mrwibble
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 11:38 AM |
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fuel treatments snake oil?
going to change the oil on my tin top this winter, i've been fairly meticulous with it since a bought it at around 17k miles, i've changed
the oil annually, cleaned the air filter, new fuel filter, new plugs at the intervals recomended by haynes. Opieoils has their usual constant discount
offers on, so i'm getting stocked up. I normally concider all fuel treatments usless wastes of money, but just wondering if anyone or any
independant source has found them to be of any benefit, concidering the engine has been well maintained, still idles perfectly and i can get 35-8 mpg
if i dont have any fun.
engines a 1.8 petrol, @ 50k from a 2003 ford focus.
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Agriv8
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 11:46 AM |
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if I buy fuel from BP esso I would not bother on my TDI Audi.
but as I fill up ASDA I stick half a bottle of Redex in every 4th tank ish ( ps only buy redex when on special offer last was at £1.50 a bottle and
clear the shelves out )
In my personal opinion it makes the car pull more cleanly.
regards
Agriv8
Taller than your average Guy !
Management is like a tree of monkeys. - Those at the top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. BUT Those at the bottom look up and see a
tree full of a*seholes .............
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marcjagman
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 12:08 PM |
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Redex is good but maybe only 6 monthly unless you do a lot of town driving. Used to use magnatec oil but found ZX1 fantastic, smoother, quietens the
noisy tappet I have and 4mpg more which from a 2.9 24v auto volvo estate with 232K on the clock is pretty damn good.
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Dusty
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 12:14 PM |
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I was looking at the Active8 oil additive at the Exeter show. Very convincing demo with the rotating wheel and torque wrench to apply braking force
metal to metal, dry, with oil and with oil + the magic active8.
At 17quid a bottle I was almost tempted. Less friction, longer life engine, more power, greater fuel economy, lower emissions, smoother engine. I
wonder why the big oil companies don't try harder to invent something as good?
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mcerd1
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 12:15 PM |
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I've never bothered and mine still pulls away fine with just tesco's cheapest petrol
and thats a Y reg 1.8 focus with a 106k on the clock, I look after it but I don't think the other owners bothered (79k when I got it)
PS- do you want to swap cars ? 
[Edited on 26/10/2010 by mcerd1]
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mrwibble
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 12:18 PM |
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i have put some green gunge from lucas in the oil before, seemed to quieten down noise from cold for a while, but haven't bothered last 2
times.
edit:mercd, if you throw in 1500 quid i'd be tempted
[Edited on 26/10/10 by mrwibble]
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mcerd1
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 12:19 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Dusty
I was looking at the Active8 oil additive at the Exeter show.
from the guys at Opie oils:
quote:
General Remarks on Chlorinated Additives.
A number of ‘add-on’ additives intended to improve the performance of commercially available automotive lubricants have been marketed in recent years,
under such names as ‘Xxtralube ZX-1’, ‘Metol FX-1’, ‘PPL Anti-Friction’ and ‘Activ-8’.All such products share the following characteristics with ‘X-1R
Friction Eliminator’:-
1) They all contain chlorinated paraffin ‘exteme pressure’(EP) compounds first used in the 1930s in heavily-loaded industrial gearboxes, and in some
automotive transmission applications, mainly hypoid gears.
2) They all corrode copper-based alloys at moderate temperatures, easily exceeded in all engine, and most transmission applications.This problem was
recognised in the 1930s, and chlorinated compounds were never used in transmissions with bronze bearings or gears. No responsible manufacturer ever
suggested using them in engines where their increasing activity at high temperatures could lead to piston ring corrosion and bore glazing. (For the
same reason, modern ‘hypoid’ additives are not used in engines, even though they are much safer than any chlorinated additive.)
3) X-1R Friction Eliminator and its clones are based upon very outdated technology, which was abandoned by responsible lubricant manufacturers for
automotive transmission uses in the 1950s. Chlorinated compounds still find applications in metal working, but their use is on the decline because of
health and safety considerations.
4) When burnt, chlorinated paraffins produce corrosive hydrochloric acid, and organo-chlorine compounds including the highly poisonous phosgene gas.
Apart from these corrosion and health hazards, with petrol engines the deactivation of exhaust catalysts is also a problem.
5) Unfortunately, these additives give spectacular results in simple EP test machines such as the ‘Falex’. As a marketing ploy, a demonstration of
this type looks impressive to those not aquainted with the above facts. Also attractive is the low cost of chlorinated compounds, allowing profits of
several thousand percent to be made.
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mcerd1
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 12:23 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by mrwibble
edit:mercd, if you throw in 1500 quid i'd be tempted
if I get anymore fed up with mine I might hold you to that 
btw - I run the castrol magnatec 5W-30 A1 stuff and its always been nice and quiet
(its the castrol one that meets ford 913A and 913B) but I see they are calling the new stuff fully synthetic (and have added the 913C spec to the
list)
[Edited on 26/10/2010 by mcerd1]
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mrwibble
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 12:43 PM |
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yeah, mine has always been a little noisy from cold, 1/2 mile down the road though and she's spot on. As i say some green gunge from lucas went
in a one point, supposedly to cling to the top of the engine, and reduce noise/wear when starting, but knowing a bit more i think it was really just
an attempt to bias the oil towards 10w30. i've always put fuchs semi (also now classed as fully) synth 5w30, but i bagged some motul fully synth
a little while ago for this winters change, i'm a sucker for brand names 
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mcerd1
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 01:13 PM |
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any 5W-30 that meets the ford 913-B spec should keep it quiet
mine does make a tiny bit of noice when its cold - but its hardly any louder than a nearly new one with the same engine
and its much quieter than my old fiesta was when warm (that was more or less an x-flow though)
[Edited on 26/10/2010 by mcerd1]
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mrwibble
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 02:00 PM |
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the oils always had the ford standard number on the bottle, just a bit of a quirk i think.
might bung a bit of redex in the fuel tank then if i can get a bottle for next to nothing.
[Edited on 26/10/10 by mrwibble]
http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-1028-redline-si-1-fuel-cleaner-additive.aspx
promising me the earth this one! i really want to believe!
[Edited on 26/10/10 by mrwibble]
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adithorp
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 03:32 PM |
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We've had good results with Forte products... there is a lot of snake oil out there though. As a rule if it mentions NASA, Spitfires,
"Amazing results", etc in the blurb it's snake oil.
"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire
http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/
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Dusty
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 05:47 PM |
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I was being ironic. I think there may be excellent reasons that the big oil companies don't make something as good, such as it's not
possible. I wonder if genuine snake oil is a good lubricant? Perhaps I will stick to the usual 5W-30 synthetic that's in there already (without
additives).
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mrwibble
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 06:54 PM |
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quote:
As a rule if it mentions NASA, Spitfires, "Amazing results", etc in the blurb it's snake oil.
oh well i'm screwed then, one mention of amazing nasa spitfires, and i'm any bodies.
turbo boost space juice used in apollo 11 and churchill's own spitfire doesn't show any results in google unfortunately...
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RazMan
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| posted on 26/10/10 at 08:27 PM |
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Fuel Additives
I have used BG44K Petrol Engine Treatment on eBay (end time 27-Oct-10 15:55:16 BST) on a couple of occasions and it really
did seem to clean up the system - my fuel gauge sender started working after I added it so that must say something for it.
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 5/11/10 at 02:54 PM |
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I use optimax on my performance car, because I mapped it on that and now I'm stuck with it, plus the extra works out cheaper than adding
"octane booster". It runs different grade of oil (5-50 rather than 10-40) but never has additives. I ran the gearbox on ATF at one point,
then dropped back in the normal stuff as the syncros were shot and it was making it no better.
In general I don't trust any additive.
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