Additives galore

[Hooty]

Hey all,
I was just down at the local auto parts store, and it kind of hit me in the head, there's a ton of additives on the market. Seems for every part there is at least two different additives on the market. Am I the only one who has had failures on vehicles shortly after adding these types of additives? I know there is no such thing as miracle in a can but is there really much to be said about these additives? I know I just ran some Sea Foam through my 96 T-bird and it seems to help (time will tell if it breaks down in the next week or two), but what do you guys think of the following:

Injector Cleaners?

Octane Boosters?

Crankcase Oil Additives?

Transmission Additives?

Upper Cylinder Lubricants?

Cooling System Additives?

Just curious because I know there are probably (not definitely, just probably) others out there like me that could benefit from knowing other people's experiences and thoughts on such additives. Thanks all.

-Will
89 Lebaron 2.5L T1 *down and out, but not gone forever*
96 Thunderchicken - need I say more? 4.6L 2v V8

[3nglenn]

The only "snake oils" I'll use are the Lucas products, and only if I have too. Had good luck with their products...

[Holley]

Here you can get 'Optimax' gas at Shell stations, thats got all the gas additives anyone would want. Its also about as high octane as can be bought without going to race fuel ... my SC ran hot on that, so I only put in one tank every now and then.

I use oil thinner before changing the oil ...

[Murphy]

sea foam is good stuff

duno about the rest...i was about to buy some octane booster last night just to try it out but i only had about $2 on my after buying gas and drinks

[turbovanman²]

The store stuff is junk or watered down. My reps come around and being a shop, we buy the professional formula's so there really strong.

I use these pro products and they work, Wynn's tranny flush kits, power steering flush kits and additives, 88 plus intank cleaner, rad stop leak, oil stop leak, Texaco decarb kit, Ford injector cleaner etc.

The engine oil stuff I have tried, most of them and the only ones that I have personally seen work are Restore and EOK-those Graphite balls in the kit from the 50's.

[Greedy]

I have had good results with Redline's complete fuel system cleaner.
Whenever I buy a new TD I throw a bottle in it and it always works!

[3Bar_Mopar]

The store stuff is junk or watered down. My reps come around and being a shop, we buy the professional formula's so there really strong.

I use these pro products and they work, Wynn's tranny flush kits, power steering flush kits and additives, 88 plus intank cleaner, rad stop leak, oil stop leak, Texaco decarb kit, Ford injector cleaner etc.

The engine oil stuff I have tried, most of them and the only ones that I have personally seen work are Restore and EOK-those Graphite balls in the kit from the 50's.

What's that Wynn's stuff they sell for like $11 retail? Fuel system cleaner of some kind....we used to sell it at the lube I worked at....I was gonna try some and never did.

I use Sea Foam and Redline's Water Wetter....that's about it.

Restore works???

[Stevien1]

At the dealer I work at, we have ATF, cooling system, power steering, axle/t-case, and fuel injection "machines" from a company called BG Systems. Their synthetic axle and t-case lubes are good, along with their 44K injector cleaner. The rest of their additives are no better than OEM fluids, IMO.

Mopar combustion chamber cleaner is one of the few additives that REALLY works.

-Chuck James

[Tony Hanna]

what do you guys think of the following:

Injector Cleaners?
The professional strength stuff that you spray through the injectors undiluted seems ok to me, but personally I can't see how a little bottle of anything diluted in a full tank of gasoline is going to have any effect.

Octane Boosters?
Snake oil plain and simple. They claim to raise the octane x number of points. Maybe from 93point0 to 93point5. Another case of there just not being enough of anything there to make a real difference. There are some chemicals that will significantly raise the octane of gasoline, but we're talking mixing gallons to a full tank of gas, not a little xx oz bottle.

Crankcase Oil Additives?
Depends on the product and the situation. Alot of the really thick "Motor Honey" type stuff is worse on a tighter engine than running without it. Also, you get the power and economy loses from pumping a thicker fluid. On the other hand, if the engine is worn out of tolerance, you might buy it a little time.

Transmission Additives?
Haven't used any or researched, so I don't have enough information to form an opinion.

Upper Cylinder Lubricants?
Again, haven't used any or researched.

Cooling System Additives?
Water Wetter is a surfactant and works by reducing the surface tension of the water to promote better heat transfer. A little bit of liquid dish soap in your cooling system works the same way and it's alot cheaper.

My .02

[turbovanman²]

At the dealer I work at, we have ATF, cooling system, power steering, axle/t-case, and fuel injection "machines" from a company called BG Systems. Their synthetic axle and t-case lubes are good, along with their 44K injector cleaner. The rest of their additives are no better than OEM fluids, IMO.

Mopar combustion chamber cleaner is one of the few additives that REALLY works.

-Chuck James

BG is the same type of company as Wynn's, there bitter enemys, lol! BG's 44K is da bomb. If that stuff can't clean out your carbon and fuel system, nothing can. They should rename that stuff as nuclear material,

Another cleaner that works is GM's CCC or combustion chamber cleaner. That stuff eats carbon alive. I soak oil burning Honda's with it as theres a 50/50 chance the oil rings are carboned up. If this stuff stops it, they were carboned,

[WVRampage]

I stay with the lucas products and they are the only ones ill use.

[GLHSKEN]

Tony, agree for the most part... As for FI cleaners.. techron works VERY well... Mopar used to re-bottle it to sell as their own. They might still..

[JeremyL]

Only stuff I use is Sea Foam & Lucas. Sea Foam does a good job of clearing out carbon, and I run Lucas fuel & oil additives in everything.

[GLHSKEN]

To clean out carbon, you can also "steam clean" the engine. Take water in a pitcher, hook the SMALL hard tubing from the small tb vac nipple to the pitcher, Start the car and rev it to 3k for a minute... It will suck the water in and clean out EVERYTHING on the pistons and valves...

[Murphy]

i've herd to use like a windex bottle so you dont hydro lock your engine and blow the HG

[Tony Hanna]

Tony, agree for the most part... As for FI cleaners.. techron works VERY well... Mopar used to re-bottle it to sell as their own. They might still..

Ken,
I should have gone into a little more detail about the injector cleaners.
Most everything I've experienced and heard points to the good cleaners like Techron working if they're used regularly over a long period of time. I personally run Chevron gasoline for that reason.
What I was getting at was a set of injectors that are already dirty enough to be causing problems. I just can't see how 1 little bottle of anything diluted in a full tank of gas can help at that point. For situations like that I put together a little rig to pulse an injector while spraying undiluted cleaner through it at 100 psi.

[Frank]

To clean out carbon, you can also "steam clean" the engine. Take water in a pitcher, hook the SMALL hard tubing from the small tb vac nipple to the pitcher, Start the car and rev it to 3k for a minute... It will suck the water in and clean out EVERYTHING on the pistons and valves...

It was nice on the Bronco. I used the EGR vaccum line which had a solenoid on it. This solenoid would only open at 800rpms. Can't hydro lock then. I must have sucked down a gallon of water over 5 minutes.


Frank

[Frank]

Ken,
I should have gone into a little more detail about the injector cleaners.
Most everything I've experienced and heard points to the good cleaners like Techron working if they're used regularly over a long period of time. I personally run Chevron gasoline for that reason.
What I was getting at was a set of injectors that are already dirty enough to be causing problems. I just can't see how 1 little bottle of anything diluted in a full tank of gas can help at that point. For situations like that I put together a little rig to pulse an injector while spraying undiluted cleaner through it at 100 psi.

Yep. However, what is nice is on alot of cars that have the pressure valve, you can hook up that sea foam crap then disengage the fuel pump fuse or relay and let the engine run off of that stuff. Noticed some good results on Ford vehicles at my dad's shop.


Frank

[Tony Hanna]

That's a good plan Frank. I may give that a shot the next time I need to clean a set of injectors. That would probably do a pretty good job of cleaning the intake ports and valves too.

[GLHSKEN]

i've herd to use like a windex bottle so you dont hydro lock your engine and blow the HG

My set-up doesn't blow the HG... I got it from the best... GD...

Tony, Gotcha!! and agreed... I run techron through all my cars 2 times a year.