High octane gasoline as a fuel system cleaner?

[Mystic]

An old time mechanic (he has been a mechanic for more then fifty years) once told me that instead of using fuel system cleaner I could keep my fuel system clean by occasionally using high octane gasoline instead of regular gasoline.He seemed to think that there is more detergent additive in the high octane gasoline compared to the rgular gasoline. Is there any truth to this?

And just how effective are fuel system cleaners of any kind?

 

[kenw]

used to be true, not sure about now.

techron concentrate (as a separate cleaner) works very well.

 

[55Test]

Well, up here in Canada, Petro-Canada gas stations advertise on the pump that their 91 octane fuel contains 3 times as much of their Tactrol fuel system cleaner as the 87 octane fuel, so I guess what that mechanic said can be true in certain cases.

 

[Warstud]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mystic:
An old time mechanic (he has been a mechanic for more then fifty years) once told me that instead of using fuel system cleaner I could keep my fuel system clean by occasionally using high octane gasoline instead of regular gasoline.He seemed to think that there is more detergent additive in the high octane gasoline compared to the rgular gasoline. Is there any truth to this?

And just how effective are fuel system cleaners of any kind?

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That is true that's how they achieve higher octane numbers otherwise the gas would have to go through more refinement which costs more. I've heard though that regular gas already contains enough cleaners in it to keep the fuel system clean.

 

[Ken2]

Antiknock additives are different from deposit control additives.
http://www.chevron.com/products/pro...3_refining-testing/pg4.asp#gasoline_additives

The old time mechanic didn't know his modern stuff. Many brands of gasoline contain the same amount of deposit control additives in all grades, some brands only have the EPA minimum, and a few do put more into the premium grades. The question is knowing for sure which is which. In any case, I don't think one tankful will do much good.


Ken

 

[Shaman]

If you are worried about additives in higher octane gas not being in lower, just stick to top tier gas stations. It’s hard to figure out whether more octane than needed(which is bad) is over come by the additives that may or may not be in the higher octane fuels.

 

[1maniac]

quote:

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I've heard though that regular gas already contains enough cleaners in it to keep the fuel system clean

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Not true. GM and BMW have both submitted SAE papers citing the problems that modern gasoline causes due to a lack of additives.

You could also try a search of "top tier" gasoline and get some interesting reading.

 

[Big Jim]

Shell V power premium is claimed to have a higher level of detergent than their regular.

That's the only one I know of with that claim.

In the 60's, many oil companies claimed that their premium was cleaner as well as having higher octane. That pretty much went away with the OPEC run up in 74.

 

[andyd]

A bottle of Regane costs about the same as the 20cents a gallon price hike for 93 octane times a tankfull of gas. A qt of MMO treats 80 gallons of gas, and is only about 4$ The only times my heaps see 93 octane is when they need to pass the smog test. Thats to help lower the NOx. Otherwise, they get a couple cans of cleaners a year.

 

[Winston]

quote:

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Not true. GM and BMW have both submitted SAE papers citing the problems that modern gasoline causes due to a lack of additives.

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I have 155k on my Mitsu V6. Always run regular gas. Never used a fuel injector cleaner. I get better mpg now than when the car was new. (by a little bit). If I had dirty injectors I think it would show up in my mpg.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

I drive around 14K back & forth to work. Once a year, right around November, I'll put a 16oz bottle of Motorvator Injector Cleaner from Wal*Mart in my tank prior to filling (15 gallons). Then around the end of March, I'll put a bottle of water remover in the tank. Then every 40K, I slap-on a new fuel filter.

I find that's the best preventive medicine for my vehicles.