Ugh, new truck … engine light

Did you go to the dealership yet Charlie? Are you gonna mention the additives??

Curious!

 

if people believes in additives for the motor ,marketing is doing a very good job!!! snake oil .........

 

No unfortunately timing I can’t get in until the 10th
They did ask if I had recently filled the tank with fuel .
I’m not sure , I hadn’t
Thought of it . I was going to show them the message and they are going to do code read and diagnose is what they said

 

Weeeeeell…. Tank was half empty, filled up with no additive of course …. So the old is half gone and diluted …
The triangle light, blinked… and then the engine light and triangle light went out…. Hasn’t come back since ….. kinda weird
Must have run two heat cycles and maybe the heat cleaned (went for hour long drive at highway speed to the mountains, and then back home )
Guess I’ll keep an eye on it …
BUT, I think
I’m going to stick with regular ol’ gas from mainstream stations if possible

 

I'm gonna say bad gas. There is a store near me who regularly sells gas with water in it. A motorcycle will barely run on it and won't idle.

 

My neighbor use to swear by marvel mystery oil in everything.

 

love when a vehicle heals itself. glad it worked out.

 

It’s some of the same additives for cleaning added to the gas you buy. I don’t use separate additives, don’t think more are needed, but it’s hardly snake oil.

 

I'll agree some of the more expensive additives have a special purpose, but most are snake oil.

 

I got the same message about a week ago when we stopped at Brian Head, Utah to take some pictures. No change in behavior of the truck at all - it was running like normal. Drove down to Cedar City and filled up - maybe half a tank hoping to clear it. Filled again a few hours later near Lee's Ferry, still no change. Rolled into Findlay Toyota in Flagstaff late in the afternoon. They couldn't squeeze us in that day, but had an appointment for 7:45 the next morning. The check-in service guy 'checked' the filler cap by tightening it only. When we got in to drive off, the CEL was gone...

 

In the m20a-fks (newer 2.0 motor) Toyota recommends to "add Toyota EFI Tank Additive or equivalent" every 5k miles

 

Just had a toyota mechanic for 35+ years that opened his own shop tell me fuel additives in todays engines dont help but with older tacomas he recommended seafoam additive once a year and add to full tank and for the next 3 fill ups dont allow the tank go below 1/4 and it keeps things clean. Now obviously this is a topic that will never get a 100% agreement I did it on my 99 2.7L and I did notice a better fuel efficiency afterwards so I am a believer and Seafoam additive is the only one ill use. Newer direct inject engines dont benefit from it according to him. Again everyone has differing opinions on the subject

 

100% disagree. Have been using a can of Seafoam ever few months in a full tank of gas and have never had issues in any of my vehicles with injectors or fuel system. Some say snake oil, I say $8.99 of maintenance fluid.

Edit: the more Ethanol in fuel, the more Seafoam I use. It'll be interesting to see in the coming years what sorts of problems (if any) come about because of vehicles with 200K + miles running Ethanol.

 

I see it the same with older engines there was no ethanol added gas when they were made an that is proven 100% for sure to ruin small engines like mowers etc. Its just that debate add it or not...switch to synthetic oil or not etc etc. I am having the synthetic oil switch debate with myself as my 99 is almost at 200,000 miles and I am finding 5w 30 conventional oil harder an harder to find here in NC. As far as the OP the newer engines the additives dont help much according to my mechanic but the older ones certainly do benefit my MPG increased almost 5 mpg after just one use and I am only gonna do it twice a year.

 

OP - glad this worked out regardless of the additives or not

 

Seafoam once a year worked great in my 2001 tundra until they stopped putting mtbe in our fuels.

 

Seafoam is awesome in outboard motors as well. Perfect winterize additive.

 

i use redline sl-1 and startron every now and then. startron is my favorite. went from 16 mpg to 22 mpg after a couple tanks. lots of ethanol and humidity around here.