LSJr Motor Oil Geek on fuel additives

I mostly use Costco Premium. It's fresh as gas can be and has plenty of additives added at the station. They recently updated the Lubrizol additive package to better clean direct injectors.
 
ARCOgraphite said:
I might ask why are you using pricey Lucas refuse and not just a good ND30 motor oil that might cost maybe three bucks a qt?

I postulate with the extreme pressure and fine oriface of D.I. , the addition of long stringy polymers and paraffins would adversely impact proper atomisation and stress the pump. Plus, I tried it with a couple commercial products and the engine ran poorly LOL, and I was some what biased that it would run "better" as often seen on my carbureted engines in the past. I did use a high treat rate of around 100:1. (Approx 1 fluid oz. per Gal)
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Lots of people buy a gallon of TC-W3 oil and use 2-4 ounces, probably the most cost effective way. I just have a few quarts of Lucas/Rislone that I'm going through right now. I do think it makes my engine sound smoother and the arguments for UCL that I've read in this forum made sense to me, but I'm not an engineer and it may just be a placebo effect. "Long stringy polymers" in the fuel pump is concerning.
 
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Patman said:
The problem with this video for me is that it makes it look as if engines that run on regular 87 octane fuel are going to have such high wear rates but in reality there are a considerable amount of people who have hundreds of thousands of miles on their engines and have never once used premium fuel (or any additional additives either) I don’t use premium in my Civic, nor do I ever use any other additives but I do use Costco gas almost exclusively, and they claim to have a lot more detergents than other brands.

For my Corvette I have never used any additives either but I have run nothing but Top Tier fuels in it since day one and I have recently switched over to Shell 93 and will likely use that exclusively from now on (I have especially enjoyed getting a 17 cent per liter discount there the last few months as well as getting $40 worth of free gas thanks to the Air Miles promotions recently)
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I wonder what the fuel economy difference would be for your vette regular vs premium?
The ECM should see the difference and adjust spark timing and other tune parameters.
 
puellarum said:
It's always on sale for $7 a pop at your local auto parts store. It's not going to hurt anything. Who cares really
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Which item do you mean? I average about $5 per tank between a cleaner and ucl. But I agree who cares if you believe it's helping even a little. I bought a used car with unknown history so I feel it's justified.
 
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userfriendly said:
I wonder what the fuel economy difference would be for your vette regular vs premium?
The ECM should see the difference and adjust spark timing and other tune parameters.
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There is no way I could possibly run 87 octane in my Corvette and I don't know how others are doing this (there are a couple of guys on the CorvetteForum who claim to only use 87) With mine, even if I step down to 91, I will hear detonation at part throttle in the 1500-1700 rpm range (not at WOT though) The only time I can really run 91 octane would be in the colder months (I drive my car all year round as long as there is no salt on the roads) So for me, it's 93 or higher in the warm months.
 
Jetronic said:
Well, if fuel dilution is a thing, adding stuff to the sump through the fuel is definitely possible. But oil and fuel are a plenty in the ring pack (especially on oil burners), so the question becomes what do we want to add there.
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But what’s the point of adding an “upper cylinder lubricant” to the sump full of a fully-formulated engine oil? Again, over the lifespan of an engine, the oil spends infinitely more time in contact with the ring pack (especially on oil burners), so would you not want an engine oil that’s formulated to keep those areas clean?

Nothing you dump in the tank is required to disclose what’s in it, nor do they have any set of standards to steer the consumer away from pure garbage (is this why Lucas pushes its UCL more heavily than its engine oils??). The aftermarket fuel additive business is a cash cow, and at the consumer’s expense, literally and figuratively. Engine oils and gasolines from all major outlets have standards and oversight bodies.
 
ARCOgraphite said:
I think Shell V-Power was mentioned at the beginning of the video. I recall saying to myself last night when this video popped up."that's too bad, we dont have a good Shell station around here - just swamp water pushers". Plus I don't require premium or even care about this with my current vehicle.
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Correct.
 
Foxtrot08 said:
I can DM you a price sheet that comes off a service that you pay for, when you buy wholesale rack. It has my name on it which is why I don’t post it publicly.

You’ll notice the options you get.


Terminal / price and in my area you get a choice of: 87e10, 89e10, 93e10, 87e0 or 90e0. Mind you the choices will change slightly region to region. But, there is no choice for “I want more detergents.” Or any special options.

There is no “top tier” branding choice either. Yet, I’m buying from Marathon / Sun / Husky / Ergon like… anyone else would. Sheetz, Walmart, Costco, Getgo, etc.

On the branded side it’s a little (a lot) more complicated. My sister company (my family still) owns and/or manages about 500 gas stations that are a major brand.
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I believe Costco doses their fuel at their retail pumps. A few years ago someone posted slides from a Costco presentation which showed the dosing machine/tank at a one of their stores.

Found it.


https://www.f150forum.com/attachmen...d_signature_clean_power_gasoline_additive.pdf
 
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5thgennissanaltima said:
Lots of people buy a gallon of TC-W3 oil and use 2-4 ounces, probably the most cost effective way. I just have a few quarts of Lucas/Rislone that I'm going through right now. I do think it makes my engine sound smoother and the arguments for UCL that I've read in this forum made sense to me, but I'm not an engineer and it may just be a placebo effect. "Long stringy polymers" in the fuel pump is concerning.
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It definitely does something. I put 2 stroke in my old dodge pickup when I bought it. It was burning some oil, maybe a quart every 2,000 miles. 8oz of 2 stroke oil in about 18 gallons of gas for a several tanks along with an extra oil change seems to halve haulted most of the the oil consumption.
Now it burns maybe a half quart in 4000 miles.
Latest oil change was 1,300 miles ago and so far it looks like I might not have to add any oil this oci.
 
BMWTurboDzl said:
I believe Costco doses their fuel at their retail pumps. A few years ago someone posted slides from a Costco presentation which showed the dosing machine/tank at a one of their stores.

Found it.


https://www.f150forum.com/attachmen...d_signature_clean_power_gasoline_additive.pdf
Click to expand...


A lot of companies are doing that. There’s only so much storage space at terminals for additives. If you cut a deal with Lubrizol, instead of say Innospec, and you’re buying barrels, it’s worth while.

Dosing with “more” additive isn’t always a great thing, either. Theres a bunch papers written on this too. Fuel additives are a tricky beast.
 
SubieRubyRoo said:
Which of those “lubricants” have flashpoints higher than the temperatures in the running cylinders?
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I checked the flashpoints of MMO, Rislone, TC-W3 and all are in the 200F range like most additives. Lucas fuel treatment is 450F! I assume the low dose of Lucas mixed with a full tank of gas wouldn't cause any combustion issues and fuel dilution. Is this fair to say?

Pouring the entire gallon in might be a problem though.
 
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SubieRubyRoo said:
But what’s the point of adding an “upper cylinder lubricant” to the sump full of a fully-formulated engine oil? Again, over the lifespan of an engine, the oil spends infinitely more time in contact with the ring pack (especially on oil burners), so would you not want an engine oil that’s formulated to keep those areas clean?

Nothing you dump in the tank is required to disclose what’s in it, nor do they have any set of standards to steer the consumer away from pure garbage (is this why Lucas pushes its UCL more heavily than its engine oils??). The aftermarket fuel additive business is a cash cow, and at the consumer’s expense, literally and figuratively. Engine oils and gasolines from all major outlets have standards and oversight bodies.
Click to expand...

Well that was my question really. I suppose a friction modifier that gets consumed could be replenished that way, but is it needed? And I'm not talking aftermarket additives.
 
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