Are additives really worth it?

[Baasvark]

I have never been a believer in additives.
Do they really work? Injector cleaner, engine cleaner etc.

I always believed that the petrol companies put in all that is necessary to get an "edge" on their competitors.

Now I recently read some posts on another site where some guys actually believe in this stuff.

What do you guys think?

And if you use additives - what, how often and what have you observed from using it. Why would you advise it or why not. Just a friendly, light hearted debate.

[Baasvark]

Come on guys, 31 views and not even 1 opinion?
Surely you can do better than this!..... :)

[Harold]

In spite of all the research and searches to find the Loch Ness Monster there are still a few that believe it exists; same goes for Big-foot, the lost city in the Kalahari, etc., etc.

So there will still be some that believe that additives do work.

So let them add their additives; they're content, we're unconcerned - and everyone is Happy!

[ThysdJ]

Oh you want an opinion?

I heard many people say they work... I heard many people say they dont make a difference... I heard many people say they mess up your engine...

None of those are my opinion though..

I have not tried it, because in my opinion if it was worth adding and it was as good as "they" say, then it would have been added in the first place. In this day and age nobody can afford to waste the opportunity to take the leading edge away from the competition, and leave it to some independent guys with a purple and orange bottle... Therefore in my opinion it would be a waste of money that I could use for my own additives...

[pietdevs]

I fitted a fuel saving device which saves 20% on fuel, bought additive for the fuel which saves 30%, bought oil additive which saves another 25%, bought injector additive which saves 25% on top of it all - problem is now I have to siphon fuel from my tank every time I stop otherwise my tank overflows.......

[ChrisF]

okay, you asked for it ....


You get "additives" - as in Prolong to magically improve your oil's properties to a point which far exceeds those achieved by the lowly paid wannabe chemical engineers at the fly by night international oil companies .... yea right !


Then in a totally different class you get those that BELIEVE adding motorcycle two stroke oil to a diesel engine will solve all your marital and financial problems ....... yea right !!


and THEN you get "cleaning agents" - NOT for daily use, but as a once of treatment forming part of a major service .... be-it a radiator cleaner, or valve ease, etc etc ....



actually SAW a dealer putting a bottle of valve ease into my vehicle's fuel tank - sticky hydraulic lifters and resulting low compression ratio on no.3 ..... was it the valve easy, or the 150km top end run ??? not sure but the problem was GONE (MAN do I miss the days before speed cameras...)



would I buy "additives" ? heck NO !!

would I buy "cleaning agents" ? YES, last year we bought a second hand car and I used various items to clean the radiator, flushed the engine three times, etc etc .... Not a days problems with the car since then - TOUCH WOOD.

BUT, I sure as heck wont be using any of these for daily usage.

[Mr_B]

When I bought my V6 the engine was pretty sluggish and noisy... I ran a bottle of Bardahl's engine flush through it for 200km... made a fantastic difference for me!

I also put some fuel octane booster/injector cleaner in the tank when I hit the open road... hopefully it helps!

[Baasvark]

Now see that wasn't so difficult now was it ???:P

Thanks for the replies.

Interesting to hear (see) the different opinions.

I don't plan to chuck in the "muti's" sold by every second snake oil salesman but I must confess to having considered injector cleaner from time to time....

But I do agree with the idea of rather using that money for personal additives....:twisted::twisted:

[Hoppy]

The claims on the container can usually be ignored or taken with a pinch, but the friction modifiers in most products actually does make a difference, we have tested it in race cars on a dyno and you can get a marginal improvement, but we strip the engines after a few races and rebuild, the sediments and gunk inside the sump is bad news for your engine.
If you want to make your vehicle run better for a short period of time, maybe for resale, add the gunk.
There are actually some manufacturers that insists on additives to make their inferior components last the guarantee term.
My best advice; take the extra money you wanted to spend on additives and buy the best quality oil you can afford or drain the oil more regularly.

[Mars]

I'm with Allan on this one. Rather spend the money on better quality oil. I don't put two-stroke in my tank but the two times I did to see what happens out of curiosity it gave better fuel consumption.

On my Porsche Spyder I have a single point injection system and the injector recently packed up. I managed to get a 2nd hand one and the car had a flat spot and was sluggish to pick up revs. I put injector cleaner in there and it made I huge difference. the car is back to how it was before.

[Hoppy]

There is a big difference between solvents or "cleaners" and additives, fuel system and engine "cleaners" do have there use and they are effective in most cases, but not a guaranteed "quickfix"
You must always think about what happens to the particles/sludge you are setting free with your "cleaner", if you use an oil "cleaner" make sure you drain the oil and replace the filter at least twice after you,ve added the stuff, the same goes with the fuel filter.
If you are lucky the particles will exit the engine without getting stuck somewhere else.

In the old days people used to insist on Castrol GTX, if you strip an engine that ran on GTX, you found a grey paste or sediment in the oil pan, left there by additives, this used to scare people. Funny enough, what actually happened is the cleanser in the engines loosened the particles and the sediment residue trapped it, so it was not uncommon to strip an engine with 400 000 km that ran on GTX only and the crankshaft doesn't need to be ground.

After all these years i do not prefer a specific oil brand, but i read the label and i make sure that it has a proper S/C spec and i only use known brands.

[hend]

Modern oils have all components to lube and clean your engine. If you stick to service intervals there is no need to add anything.
As for fuel we can start another 2SO debate! Ha Ha Ha!

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

[Reinart21]

I'm with Allan on this one. Rather spend the money on better quality oil. I don't put two-stroke in my tank but the two times I did to see what happens out of curiosity it gave better fuel consumption.

On my Porsche Spyder I have a single point injection system and the injector recently packed up. I managed to get a 2nd hand one and the car had a flat spot and was sluggish to pick up revs. I put injector cleaner in there and it made I huge difference. the car is back to how it was before.

Quick question on the injector cleaner. If I understand you correctly, the cleaner you added helped to get the injector which caused a flat spot to return to normal spec, like it used to be. Sounds silly, but could it be before the injector cleaner, if tested the injector would have been out of "spec" and after the cleaner would have showed it is actually in "spec"?

I guess what I'm getting at is in your case it made a noticeable difference, but does this relate in any way to the in or out spec that toyota guys refer to. It's not uncommon for the diesel hilux guys to have to replace these little buggers.

Experts anyone?

[Hoppy]

You can buy a genuine Toyota injector cleaner at the agents, i have used it with good results

[Dowe Koos]

Hi there
Some weeks ago I'd service my 2.7i, replace oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, put in new new oil (I USE only CASTROL GTX Since 1980 in all my cars and bikes - never had a problem)
Before the service my fuel consumption was 6 kilos a liter, after service I get 7,4 kilos a liter.
Never use any additves in my life. That's this

[Thabogrobler]

Ek glo in Kalgard se Poly PTFE as 'n oil additive en die hidroliese een vir ratkaste en diwwe.

So far so good!

[Mars]

I'm with Allan on this one. Rather spend the money on better quality oil. I don't put two-stroke in my tank but the two times I did to see what happens out of curiosity it gave better fuel consumption.

On my Porsche Spyder I have a single point injection system and the injector recently packed up. I managed to get a 2nd hand one and the car had a flat spot and was sluggish to pick up revs. I put injector cleaner in there and it made I huge difference. the car is back to how it was before.

Quick question on the injector cleaner. If I understand you correctly, the cleaner you added helped to get the injector which caused a flat spot to return to normal spec, like it used to be. Sounds silly, but could it be before the injector cleaner, if tested the injector would have been out of "spec" and after the cleaner would have showed it is actually in "spec"?

I guess what I'm getting at is in your case it made a noticeable difference, but does this relate in any way to the in or out spec that toyota guys refer to. It's not uncommon for the diesel hilux guys to have to replace these little buggers.

Experts anyone?

When I installed the injector I noticed that there was some sticky deposits around the pintle (valve) and whilst it is possible to connect the injector to a battery to open the pintle and try to spray carb cleaner in there it is very easy to burn the coil. Those injectors are hard to find so I did not want to take the chance. The injector cleaner additive in the petrol definitely worked to clean the injector.

Once an injector is worn to a point where it is out of spec an additive is not going to fix it. Then the injectors will need to be serviced.

[Reinart21]

I Think the biggest question is then, how to know if the injector is under performing due to it being worn or just dirty with sticky deposits. As I would guess both reasons if tested would show the injector to be out of spec.

Say Toyota tests the injector and then they determine that they are indeed out of spec, would you just replace without determining if it is worn or just dirty?

[Baasvark]

This is where the pearls come out and are shared....

I'm always sceptical when the stealers "check" something for you.... I recently had my Troopy in as the electrical diff lock wasn't working. They advised that the actuator was shot and a new one was R8k.

I replaced a sensor on the gearbox - R300 and problem solved. Anyway enough OT.

It seems there might be a place for some productd though....

[Mars]

You need some very specialised knowledge and equipment to properly measure the output and spray pattern of an injector. Something that the stealers definitely do not have at their disposal. I would therefore be inclined to get a second opinion it they simply say the injectors are shot.