Fuel Additives

[SPGreg]

I read on some other forums about use of fuel additives.

Today I added a bottle of Chevron Techron before filling up with 94. I wasn't sure it would make any difference since I normally use Chevron 94, but I found my acceleration was smoother! There was an improvement. The SPG actually seemed a bit fiestier when I accelerated! Improved pluck!

Wondering if others have used additives before? Which ones and what were your results?

[SaabScott]

I prefer Chevron Techron concentrate myself ... but it isn't available in Ontario.

Having said that, newer Saabs aren't prone to injector blockage, so it really isn't needed (much).
I still try to run a couple of tanks a year with it though.

[JonV]

Basic Drygas a couple of times in the Winter to remove any condensation....

[toxicavenger]

I use Techron or Seafoam once or twice a year. I also use Dygas like JonV mentioned so that I don't end up with water in my gas tank.

[Dave T]

Techron is currently on sale at O'Reilly's for $12.99 for two 20 oz. bottles. This is a good price. However, I am not planning to buy any.

The Saab 9-3 (SS) owner's manual says that one should not have to use it. It says that some gasoline in the U.S. has the minimum amount of deposit prevention additives to pass government standards but that some gasoline brands have more. It recommends the latter. I've heard that overuse of Techron and similar compounds is not advised and somehow it can escape combustion and dilute one's motor oil.

Chevron says its bottle of Techron is similar to Techron added to gasoline but that it is more concentrated. It says that adding the full bottle will result in 10 times the amount of Techron compared to using Chevron with Techron gas. Chevron also says that the same concentration of Techron is found in all octane grades in the U.S., which is what Conoco, Phillips 66, and 76 also say. In contrast, Shell added more of its deposit control additives to premium gas. I believe it's Chevron that says that it uses twice the concentration of Techron than is required by the government. Tesoro, a refiner, says that it adds only the minimum concentration of deposit control additives as required.

I've come to three conclusions:

1. It may be possible to re-create Chevron-like gas by buying no-name brand gasoline, like that produced by Tesoro and adding Techron in a bottle. Since the addition of 20 oz. of concentrated Techron results in a 10x concentration, one could add 2 oz. to 20 gallons of gasoline to re-create Chevron gas. Since no-name Tesoro gas already has half the deposit control additives already, one needs to add only 1 oz. of concentrated Techron to 20 gallons to re-create Chevron-like gas. This assumes that the generic deposit control additives are compatible with Techron, which I assume they are. Funny that I mention this because I tend to stick with a brand of gas for at least several tankfuls. I also stick with Shell or Chevron and haven't used anything else except a few consecutive tankfuls of Phillips 66+Conoco+76 in 2006.

To summarize, add 1 oz. of Techron to a full tank of gas.

2. If one can really re-create Chevron-like gas, Chevron gas sells at a premium. If one adds 0.66-1 oz (say 1 oz) of Techron to a tank of gas, that's about 33 cents per tankful or 2 cents per gallon. The cheapest Chevron gas that I know of is $4.03 (cash price, more with a credit card) for 87 octane, $4.23 for 92 octane. Kroger owned Fred Meyer and QFC sells 87 octane for $3.95, $3.85 if you buy $100 of groceries within a month. So, can you "make" better Fred Meyer gas for $3.87 ($3.85 + 0.02)?

3. To be on the safe side, use Techron around 2-4 weeks before changing oil so that the tank with added Techron is used up by the time oil is changed.

Is this just hocus-pocus? Or would you add some Techron every once in a while just to try to clean things up?

[nordwulf]

I try to fuel up at major brand gas stations. The price difference often is very small or no difference at all. These fuel additives you buy at a store are difficult to measure if they have any effect. I would like to dismiss it as snake oil but I just don't know enough about it.

Amazon has quite a few success stories but you never know how reliable those are.
http://www.amazon.com/Chevron-Techron-System-Cleaner-65740/dp/B00092893E

[beekeeper21]

I've used Lucas oil additive to all of my vehicles and have noticed a 2-3 mpg gain when using compared with not using. My wife drives a HEMI and it loves the gas, but using Lucas additive gives her a definite 3+ mpg gain from when not used. I usually run it every other gas fill-up in the Saab. When I used Techron, it created emission that set off my engine service light due to emissions.

[Pbuck1]

Recently compiled the components for many different octane boost, gas additives/'cleaners", diesel add's (since there are a few 'oil burners' out there) and engine flush products. It's all in a excel spreadsheet and I'll have to work on converting it to a jpeg image and will post - next week.

[Pbuck1]

These charts, 5 of them, contain the information shown on the MSDS' published by the respective companies. You will see a lot of common components in the blends and will see what the 'carrier solvent(s) is (usually at the top of the list) and what the 'active ingredient' is (usually at the bottom of the list and in small quantities).
1- The most common 'active ingredient' in the OCTANE BOOSTERS is MMT (which stands for "Methyl cyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl").
2- I didn't spend a lot of time on the DIESEL ADDITIVES list since I don't have a diesel.
3- An interesting find in the ENGINE FLUSH list was that Liqui Moly's "Pro-Line Engine Flush" contains ZDDP, which is an anti-wear additive found in motor oils and gear lubes.
4- I had to separate the GAS LINE / CARB CLEANER products in two pages. Ther are lots of them out there and many I didn't research. An observation here is that there's not a whole lot of difference between these and the engine flush products. I'm not sayin' you could use one in place of the other-that's up to you.

The tables are below, posted separately, as octane boosters, gas line carb cleaners1 & 2, engine flushes and diesel additives. The resolution may not be so good for some of these - let me know if they're unreadable and I'll post a bigger file

[Pbuck1]

diesel additives