It really saves gas and gives power!

[marginal]

I really don't get your logic.
How do you know when exactly I was concentrating on my gas mileage?
Just to let you know, that I always concentrate on my gas mileage, and always have.
Also, I might have expected to get better mileage, but not in the way you are saying it.
On the other hand, I might have driven in a slightly different way, but that won't give me a difference of 10% on fuel efficiency.

[instarx]

I really don't get your logic.
I might have driven in a slightly different way, but that won't give me a difference of 10% on fuel efficiency.

In fact, very slight changes in driving style can make huge differences in mileage - much more than 10%. Sorry, I know you believe the additive gives/gave you 10% better mileage, but I don't see you offering anything other than wishful thinking to prove it.

I'm now going to stop beating this dead horse - no one here is going to change their positions. Have a good day.

[micah861]

Im not sure at all why everyone is so upset about this. personally i began useing the occasionall additive after i got the car from my father. i also added a k&n filter (which i mantain frequently) put mobil one oil in and do other frequent maintinance. i attribute a little bit of my good millage (32 highway, peeking at 34) to these things. Now during the winter my millage drops horribly, and i also blame part of this to station addatives. I was taught in school (agree or dont) that station have more ethanol added during winter to help absorb water condensation in the fuel and prevent ice. ethanol is not as efficient as gas so millage goes down.
i also idel alot more during the winter but thats my own fault.
I dont know the alltitudes where you all live, but i was also told a theory that us at higher altitudes (im over 6000 ft.) have less power but get better millage. Our engines detect their being less air, and therfore inject less fuel to keep the o2 sensor happy. i dont know if thats true or not,but i know when i drove to texas over the summer, i had more power down noticible more power down there

[matthew1]

Im not sure at all why everyone is so upset about this.

It's an Automotive Religious Issue, much like dyno vs. synthetic oil.

Like the other ARI's (and conventional religion), it's impossible to prove your point as a regular owner. But it's good to talk about it here, even if it comes down to just "feelings" as to whether it works or not.

I'm a fan of statistics, numbers and the scientific method, but at the same time I trust my intuition in things automotive and in things "life".

[polskamafia mjl]

I agree w/ Matt and Micah, as no one here has put these additives through rigorous testing we cant say that they do work or they do not work. Altitude and ambient air temp have a LOT to do with power and fuel economy. Personally I have not used additives and I still do 32+ mpg highway; I use full synthetic and I try to take good care of my car. That's not to say that fuel additives won't help someone achieve the same mpg, there are a lot of factors that play into your fuel economy. If you don't believe in fuel additives then don't use them, if you do then use them. Either way, 32ish mpg should not be considered above average. Our engines are 5 cyl so they should get good mpg and we have FWD which adds to our fuel economy...if you are at a low altitude and aren't getting around 30mpg I suggest you do a tune up or start trying out fuel additives.

[misha]

I agree with voodoorobaz!

[micah861]

Either way, i like that alot of us have cars that are 12 years or much older, getting over 30 mpg...look at a recent domestic or foriegn car comercail... they are all bragging about their brand new cars being able to get 30. volvo was ahead of its time

[marginal]

Volvo was ahead of its time even before that.
I remember back in the '70, we had a 144S (dual carburetor), the front flashers were on the corner of the fender so people can see them from the front as well as from the side and diagonally ...
There were no many cars with flashers like that at that time.

[instarx]

You are right, Matthew, it is mostly a personal issue.

Personally whenever I go to a parts store and see all the claims on packaging saying Improves Mileage! More Power! etc. I feel like I'm being jerked around by the companies' PR* departments and I don't like it.

We do have evidence that 99% of these things don't work, but it is indirect evidence. If any of the products (additives, expensive air filters, vortex generators, etc) gave any meaningful improvement in MPG the companies would be shouting the test results to prove it, and they don't. An exception to this general rule are the new mpg-improving synthetic oils, and guess what - they DO give test results.

Many of these companies count on the cognitive dissonance in their customers' brains to convince them their cars run better with these products. Cognitive dissonance is a powerful force - heck, my brain knows for a fact that my engine runs smoother when I change the antifreeze! I once had my engine cleaned so that it looked like new under the hood - man that thing ran sweet afterwards!


*PR - Public Relations, the profession of misleading people without actually telling a lie and getting sued.

[KEWROCK]

I never had any luck in noticing any difference with fuel additives. I used the Lucas stuff in my fuel a few times, no difference. But the Lucas tranny syrup worked wonders on two very old, never maintained trannys. My V70R with 110k had a pretty bad chatter going into overdrive and thump coming out, plus a hard slam coming out of park. I drained the pan only and dumped two 24oz bottles of lucas premixed with another roughly 2 and a half quarts of synthetic Dex/merc. As soon as that stuff circulated there was no trace of any problems. It's been two years(but only 5 thousand miles) since I did it.
The other was my mother's Ford Escort ZX2. That had 100K hard NYC miles on it. The trans had slipped going into second since it was new, but it never got any worse. At 100k The fluid was jet black so I siphoned half the fluid and replace with a 24oz bottle of Lucas and a qt and a half of Mercon. It's been about 12k now and the car didn't run this good when it was new.
I saw an online experiment video a few years back showing the Lucas engine additive foaming pretty bad in the block, so I guess I'd think twice about that additive.