Interesting Fuel Power Results

[michaelc80]

I recently used FP on my 1992 300ZX, 130K miles (NA) with some interesting results. Here is the scenario...

The car has always run good and been well maintained. I decided to use the FP that I purchased a while ago to see if there was any improvement. On my last tank of gas (premium 93 octane) I added a "shock" dose. I quickly noticed a difference in the off-idle response. It seemed to have more low end response and felt smoother.

I filled up again yesterday and last night added about 3 ounces of FP. This morning on my way to work (35 mile trip) the CEL light came on about 6 miles away from home. Shortly thereafter the engine started missing slightly.

This lasted for about 15 miles, then the CEL went off, but it continued to miss for another mile or so. As quickly as it started, the miss went away and the engine smoothed out.

When I arrived I realized that it was idling a bit differently. It has always had a slight erratic idle but that appears to be gone. I did notice a slight hesitation returning to the low end throttle (when idling if you tap the throttle the response takes a split second to catch up, but not bad for a car with 130K on it).

Any ideas what FP may have done to cause this? Or could it be that it's something else entirely and not FP related? I'm "assuming" the FP was cleaning and something was cleaned or dislodged and made its way through the fuel system causing the CEL and misfire condition.

I'm kicking around taking it in and having the codes pulled to see what the computer thinks was happening. Good idea? Waste of money?

Thanks!

 

[road_rascal]

I suppose its possible the FP could be cleaning up things and creates a misfire situation and triggers the CEL. I've been using FP for about a year now and never had a problem, in fuel injected vehicles and carbed power equipment.

 

[Russell]

Have not noticed any issue on my 95 BMW 525i with 112,000 miles. I have been using FP for at least 5,000 miles in every tank.

BTW, on a recent plug change the plugs were very clean.

 

[kang]

I'd find out what the codes are. A lot of shops, like Autozone, will do this for free. They figure they'll sell you the parts to fix whatever code comes up, so it's worth to them. I think I recently saw an ad that Midas will read your codes for free. Of course they are going to try to sell you the fix for your codes, but if you are prepared for that, no big deal.

Knowledge is power. Learn what the computer thinks was happening. It could be nothing (loose fuel cap) or it could be serious. You'll never know until the you get the codes.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

I've seen the CEL light go on almost everytime I'd spray the throttle body to clean it up. My guess is that the O2 sensor is clogged or otherwise not reading properly due to particulate matter in the way. After a while, the CEL light goes off and the car returns to it's normal operating state.

I've never seen this happen with FP, but it sounds to me like particulate is messing with the O2 sensor. Once it's burned off, the engine will run just fine...

 

[Ugly3]

I put FP60 in my 18HP Briggs mower engine. Within 30 seconds it started to sputter, cough, and run really rough. This continued for 2 minutes, then smooth as glass. Starts better than it ever did since new and runs with more power too.

 

[Mamala Bay]

Could be water in fuel tank.

 

[MZ-Bird]

run the test yourself. pull up the carpet passenger side and remove the wood cover. there you will find the ECU.

go to www300ZXclub.com or wwwTwinturbo.net

and you will find exactly how to do it since I cant specifically tell you off top of my head.

unless you can get them pulled for free.

whatever you do, dont pay to get the coeds

 

[Pablo]

[QUOTEwhatever you do, dont pay to get the coeds] [/QUOTE]

Good advice for those of you in school.

 

[Shaman]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MZ-Bird:
Whatever you do, dont pay to get the coeds

---

Smart words from a smart man.

 

[mdocod]

reminds me of doing my sefoam treatment. I slowly poored seafoam into the brake booster line to clean out the upper part of the engine. It ran like ****, puttering, sputtering, idle all over the planet and sometimes just dying. This took about 30 minuts of driving to get rid of, once it was all cleaned out of there, the engine has run idled better and regained an ever-so-slight but noticable amount of power.

 

[road_rascal]

Both of my Fords triggered a misfire code when I did the Seafoam treatment. I just reset the computer with my handheld OBDII scanner.

 

[michaelc80]

Turns out the CEL was caused by a fuel injector. I'm guessing either the Fuel Power loosened a bit of gunk and it had trouble passing through the fuel injector, or it's a coincidence that it happened when it did. It hasn't occured since then either.

Of course, without it actively happening we don't know which injector it was...