Fuel preservation products

Does anyone have experience of using these? I am not talking about illegal storage of fuel, but trying to see if I can prevent the remaining fuel in the vehicles going 'off' during the hibernation & prevent the carb getting clogged up.

End of the season I syphon of what I can & use it up in the lawnmower. I always promise that I will take each vehicle round the block once a month but that doesn't really happen, just don't want what works now, to still work in the spring!

Although there is supposedly no 'Scientific' eveidence, I've had no problems over the yeras using a Brocquet catalyst in the tank. fuels seem to keep fine, and measured emissions go down.

I have absolutely no scientific back up for this, but Castrol make two types of octane booster widely available (e.g. Hellfrauds),whilst it wont prevent petrol going off, it may well have the properties to re-juvinate stale petrol to an extent. I did have some success when trying it in a can of petrol used for an outboard.

Might be worth a try.

Clive,

I have used a preservation additive produced by Briggs & Stratton, aimed at the lawn mower market, where they are laid up for months, used it a few times and had no problem...............but then I have not had problems with my Bedford that is often not started over the winter and never had the preservation additive in it.

One thing that may be relevant is that older engines are built to run on low octane fuel anyway. I just chuck a couple of gallons of fresh in .

Clive,

 

I have used a preservation additive produced by Briggs & Stratton, aimed at the lawn mower market, where they are laid up for months, used it a few times and had no problem...............but then I have not had problems with my Bedford that is often not started over the winter and never had the preservation additive in it.

Yes that was the other motive for asking. I have a standby generator & whenever I need it I find that even once I have got it started it does run very well. In a power cut situation it is not easy to find fresh fuel & fill it up. but also there is the issue with gunge formation in the carb. I notice the last garden 2-stroke machine I bought it says. Only use fresh fuel & mix up with oil at the time you use it.

So the issue with the vehicles I suppose is to try to prevent what fuel I have from loosing its oomph over winter but also what happens to that fuel in the carb will it breakdown into gungey products?

I always try to use syphon off the fuel that I can recover & use it up on garden stuff. Of course I must discipline myself to run all the engines every few weeks to keep the carb free.

But I wonder as this preservative keeps the fuel up to standard does it also discourage clogging in the carb?

A good can of carb cleaner or brake cleaner gets rid of the gunge. The beauty of brake cleaner is that it can also be used as emergency easy start.

Funny enough, as I always seem to be doing searches for "ferret" on ebay, something came up a few weeks ago from this seller, and here is an item he has on at the moment:

I took the url out...it was far too long.....

thats itme number 350099427643.

its for a Rover P6, but he seems to recommend them for all old cars. I wondered what all that was about, and whether it actually works?

I never understood how cast lead pellets in a wire mesh would dissolve enough to provide lead in petrol? these have been around for years, and the used by the RAF in Spitfires thing is always associated with them.

"Snakeoil" is a term to be used with most of these things, i have never seen any independent tests where these type of things make a difference.

If it was that easy, motor manufacturers would of being using them for years.

Anybody worked on Spitfires seen these in fuel tanks??

I never understood how cast lead pellets in a wire mesh would dissolve enough to provide lead in petrol? these have been around for years, and the used by the RAF in Spitfires thing is always associated with them.

 

"Snakeoil" is a term to be used with most of these things, i have never seen any independent tests where these type of things make a difference.

If it was that easy, motor manufacturers would of being using them for years.

 

Anybody worked on Spitfires seen these in fuel tanks??

The lead dosen't dissolve. The action is a catalyst, from the old schoolboy chemistry, something that takes no part in the reaction, but the reaction will not occur without it being present. Apparently during WW2 in Russia, or should I call it the 'Great Patriotic War'? Anyway the catalyst was in the bowser not in the aircraft. I used one for 120,000 miles in an old Montego, supposedly NO WAY convertible to unleaded. In a Subaru that would run either, The MOT emmissions were measured as so low that the engine in theory shouldn't have run.

Tony,

so are you saying these things do apparently work? What would the benefits be, engine-wise, of using these in older vehicles? Less liable to burn the valves etc?

Mick

Mike, all I can say is that I have found no problems that could be attached to them ín use. Engines ran fine on unleaded fuel, which in the case of the Montego was according to all the info I could find impossible. Eventually the engine wore out and was not worth the bother of repair. Take a look at the site and decided. http://www.broquet.co.uk/