Most PEA Bang For Your Buck

[ka9mnx]

Friction I say. Yes, the friction of drag. There's a proper, technical term for that, but I'm blanking. It takes energy to move all those parts around with that film of oil.

I've used 5w-20 to 0W-40 and track every gallon of gas used in my vehicles. the difference in fuel economy is in the noise.

 

[ka9mnx]

I've found Gumout Regane Complete best for removing carbon and Berryman B-12 Chemtool best for removing varnish. My last venture was BG44K which seemed to work very well.

 

[spasm3]

There is very much a reason that companies now use very thin oils. It increases fuel mileage. You reduce friction, you reduce your energy needs. Works every time.

I have to wonder is the goal of thinner oils is really fuel mileage ?

Or is it more about reducing emissions during the cold engine start/warmup phase.

 

[kschachn]

I have to wonder is the goal of thinner oils is really fuel mileage ?

Or is it more about reducing emissions during the cold engine start/warmup phase.

No it is about fuel economy during normal operation. Automobiles spend little of their operating time in startup or warmup, and everything in that phase is geared towards getting the engine to normal operating temperature as quickly as possible. Besides, any oil is very thick during that time regardless of the grade.

 

[Mechanician]

One "basic" that's often overlooked is wheel alignment.
If the toe is off, you're going to take a hit right in the MPG.
O2 (A/F) sensors can get slow, or biased, eventually it will kick a DTC.

 

[Davejam]

10-30%
View attachment 270469

I've followed this for a while...previously Gumout Regane listed a higher range, then they introduced the 12oz diluted version for autozone specifically. You can find a Q&A somewhere on here I believe. So I believe the 6oz is 20-30, and diluted version 10-15.

There is a gentleman on here that has tested a lot of these through a nitrogen indicator test and Gumout Regane tested similarly to Redline SI1, so there's also that.

 

[doitmyself]

There is a gentleman on here that has tested a lot of these through a nitrogen indicator test and Gumout Regane tested similarly to Redline SI1, so there's also that.

A really smart (and handsome) guy posted a link to that gentlemen's thread in post #32. But beware, facts are highly over rated. Conjecture rules.

 

[notharry]

Yep Lake speed is amazong at making things complicated easily explained and understood.

 

[FrequentlyCynical]

I've spent most of my morning reading old BTOG posts about PEA, Techron, Royal Purple, Techron, and others. (How sad!) The reason being is my recently purchased 2007 Lincoln MKZ with 125,000 miles gets horrible gas mileage. Especially when I compare it to my recently departed (sniff) 2000 Buick GS. Larger, heavier, almost double the mileage, same displacement, same HP. Real world, about 18-19 around town, 23 on the highway. The Lincoln is EPA rated at 19 and 27. That's running Mobile 1 0W-20, the Buick ran Mobil 1 20W-40. Using the built in computer, I get 13mpg on, yes, very short in town jaunts, gets up to about 16+ combined with a short freeway hop. This is SO far below what the Buick did and the EPA claim that it really urinates me off. This isn't some margin of error, climate, or mechanical issues. In fact, I'm driving the Lincoln more conservatively that the Buick!


I've been turning wrenches for over sixty years, I've gone through the obvious and accessible. As an example, pull a spark plug. Perfect in gap and condition.


I've no complaints about power or drivability.


So, I'm getting desperate and thought I'd look into a PEA fuel additive. Other than a few dollars, what's to lose? (The only other thing I can think of is that the internal water pump was replaced maybe 5K miles ago by a previous owner, and maybe the mechanic didn't get the cams aligned right, off a tooth? I don't want to even think about that fix.


Back to the topic, PEA additives. In hours of reading, so much opinion, so much subjectivity, so much bad science with a smattering of objective experiences. I figured I might as well get the most PEA bang for my buck. (I know that all PEA's are not created equal, but I need to keep this simple.) I looked up the SDS's for Royal Purple Max Clean, Redline Si-1, and two Techrons, High Mileage and Complete. Since SDS's give a range of ingredient percentages, I went with the average of low and high. Those results are:


Royal Purple, 10%
Techron Complete, 15%
Techron High Mileage, 22.5%
Redline, 31%


Since the bottle sizes and prices vary for each product, using a local national chain prices, I came up with the following cost per ounce of PEA:


Royal Purple, $10
Techron Complete in 32oz, $4.69
Techron High Mileage, $4.81
Redline Si-1, $3.44


It's obvious which one I'm going to try. Now, should I go for the total dump, or divide it by two or even three tank fulls? The latter would be the equivalent of three Royal Purple treatments. Man, a guy can go nuts trying to figure this all out.

Ah, technology. Online, the local Advance Auto Parts says they have the Redline product. They don't. However, Techron products were BOGO, so I got 2 High Mileage for $13. So it worked out for the better. How often does that happen in real life?

I dumped one bottle in with 1/3rd of a tank. I'll run that down close to empty, fill the tank, add the second bottle. By the end of that tank, I should know if it helped my mileage or not.

 

[FrequentlyCynical]

According to fuelly.com the average MPG for a 2007 Lincoln MKZ 21.6 MPG
2008 20.5 MPG avg.
2009 19.6 MPG avg.

Looks like these cars did not do well on avg MPG from 2007 - 2010. Look to me like it is what it is.

Yet, when I posted my poor mileage question on a Lincoln forum, several said they got the EPA rating. And that rating is not something that car companies pull out of their ass. A very strict regimen on the dyno is how they arrive at those numbers.

"21.6" means nothing w/o qualifiers.

 

[FrequentlyCynical]

The short trips are definitely hurting your mileage, but I agree that it seems low. With the age and mileage on the engine a new thermostat would not hurt. I agree that some injector cleaner is a good idea as well.

Temperature is perfect. Even if not, it would never impact fuel mileage to the degree I'm experiencing.

 

[FrequentlyCynical]

interesting... my old 2009 Sable, which is bigger and Boxier, has the same engine, but a Different 6 speed auto*...I got similar around town mpgs as you, on the open highway, it could tickle 30mpg (like max of 29.6) ...
basics, tire pressures, carrying around a bunch of junk in the trunk, etc.

* Mine was the 6F50 ( Ford/GM co designed), yours is the Asin AW TF-80.

Yes, Aisin it is.

 

[FrequentlyCynical]

How are you determining PEA on the SDS? Curious about LM DI Jectron. I use one of the gumout Regain products as well. Each oil change.

The SDS on some of them actually say PEA. Techron doesn't, but it's obvious that "Proprietary" is PEA.

 

[FrequentlyCynical]

I've been using Regane for the longest time. Best value IMO.

It's the exact opposite. The worst value. Numbers don't lie.

 

[FrequentlyCynical]

MSDSs or SDSs are there for health and toxicology information, not as a formula.

You really don't have a say as to the ranges reported since their formula is IP.

I addressed this in my research considerations. One has to start somewhere, so an average it is.

 

[FrequentlyCynical]

If the thermostat is stuck open, the engine may run too cold often and that destroys fuel economy.

A bad engine sensor can also reduce mpg's. Dirty air sensors, or bad O2 sensor.

I wonder what an identical vehicle in similar driving gets?

Also, you might do compression tests.

All those matter, but they can't account for the drastic loss of mileage without throwing a code. Otherwise, it's just throwing parts at the problem and hoping something fixes it. Compression test is interesting, but the Car Fax shows that the oil was changed regularly at a Valvoline place. So, with only 125,000 miles, I doubt if the rings are stuck. What I can see with the filler cap off, looking at the cam, it's very clean.

Even if willing to go down that rabbit hole, rear plugs are only accessible after removing the intake manifold and other stuff! It is a VERY bulky engine and a really bad choice for a small car engine compartment. So mismatched that they had to put the water pump in the timing chain cover a la Toyota, BUT it's something like four times as hard/expensive to replace. I lucked out, mine was done maybe 5,000 miles ago.

 

[Davejam]

It's the exact opposite. The worst value. Numbers don't lie.

Please follow along, you are incorrect. They are all about equal to be fair on $/oz PEA.

 

[FrequentlyCynical]

How can you say that? I explained my methodology; if there's a flaw in it, I am all ears. But if it was reasonable, I showed a huge difference in cost per ounce, almost 2:1.

 

[earlyre]

All those matter, but they can't account for the drastic loss of mileage without throwing a code. Otherwise, it's just throwing parts at the problem and hoping something fixes it. Compression test is interesting, but the Car Fax shows that the oil was changed regularly at a Valvoline place. So, with only 125,000 miles, I doubt if the rings are stuck. What I can see with the filler cap off, looking at the cam, it's very clean.

Even if willing to go down that rabbit hole, rear plugs are only accessible after removing the intake manifold and other stuff! It is a VERY bulky engine and a really bad choice for a small car engine compartment. So mismatched that they had to put the water pump in the timing chain cover a la Toyota, BUT it's something like four times as hard/expensive to replace. I lucked out, mine was done maybe 5,000 miles ago.

they shoe horned the pump into the valley strictly for packaging. it had to fit in the same engine bays as the old Duratec 3.0.
and yes, you lucked out on the water pump.. they way it's designed, if it goes out, it dumps all the coolant right into the oil pan. which as i'm sure you know is basically new engine time!

the plug change isn't too bad, i've done it on 2 of those engines, my 09 Sable, and a year or so, later, Mom's 09 Taurus. There's a good Video Tutorial on you tube from "Ford Tech Makuloco" granted, if you've been turning wrenches as long as you say, really nothing to see, but it can be nice to "pregame", and watch the other team's game films before the match, as it were...

 

[FrequentlyCynical]

they shoe horned the pump into the valley strictly for packaging. it had to fit in the same engine bays as the old Duratec 3.0.
and yes, you lucked out on the water pump.. they way it's designed, if it goes out, it dumps all the coolant right into the oil pan. which as i'm sure you know is basically new engine time!

the plug change isn't too bad, i've done it on 2 of those engines, my 09 Sable, and a year or so, later, Mom's 09 Taurus. There's a good Video Tutorial on you tube from "Ford Tech Makuloco" granted, if you've been turning wrenches as long as you say, really nothing to see, but it can be nice to "pregame", and watch the other team's game films before the match, as it were...

I'm just starting to learn about the Duratec line. I don't think the 3.7 is any bigger than the 3.0 I'm thinking the difference is in FWD or RWD. In the latter, plenty of room to hang a water pump.

The water pump is sort of weird. It uses two o-ring type seals to fit against the block. A first line of defense, and then the second. The famous/infamous weep hole behind the alternator drains any leakage from that first seal. No idea why they thought that was better than a flat gasket is beyond me. "Hey, let's make this more costly and more likely to leak."

HOWEVER, the one that really matters is the shaft seal. This is where they should have put in two. I found out about my water pump history because of a title issue, since resolved. I tracked down a couple of owners back. Said that someone told them that the engine was ruined because of the gunk in the engine so they sold it to someone cheap. (I could see that he wasn't the brightest bulb.) Whether or not the engine was actually ruined would depend on mostly how soon caught. Who, presumably, did the repair and flushed the bejesus out of the engine oil.

While overall I really like this MKZ, there are any number of decisions that were made two decades ago that leave me asking, "What were they thinking?"