Fuel additives and fuel system cleaners are as hot of a topic as motor oils.
There are all kinds of fuel system additives claiming all kinds of benefits from cleaner engine, to more performance, to better gas mileage. But are these statements true? Some are, but most aren’t. It’s a tricky subject to navigate because much of what you hear is from what people THINK, not what can be proven in a scientific test. What you should realize is that in most cases, like 98% of the time, if a product does work, and works well, your engine will not be making more power or get better gas mileage than when it was new. That is to say there is no product that really makes your engine better than it was, but there are some products that can restore the performance of your engine by cleaning and lubricating the fuel system components.
Problem #1 : Carbon build up on injectors, valves and combustion chambers.
Carbon build up aka… carbon deposits, happen when fuel is burnt in your engine, or in the case of intake valves, the fuel hits the hot valve and slowly builds up on the back of it. This happens in both diesel and gasoline engines. As mentioned carbon build deposits on the tops of pistons and inside the combustion chamber simply happen because the fuel in being burnt and used for power. There is really nothing you can do to prevent this. Normal depositing doesn’t harm anything, in fact a very light coating helps keep heat in the combustion chamber and actually protects the top of the pistons. However after many miles this build up can get out of hand and begins to cause problems. In the combustion chamber it can cause glowing hot spots that ignite fuel before the spark plug and can cause the engine to knock.
Excessive carbon build up can also foul fuel injector spray patterns which also cause engine performance problems. Carbon build up on the back of intake valves restricts air flow into the cylinder creating performance problems, like a general lack of power. Carbon deposits can also build up in between the valves and valve seats causing the valves to not seal properly and resulting in a lack of power.
Problem #2: Getting rid of carbon build up / or deposits safely.
In modern engines there is a right and wrong way to clean carbon deposits. In modern engines the proper way is to dissolve the carbon deposits so they can burn and safely go through the engine and exhaust system. This is a very important point because in older cars where you did not have catalytic converters and oxygen sensors and all the other modern components, you could have a product break up the carbon and it could exit the engine in small chunks or pieces safely. There are some very well known products that work good and are perfectly fine to use on older vehicles, however, these very same products used on modern engines will do very little or perhaps nothing, or they can cause significant damage when chunks of carbon get caught in things like catalytic converters and clog them. That is why I have pointed out the importance of dissolving the deposits.
Problem #3 Water in fuel from alcohol causing damage and corrosion to fuel system parts.
Straight from the government: “More than 98% of U.S. gasoline contains ethanol to oxygenate the fuel.”
Ethanol is alcohol, and alcohol adsorbs water, and water in your fuel damages parts and as an added bonus ethanol also results in slightly less gas mileage, because it doesn’t have the same amount of energy that gasoline has.
FUN FACT TIME…..
Your tax dollars go to subsidize farmers to grow corn to produce ethanol, which then gets you less gas mileage and costs you more money when you have to make repairs because of the damage water does to your fuel system. I will also add that I believe that the refineries that take the corn and make it into ethanol are also a losing proposition and are also subsidized by your tax dollars. If that isn’t bad enough, corn is not the most efficient way to make ethanol, sugar cane is. That is why you hear about Brazil using ethanol. Brazil is the 2nd largest producer of ethanol and the United States is #1. So it is safe to say that it’s quite a bit of your tax dollars being wasted. I learned about this in the 1980’s and it still holds true today. I had no idea of the secrets I was keeping! :0
Ethanol alcohol is a great racing fuel. It has a very high resistance to exploding (that’s what octane rating is all about..) and it burns cooler, so you can run very high compression. However.. because it does not have the stored energy of gasoline, as a general rule you must adjust your carburetor to flow 3 times the amount of fuel that it would normally need running on gasoline. Also, alcohol race cars are very high maintenance because of alcohol’s corrosive nature. Much attention has to be paid to the fuel system and the motor oil. Alcohol will get in the engine oil attracting both water and diluting the oil. Alcohol race cars are also stored with an empty fuel tank because you don’t want that stuff just sitting in there.
What makes a fuel system cleaner good?
A good fuel system cleaner will have Polyetheramine in it. Polyetheramine or P.E.A. as it is known, is what dissolves the carbon build ups. If the fuel system cleaner you are using doesn’t have P.E.A. in it, you are wasting your money and possibly even damaging your car. Many fuel system, fuel injector cleaners DO NOT have P.E.A. in them.
In addition to P.E.A. the good fuel system cleaners also have lubricants in them to protect parts from the caustic effects of the ethanol in fuel. Some additives also stabilize the fuel so it will last longer and not pick up water. It is always best to read up a bit on what you are going to purchase, and use it as directed. While much of the advertisement you will see can make it sound like miracles will happen, truth is you will probably just notice that your car runs smoother / better. It’s well worth using a good fuel injector cleaner regularly to keep your engine clean.
This is a list of fuel injector / fuel system cleaners with P.E.A.
This list isn’t a complete list of fuel additives with P.E.A. , but it’s a good list. Not all injector cleaners have the same amount of P.E.A. in it. The ones with lesser amount of P.E.A. seem to have about 5%, while the stronger ones have up to 35%. The stronger ones are usually high mileage formulas. All of these fuel system cleaners work with both gasoline and diesel engines, and both fuel injected and carburetted engines. Fuel injection cleaner will not harm a carburetor, but it is not recommended to use fuel additive designed for carburetors, in fuel injected vehicles.
Did You Know That Some Gasoline Already Contains P.E.A.?
There is gasoline marked as Top Tier. This gasoline is only available at some gas stations. There are plenty of gas stations that have this gas. Sometimes the gas stations call it “Guaranteed Gas.”
You can see a list Top Tier Gas Stations Here.