[boogetyboogety]

Yes, they are great!

Gas tank additives are wonderful for STP, Gunk, and all the other fine manufacturers of these beloved little better-performance-out-of-a-bottle products. The stockholders of these companies surely love the high profit margins.

As far as our cars, well, IMHO, no. Gasoline today is blended with a number of solvents and other chemicalia to get rid of junk and buildup on injectors. So additives from the Pep Boys shelf won't hurt your car... but probably won't really make much of a difference either... :shock:

Over the years, every once in a while I see an article by one of those consumer-advocate and/or automotive publications, doing a test on various brands of gas additives. Invariably, no difference is noted between the "before" and "after" controls. So, cheepskate that I am, I avoid them, and my cars run just fine ...

 

[amplifiedmouse]

i've been seeing ones that say they'll improve your gas mileage. i always laugh at that.

 

[Tim Maddux]

I am now selling the Gas mileage Additive System (G.A.S.). The way it works is this. Fill your tank half full of gasoline at the pump, then the rest of the way with G.A.S. and you will go twice as far on that half tank of gas!

Act now and you can get one gas can full of G.A.S. for your Insight for only $99.95.

Disclaimer: Do not attempt to fill your car all the way up with G.A.S.

 

[gomarlins3]

I use to use them every oil change, but never really saw any change one way or the other. I told myself it was preventive maintenance for the long run, but I never kept any of my cars longer then 5 years. Stopped using them 4 cars ago.

 

[Delta Flyer]

Sort of on a related topic, I started using Mobil One when synthetic oil was unusual. Mechanics were giving me horror stories that it would be like guming up the engine with molassas. Haven't had problems yet.

 

[Guillermo]

Fuels from the major companies have fuel cleaners built in.
The higher octane fuels usually have more cleaners too.
You shouldn't need to worry about that at all unless you rarely use your car or use it in stop and go city traffic only. Make sure you drive on the highway for at least 30 minutes at high speed once a week so the engine can clean itself out.

Read this article, it should answer all your questions and then some.

http://www.vtr.org/maintain/oil-additives.html

 

[b1shmu63]

Great article Guillermo. Thanks. Conversely we know that synthetic oil is better by design and proven by billions of hours of testing in aircraft turbines.

Kip