gas addatives

[michael.warshaw]

i was in the store today and noticed around 10 different products that say stablizer and gas treatments that clean the engine, while helping clean the internals seafoam was the most expensive and the clerk told me its the best one, do these products work or are they a waiste of time.

i think don once said its like putting diamonds on a dog, you feel vetter about it but the dog has no idea.

what the verdict?

[Don Coatney]

I am pretty sure that gas must be added first. That is why they are called a gas addative. I suggest you buy one of each and report back on what one makes you feel the best.

[michael.warshaw]

I am pretty sure that gas must be added first. That is why they are called a gas addative. I suggest you buy one of each and report back on what one makes you feel the best.

i liked seafoam, thats what i bought for one of my cars that isnt running well i saw no quick improvement. a gin and tionic would make me feel the best, or a vitamin r.

[greg g]

Are you suffering from rough idle, poor starting, bad milage, excessive emmisions, hesitation, run on, pre ignition, excessive smoking, insuficient fuel system lubrication, dry fuel, loss pf performance, gelling, do you have excess deposits, dirty valves, sticky injectors, dirty choke? Wow sounds like a lot of those could be fixed with Viagra....

Keeping your engine tuned up and well maintained, should help prevent most of those items.

If you have none of those conditions I would recommend you use gasoline. Add it frequently and use it to go from place to place.

Maybe some Stabil or other stabilizer (basically to keep the ethanol from absorbing water. during storage)

The only fuel addidtive I have actually seen proof if its working is diesel fuel antigel used in cold climates.

[Frank Ollian]

Must be a surplus of Seafoam in the country, parts stores in my area seem to really be pushing it lately with displays and sale pricing. I don't think

Seafoam does much of anything. I pulled a carboned up head off a parts engine and poured Seafoam in one of the combustion chambers and let it sit for a week, the results were Seafoam did nothing at all, no change. Maybe it needs the heat of combustion for it to work.

[Martin53Cranbrook]

i have used Seafoam in my daily driver and it works great, it can be a little tricky cause i used it to clean out my vac system and emission components and to do that you have to unplug a vac line and let the car idle while pouring it in and let the system suck it in, i say tricky cause if you pour to fast you can choke the motor and have to restart it, but once you pour in the desired amount you just turn off the vehicle, reattach the vac line and drive it until the white smoke stops coming out of your exhaust, i know it sounds weird but when i have done it i have noticed better mileage and a small gain in acceleration.

you can also add it into your fuel and oil, but if you add it into your oil i wouldn't drive the car for too many miles before changing the oil cause it will clean up a lot of crud and you don't want to keep recirculating it in your motor.

[Robert Horne]

i was in the store today and noticed around 10 different products that say stablizer and gas treatments that clean the engine, while helping clean the internals seafoam was the most expensive and the clerk told me its the best one, do these products work or are they a waiste of time.

i think don once said its like putting diamonds on a dog, you feel vetter about it but the dog has no idea.

what the verdict?

I have been using Lucas Gas treatment in my Goldwing cycle, and lawn mowers the past couple of years. It made a big improvement on all of them.

[Flatie46]

That one that removes water from your fuel system, Heet I think it's called works well. It's pretty much alcohol I think. I've got an old truck that rarely ever gets run, I throw a bottle in every now and then to help with condensation. I think Stabil [ if that's how you spell it] works well. I put it in my mower, chain saw and tiller when I put 'em up, always seem to start up good in the spring. I don't believe in any of the fuel injector cleaner hype.

[greg g]

Robert, can you illustrate the gains engendered from using the fuel treatment. I can understand maybe a couple miles more before you go to reserve on the bike but how have improvement materialized in your lawn equipment??

And here is a question about Heat, if ethanol in gas attracts water to the fuel, how can putting mor alcohol into the same fuel take the water out???

According to the msds sheet for Heet, it is 99% Isoproponal ( a form of methanol) and a 1% proprietory additive. It say it works by sinking through the gas in you tank and mixing with any water at the bottom of the tank, thereby rendering it transportable through the fuel system to the combustion chamber, where the water is evaproated due to combustion temperatures.

So 99% more alcohol except methanol is water soluable whereas methanol is misable (combines with water) So trying to see which alcohol is better in you fuel is questionable. Methanol is much more dangerous to handle as is easily absorbed through skin, and small quantities can cause serious problems. So it think I would leave Heet right there o the shelf.

[maverick]

i have used Seafoam in my daily driver and it works great, it can be a little tricky cause i used it to clean out my vac system and emission components and to do that you have to unplug a vac line and let the car idle while pouring it in and let the system suck it in, i say tricky cause if you pour to fast you can choke the motor and have to restart it, but once you pour in the desired amount you just turn off the vehicle, reattach the vac line and drive it until the white smoke stops coming out of your exhaust, i know it sounds weird but when i have done it i have noticed better mileage and a small gain in acceleration.

i have done this as well and it does seem to work. just make sure you do it outside or someone may think your garage is on fire.

[Don Coatney]

To all have posted positive results from using addatives I must ask how do you quantify the positive results? Looking for something more than a seat of the pants evaluation. Real numbers with documentation would be helpful.

[TodFitch]

To all have posted positive results from using addatives I must ask how do you quantify the positive results? Looking for something more than a seat of the pants evaluation. Real numbers with documentation would be helpful.

So you are a skeptic about "addatives" (title of thread and mentioned in your post). Are you a skeptic about "additives" too?

The only time I've use additives was a couple times adding "dry gas" (alcohol) to the tank when I had gotten some water in the gas and it froze. Seems like they already put too much stuff into the gas, why add more?

[Don Coatney]

So you are a skeptic about "addatives" (title of thread and mentioned in your post). Are you a skeptic about "additives" too?

The only time I've use additives was a couple times adding "dry gas" (alcohol) to the tank when I had gotten some water in the gas and it froze. Seems like they already put too much stuff into the gas, why add more?

Are you a skeptic about "additives" too?

You got me!

I too have used "dry gas" (alcohol). To quantify, I was driving my 64 Mustang up a hill in the middle of an Ohio winter and it started mis-firing. I pulled over and opened the hood and found the carburetor a ball of ice. I had a can of dry gas in the trunk. I removed the air cleaner from the Mustang engine and poured the dry gas down the carburetor. Ther ice melted and the engine once again was running normally. Hence it worked.

[Robert Horne]

Robert, can you illustrate the gains engendered from using the fuel treatment. I can understand maybe a couple miles more before you go to reserve on the bike but how have improvement materialized in your lawn equipment??

I have owned my Goldwing 19 years now. The past few years the Wing was just not up to par, seemed a little low on power. A couple of years ago, I put in 1oz of Lucas, and within 15 miles I could really feel a big improvement. Similar results with my 5 year old riding mower. The 3rd year on the mower it had about 50% drop in power. After a half tank of running with the Lucas additive, there was a big improvement.

[Martin53Cranbrook]

i have done this as well and it does seem to work. just make sure you do it outside or someone may think your garage is on fire.

half the fun of using seafoam is driving around while the smoke is pouring out and having people in passing cars and on the street freak out cause they think you blew up the motor haha

[Flatie46]

Robert, can you illustrate the gains engendered from using the fuel treatment. I can understand maybe a couple miles more before you go to reserve on the bike but how have improvement materialized in your lawn equipment??

And here is a question about Heat, if ethanol in gas attracts water to the fuel, how can putting mor alcohol into the same fuel take the water out???

According to the msds sheet for Heet, it is 99% Isoproponal ( a form of methanol) and a 1% proprietory additive. It say it works by sinking through the gas in you tank and mixing with any water at the bottom of the tank, thereby rendering it transportable through the fuel system to the combustion chamber, where the water is evaproated due to combustion temperatures.

So 99% more alcohol except methanol is water soluable whereas methanol is misable (combines with water) So trying to see which alcohol is better in you fuel is questionable. Methanol is much more dangerous to handle as is easily absorbed through skin, and small quantities can cause serious problems. So it think I would leave Heet right there o the shelf.

I'm gonna say used as directed it's safe, prob no worse than gas. Bout' the same warning on the label as gas.

[1947PLEVY]

Myself personally..I wouldn't use any type of additive on a fresh engine..

[captden29]

i add a 20 oz bottle of chevron techron to my modern car every oil change. i cannot verify any benefit but i was told that it is one of the only additives that really does some things it says it will do. anyway, just makes me feel good and i do not use any on any regular basis as i think most of them are snake oil. i think we all use marvel mystery oil. capt den