The local Costco or Arco will not have the high-tech additives that Chevron or the others have. Those additives are the reason to buy that brand of gas in the first place.

 

Xylene is also a great octane booster. With an octane rating of 117!

When I was working in a pharmaceutical research lab, I was responsible for disposing of expired chemicals. Once in a while, I got the opportunity to dispose of several gallons of ACS grade toluene and xylene

Of course, I do not suggest that anyone make their own home-brew race gas, but if you are interested in reading about how some various relatively inexpensive and easily obtainable chemicals can boost your octane, this is worth checking out :

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/misc/octanebooster.html

 

That's just marketing hype. I've used the generic stuff in all kinds of cars including expensive sports cars. Never had any problems.

But I live in a moderate climate. Perhaps the additives truly do have magical properties in harsher climes.

btw, I saw a post a while back (possibly on this site) which talked about a tanker at a gas station about to go across the street to deliver fuel to the other major brand at that intersection. Just before he got in the cab, he dropped a large brick of "additives" into the tanker for the station across the street. How it was expected to dissolve and get evenly distributed in a matter of minutes is anyone's guess.

 

I got a tank at a no-name, and my Mustang was pinging up a storm!

For additives, some do something, but like one thread here, the improvement in MPG in a controlled test was just 2%. So if a tank costs $25 (round numbers) if the additive costs more than 50 cents, it doesn't save anything.

Depending on the brand, octaine booster may or may not add octaine. Depending on how your motor is controlled, or how close to pinging you are, it may help a bit.

Moly disulfide can help, but it has clogged some oil passages....

Probably the best out there are the rubber improving fluids, but only on real old cars (say 70s and earlier!)........

Matt

 

Oh man!!! I'm sooo sorry for you 911 then... Costco and other cheap gas stations get the bottom of the barrel "dirty" gas as compared to the more expensive 76, Chevron, Shell gas... and costco doesnt have the same additives... saying that they are all the same isnt true. Sure they run fine in your expensive automobiles from what you can tell but in the end its not the same. If you drive a expensive automobile I dont see why you need to penny save and get gas at costco. Personally I would never get gas at costco. If I can afford a MINI I can afford to put better gas in it. Costco gas is for cheap cars. Hyundai, Daewoo, Civic, Corolla, Geo Metros and those shietty cars

 

Hahah reguarding that... Thats odd... usually Shell, 76, Chevron have their own tankers and you wont see them delivering gas to costco... if they do then I'm all wrong!!! I'll hhave to follow the next 76 tanker and get gas an hour later after they deliver the gas to costco.