whynot

Hey guys, I was thinking... since I live in the northeast and currently the temperatures here are dipping below the freezing point quite frequently, would it make sense to put some fuel additive in the gas tank such as Chevron Pro-Guard Gas Treatment?
This is the description of their product taken from the Chevron website: "Regular use will keep your engine's intake system clean and help remove water to fight gas line freeze. "
Now, considering that we use 91-93 octane on our cars I'm not really sure this stuff is needed, but, I was curious to see whether any of you in the colder states actually use these things or stay away from them, and why.
Discuss.

tuan209

I use a gas treatment for every tank. Look into FP60 from www.lubecontrol.com

curls

Acura doesn't recommend it.

I do know, however, that most gas station chains in Canada at least, have additives to their fuels. One is "Tactrol" (Petro-Canada) which cleans as you drive, etc... Also, most stations have "winter gas" which has a small amount of gas-line antifreeze in the gas, so that you don't need to add it yourself.

That being said, I used to live in Thunder Bay, Ontario, which routinely got below -30*C for a few days at a time, and I never had the gas lines freeze. If anything, just keep your tank above the 1/2 way mark, and you should be fine as there won't be enough condensation to freeze.

Beoshingus

Your car will operate best if you buy snake oil to add to the fuel tank.

psteng19

The octane of gas has nothing to do with using gas additives, or the "cleanliness" of the gas itself.

whynot

Snake oil? Won't that make your car rattle?
I heard if you add 1 quart of donkey piss to each tank, vtec will start kicking in at 4k rpms.....

tsxflexer

Dont add additives its not worth the risk. The only thing I would add if anything would be Octane booster. If you really wanna fly add jet fuel.

tuan209

I agree with most here as there are some "snake oils" out there, but the two that really work are the Cheveron gas treatment and FP60. Head over to http://www.bobistheoilguy.com and look up FP60, and read the comments from "Terry" as he is a very credible source.

Beoshingus

Do NOT - repeat, NOT - add octane booster to your car. I did this once many years ago to my 1992 Saturn SC2. It ran awesome for that tank of gas. I mean AWESOME. I was blowing away Probe GTs and V6 Camaros with ease.

And then it roasted the catalytic converter. The warranty covered it, but they probably would have raised some eyebrows if they had known I had poured a bottle of 104+ into it the week before.

exexexex

wa! Saturn SC2 beat Probe and Camaros! Really that much of a power surge from the 104+?
If I would knew that when I was still in that GM dealership back then.......

whynot

Beoshingus,
If you're saying that a saturn sc2 could blow away a v6 camaro then i think you accidently drank that octane booster instead of putting it in your car...

Mokos23

oh crap i put octane booster a month ago in the TSX

Beoshingus

Have you ever driven a 1992 SC2? Or a V6 Camaro? The Saturn's not very slow (especially with the 5-speed), and the V6 Camaro's not very fast in the first place. Not sure why you would think that impossible.

Here are some figures on performance:I guess that I shouldn't have been surprised to beat the Camaro after all. It seemed impressive to me at the time. I also think that the 8.4 second time must have been for the automatic transmission on the Saturn. I had it timed in 0-60 at about 7.5 seconds once.

I'd love to have that Saturn back.

Anyway, the point is: don't use octane booster.

San-AnT

better trade it in now before they find out!

ilitig8

Do you know what jet fuel is...

aaronng

LOL... kerosene.

jpt

Put diesel in your car, you'll get lots of extra low-end torque.

SodaLuvr

If I was going to use a fuel additive (which I don't personally), it'd either be FP-3000 or Techron.

Power1Pete

My friend did just that. It costed her a fortune to have the tank cleaned and the diesel sucked.

Kris05TSX

Fuel additives are definitely a waste of money to do at every tank of gas, however, I like to add a bottle of either Redline fuel injector cleaner or Marvel Mystery oil (same stuff) to my tank every time I do an oil change (5k miles). It really helps to keep your injectors clean, and since it's only every 5k miles, it shouldn't hurt anything.

Tip - I like to poor the additive in prior to filling up on an empty tank... that way it mixes really good as you fill up

julyccc

My friend only use Shell V- Power 93 octane for his car. he said that it's clean the engine and better for the car.

I have been doing the same since i got my car. Is he crazy?

tsxflexer

OMG I have to comment on this. This dude has lost it. I love when people say they smoke mustangs and cameros with cars like Saturns. Haha, you cant be serious. Then when you ask them what type of Camero or Mustang it is its almost 100% percent going to be the weak azz V-6. OMG im not yet, please read on. Then when you check out the Saturn you notice that they have NOS stickers all over it. So you might, I said might, assume that its Saturn with a nitrous setup. But no, the stickers came from the box of Octane booster that they bought at Peps, that gave them the 30-50 horsies that made them smoke a camero, who didn't even know that he was racing. I think i just pissed myself.

Ricer flybyes do not count as wins but they do determine the losers.

Beoshingus

Okay, first of all, I said V6 Camaro from the beginning. I would never have even bothered to race a Z-28. Second, I said I had put octane booster in it. Third, I posted 0-60 numbers showing that I shouldn't have been surprised at all to have outrun the V6 Camaro. Did you even follow the link? Nor did I ever claim to have modded my Saturn in any way (NOS or stickers or otherwise.) And all that was to make the point that you are endangering your catalytic converter by adding octane booster. So... what's your problem?

Oh, and by the way, the Camaro as at WOT - he knew he was racing.

iamhomin

The conclusion is the same for every 'additive' thread: keep pouring in if it makes you satisfied. Fuel cleaners won't harm your car anyway..

Beoshingus

Injector cleaners are fine, but I'm not sure they do any good. Just a waste of money in my opinion. I used it fairly regularly on my last car, but that didn't prevent me from having to pay to have the injectors cleaned by the shop at 75,000 miles.

Alin10123

Most manufacturers of gasoline already have additives put into there fuel when it's refined. That will most likely keep your engine clean enough. The freezing point of fuel is pretty darn cold. Most of the time you'll have to worry about your battery dying on you before your fuel freezes. If you are worried about engine life in the extreme cold, you should try switching to a good synthetic oil.

Ellas9

There is no relationship between octane and fuel cleanliness. In Canada, only Petro Canada and Shell actually put more detergents in the fuel for the higher octane grades - but those fuels are not 'cleaner'. I think every 7-10K you should put a bottle of fuel injector cleaner and I agree, put the bottle in just before you fill up as it mixes better. Definatly no octane boost or other concentrated additives - its shouldn't need it. For next winter, I'm also considering a synthetic oil which should flow better at lower temps.