I was experiencing some hesitation in my old car when accelerating from a stop, primarily when the engine was cold.

It went away but then came back recently a little bit worse than before.

Never figured out the issue. I decided to take a chance on it being a fuel delivery issue and bought an additive.

It's still too early to tell but I've been running the car for about 1/4 tank now and the hesitation seems gone. As I don't know what the problem is and since it's been intermittent (came and went away and came back again w/o me doing anything), it's not clear anything is fixed.

But the car is driving much better now. I'll see what the mileage is as well when I fill up again; it's was lower than expected the last fillup (I expect about 22-25mpg, calculated 18mpg at the last fillup).

If this is really fixing something, the additive is truly worth the money.

Where did you buy gas from when it was acting up? Sometimes gas stations just have bad gas.

At work, our underground tanks are so bad, we had to double filter the pump so it would stop clogging up our cars.

If you don't have a code reader, some auto stores will pull the codes for free so you can start researching.


For my personal cars, twice a year, I will toss in a bottle of Techron two tank fulls before an oil change. Never had an issue.

My exwife was having issues in her Chevy where the gas gauge would just not work and a bottle of Techron actually fixed it. Well, it started working again and never messed up after the Techron.

I usually wait till they have a buy one get one free on the Techron at auto stores in my area.

My truck is a 2002 Chevy Silverado with about 160K miles. I never used fuel additives, but about a year ago I decided to add a bottle of Techron once a month and I think it has helped. As soon as my wife got a new vehicle, I also began adding the fuel additive once a month to her vehicle as a preventative measure and will also do it whenever the day comes that I get a new truck.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
Where did you buy gas from when it was acting up? Sometimes gas stations just have bad gas.

At work, our underground tanks are so bad, we had to double filter the pump so it would stop clogging up our cars.

If you don't have a code reader, some auto stores will pull the codes for free so you can start researching.


For my personal cars, twice a year, I will toss in a bottle of Techron two tank fulls before an oil change. Never had an issue.

My exwife was having issues in her Chevy where the gas gauge would just not work and a bottle of Techron actually fixed it. Well, it started working again and never messed up after the Techron.

I usually wait till they have a buy one get one free on the Techron at auto stores in my area.

I always buy Chevron; only in emergency do I buy from another brand. I know there are many top tier gas options but in my experience, Chevron outperforms the others (I had a car that would stall w/ other gas brands except chevron - I've stuck w/ it since then. Granted, it was a carburetor engine 40 years....).

I have a code reader but no codes were being indicated. I don't know enough to read the live data (what parameters what the values should be).

I used the techron additive. I also bought Lucas Oil to try if the techron didn't work.

I wasn't expecting much so it may be turning out better than I thought. Good to know that others have seen positive results and it's not just snake oil.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
My truck is a 2002 Chevy Silverado with about 160K miles. I never used fuel additives, but about a year ago I decided to add a bottle of Techron once a month and I think it has helped. As soon as my wife got a new vehicle, I also began adding the fuel additive once a month to her vehicle as a preventative measure and will also do it whenever the day comes that I get a new truck.

The guy at the store seemed to suggest that techron was good for cleaning and lucas oil was good for protective care. Not sure why and what the differences are. But he said both are good and very similar.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
My truck is a 2002 Chevy Silverado with about 160K miles. I never used fuel additives, but about a year ago I decided to add a bottle of Techron once a month and I think it has helped. As soon as my wife got a new vehicle, I also began adding the fuel additive once a month to her vehicle as a preventative measure and will also do it whenever the day comes that I get a new truck.

The guy at the store seemed to suggest that techron was good for cleaning and lucas oil was good for protective care. Not sure why and what the differences are. But he said both are good and very similar.

I will ask my O’Reilly Auto Parts manager about the difference next time I am there. He is a retired 40 year mechanic and always gives me excellent advice on every repair I have had to do. He is very knowledgeable and the one who suggested to use it every month.

I had similar issues when I owned my 911. I sort of ignored it until one day it's wouldn't accelerate at all.

I left it with my Porsche guy while I took public transportation to work...it was before the days of Uber.

When I went to pick it up, he asked, "You fill up when they are filling the tanks at the station, don't you?"

He told me to never do that again as filling the tanks stirs up the sediment on the bottom of the tanks, that gets into your tank, and that clogs the injectors. He even saved me a sample from when he drained the tank to show me how bad it was

used to sell gas as well as groceries,

we (Kroger) had contracts with various suppliers to get fuel,

all gas is pumped via pipeline to a distro point and when a name brand store gets gas, they get the name brand chemicals added to the fuel when it is pumped in the tanker,

so BP, Shell, Exxon etc all get gas from the same terminal but each has a propietary blend of chemicals added at the distro point,


my first Mini had some issues (2010 Cooper hardtop S) and I was told it was my fault for not using top tier gas,

several months later, after burning mostly Shell, but some BP or EXxon, (all top tier) I got the same lecture during warranty service for check engine light,

oh no, I gave the condescending prick of a service writer a detailed lecture on gas, and where I bought it (and sold it) and he STFU and fixed my car
programming issue


meanwhile, one store I ran had Diesel, and I would get a call that the fuel had water and ruined someones vehicle,

so we went thru the corporate motions, filed insurance, pumped fuel in several containers and measured water,
and yup 0 water,


now granted, every tank in the ground has water in it, and it may be gallons,
but,

it settles to the bottom,
and the system will stop pumping if it gets below x many gallons, and will tell you how much water is there (Kroger used Veeder Root then, not sure who does what now)

so,


most bigger chains, grocery or not, have systems in place to keep the water in check

some smaller places do not,

so run a can of Seafoam, or similar (did run some acetone in small amounts many many yrs ago) to absorb and burn the water,

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmepiphany:
I had similar issues when I owned my 911. I sort of ignored it until one day it's wouldn't accelerate at all.

I left it with my Porsche guy while I took public transportation to work...it was before the days of Uber.

When I went to pick it up, he asked, "You fill up when they are filling the tanks at the station, don't you?"

He told me to never do that again as filling the tanks stirs up the sediment on the bottom of the tanks, that gets into your tank, and that clogs the injectors. He even saved me a sample from when he drained the tank to show me how bad it was

older station???


most if not all have filters on evey pump,
if they are changed regularly, nothing gets in your tank but gas

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmepiphany:

He told me to never do that again as filling the tanks stirs up the sediment on the bottom of the tanks, that gets into your tank, and that clogs the injectors. He even saved me a sample from when he drained the tank to show me how bad it was

That was something my dad told me as a young man. He said if you see the tanker truck refilling the gas station, then to go somewhere else and not fill up there while they are filling the tanks.

My car 40 years ago had a filter in the gas line. Wouldn’t that catch the sediment even if the pump station didn’t filter it out? Or is there something that doesn’t get filtered and makes it to the injectors?

If these additives are actually useful, I may start using them more regularly. Maybe once every oil change.

Wonder if I should use something special for the truck that just sits there on a battery tender for a couple of months at a time between drives.

You need 10 micron or smaller before injectors, and 40 micron or better after the pump.

Putting injectors through a cleaning/testing system 50,000 - 100,000 miles.

Stale ethanol gas is worse than non-ethanol for water content.

On a vehicle setting for months, might be a good idea to park it at 1/4 tank, drain the fuel, and put that in frequent vehicle, then have 5 gallons of fresh gas added when you drive it.

A bit of effort every few months, but better than the cost of repairs from bad fuel.

Seafoam.

To avoid draining fuel, how frequently would I need to drive the vehicle. 2 months is too long? 1 month? 2 weeks? Even my frequent vehicle may only be driven once a week. I guess I should just take a drive in each every few days no matter what?

Or is it not a matter of driving frequency but tank turnover? Something like use up the tank within a month?

Yes.

A few months. Moisture absorption, phase separation (water settling out) and the fuel beginning to varnish and degrading where it can gum up pumps, filters, fuel sock and injectors.

The issue it if you are not using the fuel in the tank, and constantly adding, over time infrequent operation the issues "stack".

If you time driving when not stored is using all the fuel in the tank, and then refilling, then using that until you only have a small amount of fuel, then a stabilizer will help, then you add a small amount of new gas, then drive until near empty and refill. That will minimize issues.

Humid and warm weather are worse than cold dry weather. But the ethanol is still going to degrade faster than non-ethanol gas.

(I deal with a lot of classic cars/folks and this is common with similar infrequent use and storing over winter from 3-8 month stretch)

Thanks! Okay, so for now, I’ll drive until almost empty, add stabilizer, add new gas (1/4 tank? 1/2 tank?), drive until near empty again then refill to full.

Road trip this weekend.

Any recommendation for stabilizer (brand, product name)? My tank is 26 gallons…

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Thanks! Okay, so for now, I’ll drive until almost empty, add stabilizer, add new gas (1/4 tank? 1/2 tank?), drive until near empty again then refill to full.

Road trip this weekend.

Any recommendation for stabilizer (brand, product name)? My tank is 26 gallons…

Seafoam.

Oh. That’s a real product. . Thanks.

Seafoam.




or B12 Chemtool. Both of those I haven't used in over 20 years.