Fuel Additive?

If I get 16.2 mpg before adding Techron and 16.2 mpg after adding Techron, and the truck runs perfectly either way... I don't know what adding the bottle of Techron to California über-clean gasoline is benefitting except the pockets of Pep Boys and Chevron?

 

You may not notice a difference in mpg (or u may) but it will remove more deposits than just the additives that come in the gasoline. Adding it periodically say twice a year will remove deposits that may otherwise build up and eventually affect performance and mpg. I add it as a kind of insurance. I figure it’s cheap insurance at $12 or $14 a year. No one is saying if you don’t use it you’ll have problems. There are industry studies though that show supplemental fuel additives are effective at cleaning and removing engine deposits which will affect your engine over time. Totally an individual decision.

 

Sounds good, okay, I will dump a bottle in every once in a while.

 

Hocus Pocus or not, my MPG has significantly improved after one bottle of techtron! I'm a believer. I was averaging around 15mpg before adding a bottle to the empty gas tank, I now see 17+ which leads to seeing the empty light come on at 225 miles to 300 miles. Difference maker. I will continue to do it twice a year. Haters gonna hate, but my wallet likes the improvement.

 

I've used Sea Foam for a lot of years, mostly in 2-cycle engines and boats. Really good gas preserver as I tend to keep 3-4 gas cans around for mower use and for a generator if the power goes out. It does a decent job of cutting carbon out.

I'll put a can of Chevron in a couple times of year. It's cheap, not gonna hurt.

I did put a can of Sea Foam in the crankcase of a '95 Camry right before an oil change one time. Let it run for a few minutes, then drained. Made me a little nervous to be honest. The oil did come out dirtier than usual, don't know that it really made a difference. Never did it again.

 

Im a believer. Had P code for lean. Cleaned out MAF sensor that didnt work. Put in Chevron bottle CEF came backup 1 wk later. Then added bottle of gumout intake cleaner. Finally 3k+ miles no CEL. So my conclusion...YES

 

I have heard of this before. Both explanations for and against it.
Supposedly it can be done by setting up a custom rig that injects distilled water (using a metered flow valve) in through the intake at some point, on a hot engine during freeway driving. And that the action of the water turning from a liquid state to gas, is supposed to knock loose and clean carbon in the engine, such as the combustion chamber. "De-carbonization". Supposedly it was also done in WW2 prop planes to reduce combustion chamber temps (water injection) and had the accidental side effect of cleaning things.

However, I never risked trying it to see if it actually works.

On different cars, I've tried Techron, LiquiMoly Jectron, LiquiMoly Ventil Sauber, some other stuff, and an actual injector-out cleaning service (re-assembly with new filter baskets, ultrasonic cleaning, flow-testing)
Not sure if I ever noticed much of a difference with any of it

 

I now have 3 trucks and 1 car. Every vehicle is tracked for MPG at fill up. What I have found. Once your MPG's start to suffer you either switch to a different brand of gasoline or add an additive such as Techron, Sea Foam or B12. With the additives you can generally reclaim about .04 percent per gallon (example 17.10 before and 17.70 after). You are mainly treating the fuel system such as the injectors. The claims of combustion chamber cleaning with fuel additives are exaggerated in my opinion. You would need to do an induction cleaning for that which I have never done.

You are best served to fill up at stations that are high volume dealers. If you have one you frequent mostly, change once in a while. I will fill up at Racetrac as it is high volume here, but, will go to Shell or Mobil to mix it up occasionally. This tends to work pretty well at keeping the fuel system in good working order.

 

uh huh

 

I put in a bottle of Lucas fuel additive last week... Treats 30 gallons which is almost 30% more than our tank size. My mechanic recommended it and said it is fine to use a higher concentration than recommended. I have used Techron a few times in the past with no observed increase in MPG.

My driving is not the same each day so an accurate comparison is not possible. The first fill-up did go from about 15.7 mpg to 16.2 mpg. This is mostly highway driving but some city stuff, too.

I have done many tests using different brands of gas (Chevron, Shell, Arco, Costco, Pemex) and even tried a few tanks of Premium (91 octane here) over my usual Regular (87 octane). Pemex (Mexican) gasoline delivers the highest mileage, at least 2 more MPG over California gasoline. It has no added ethanol! There was almost no difference between using Premium and Regular... In fact, Regular gave me a bit more MPG. There was also no difference in the name brands over Costco. The fact is they all fill their trucks up at the same gas depot in San Diego!

The highest mileage (outside of going to Mexico) is obtained on freeway driving, as few stops or accelerations as possible. I have gotten just over 20 MPG on long freeway drives if I keep it at 70 MPH tops. More common is 18 MPG on highway only driving. Throw any city stuff in there, and it really drops. City only (not really a city, but lots of stop & go driving in towns) is around 14-15 MPG and even less sometimes. No, I don't do jackrabbit starts. I have the heaviest model, a 4-door 4WD TRD Off Road with the 4.0 V-6 and automatic transmission. I think the window sticker on my truck was 16 mpg city/ 20 mpg highway? It has been mostly 1 MPG less and that is taking into account the odometer adjustment for my 32" tires. In the end, California or any gasoline with 10% ethanol is bad for the mileage.