I thought I'd share this, and see what y'all think...

I run into additives on the shelves of stores, and often entertain myself reading the wonders they can do.. there is a whole host of great stuff that can happen to your ride by using them.. Most the claims by marketers sound like good results and are something you would want- most actually deliver results that you really DON'T want.. there are some that are decent, but there is no magic one that I've found..

the one I'm about to suggest is the closest I've come across to delivering more than I ever expected..

on the advice of Hammer, third gen mod, I gave Starbright Startron a shot..



I found the crap in the marine section at wally world.. It's made for marine engines, and is marketed to eliminate crud that accumulates due to using ethanol rich fuels (which attract h20) in those engines... Those engines have problems due to being in close proximity to water and condensation... duh..

You can do your own googling and buy into it, or shun the hype- that's up to you.. But, I thought I'd give it a shot to see what happened... only a little bit goes in the tank, and I'm thinking "if I monitor it closely, I can always dilute it with more gas, and stop using it".... I think the 16oz bottle was somewhere around $9.. I grabbed two of them.. I put four ounces or so in the first tank, and have backed off to about 2 ounces since..

first tank:
mileage tanked.. I also used gas from a station I usually don't though, to be fair.. I managed a whopping 10.5MPG, and the truck wasn't real happy about it.. I didn't have any misses, but it seemed to lack response and was lazy.. I wasn't and still ain't sure whether it was the gas I got or this crap..

I did some thinking.. I'm thinking that ethanol in gas leaves that film over everything it touches.. the corrosive nature of the stuff is most evident in outboards that have the little tank primer bulbs that you have to replace every other season... Or, the little primer ***** on small engines like leaf blowers, mowers or weed eaters.. I always kinda figured it was the mix in two stroke engines that caused all of that- but I have four stroke weed eaters and leaf blowers that suffer the same.. I'm thinking my truck must have that flaky crap all throughout it wherever ethanol laden gas is present- so, I figure that maybe, just maybe, that stuff is coming dislodged and running through my engine, and that maybe THAT is why my truck ran like crap on the first load of it..

tank two:
I'm effin' unbelieving how smooth the engine is running.. I'm pulling 63MPH on 35" skins, through 4.56:1 gears and at just shy of 2kRPM, and my vacuum levels are holding in the neighborhood neg 16".. Usually, they hover/bounce somewhere between -10~13".. I pamper the rig when on the highway.. I try to keep it at least -12" because that almost equates to 12MPG as well.. Before this stuff, it would drop as I added go foot, and build to about 64~65MPH, and I would watch it drift back down to 56~57MPH (holding -12+" though), and I would be required to punch it a little bit, drop vacuum to 5ish" to get it back to the speed I want, and start the cycle all over again.. yeah, I'm a floggin' nut when it comes to economy and expected function in certain ranges..

If you're wondering why I involved vacuum in this part of the presentation, it's because I can see how hard my engine is working to produce the power I need to do whatever I'm doing with the RPM's I'm turning.. I'm trying to demonstrate that the engine wasn't working as hard at the RPM ranges I needed to produce the speed I was making..

for the entirety of tank two, I was mostly on back roads and at my usual speed of 63MPH (I use my tach more than the speedometer on the back roads, because 2kRPM is all I need to do anything out there- speed be damned, 2kRPM is my range- it just so happens to be 63MPH in o/d, though).. I NAILED 16MPG... floggin' !!!16MPG!!!.. over the life of the tank, it was just shy of 16...

tank three:
I ran interstate to Raleigh.. that's 300 or so miles round trip, and at 70+ MPH.. My truck and those gears suck on the highway.. 2300~2600RPM the whole way.. I usually can brace myself for 11ish MPG in those conditions.. I held 13~14ish..

tank four:
I'm mending my granny driving ways, and decided an italian tune-up was in order.. Besides, my truck will actually throw your head back- and I decided my neck was stiff... I've Mario Andretti'd the hades out of the thing- be damned with speed limits, right and proper, and gas prices or prolonging parts and pieces that may break- I wanted to push that thing and see how it would hold...

I averaged 12.6MPG over that tank.. I don't think it was ever under 2kRPM except for those brief seconds accelerating from a stop.. I also got caught in traffic once (GAWD I hate traffic- it will MURDER your mileage) for three hours.. I still averaged 12.6MPG...

I'm on tank five now..
If there is any interest remaining, I'll go ahead and share that the truck is going back to 'right and proper', and my 2kRPM 'back road' miser range.. I'll post results if anyone is interested..






Anyway- I recommend y'all try this stuff and come up with your own results.. I don't know exactly what or how it does it (I dang sure ain't a chemist), but I can tell you this- tank five, so far, being fueled at the station I most often use and trust, is running somewhere around 14MPG I'd guess.. THIS tank, and the last tank, felt/feels precisely like 'recreational gas' (zero ethanol) I used to run several years ago and before that station shut down..

I'm not making anything off this advertisement, but I share it because: winter blend gas is at the stations.. you yanks may want to pay attention to the benefits listed on the products web-page, and may be even more interested in using it than my southern bro's.. I'm digging it..

When I'm NOT driving the rig hard, I'm seeing around 1.5~2MPG more than I'm accustomed to seeing.. with 2oz added to every tank, that is at a cost of an equivalent $1.77+ a fill of ~20 gallons... with gas prices running $3.59 right now (93), that equals 30 or so extra miles a tank, which means I'm saving dang near two and a half gallons on every fill, or $8.95ish or so.. It's just like paying $1.77 and getting $8.95 back.. That's not a bad investment..

/rant..

 

Interesting. You'll have to keep us in the loop on this one. Thinking of checking this stuff out myself.

 

Nice, I am gonna try this.

BUT

Do you think I should replace my O2 sensors? THey are the originals from 2001. But my truck only has 55K on it. I am thinking that 11 years (it was bought in May of 2000) means to change the O2 sensors. I am not happy about replacing 4 O2 sensors!! Gotta love cali trucks huh drew!!

 

Yeah, I do think you would benefit from new o2 sensors.. based on what I've been reading, road grime, wayward oil and coolant is just as hard on them as age.. sparkplugs.com is your friend, and yes sir, the cali downwind sensors are more expensive than all of them for the federal rigs... Gotta love it..

I'll keep y'all posted on this star tron stuff... So far, I'm digging it..

 

Dang I need to try that stuff. But im in need of new O2s, timing chain, and plenum fix to benefit from it

 

Well over 20,000 posts on this damn site.... It's about time somebody listened to me about something...

ALL my gas gets this stuff. Truck gets 2 mpg better, about the same as when I could get 100% (non-ethanol) gas and the Jeep is closer to 3. Both idle and run a lot smoother. My seldom used gas engines never have carb problems anymore nor do I have to replace primer bulbs or fuel lines. My CanAm ATV runs smoother, starts easier and top speed floored is up about 5 mph (although to be fair, it's up at the farm and I lost almost 60 lbs. between trips up there and the addition of Star Tron to it). The stuff is also a 2 year gas stabilizer as well.

NO I don't work for them, matter of fact I don't work, got laid off the day after Thanksgiving, so I need every MPG I can get, LOL...

 

i would try the stuff if there was somewhere close that sell the stuff but the closest store is about 80km away. might have to wait till a store closer to me starts selling the stuff.

 

You could probably request it.

 

WalMart, Lowes, Tractor Supply, Ace Hardware and about every boat (Marine) shop I've ever been in has it in my area. The company who makes it is StarBrite, who has been making marine engine additives, lubes, etc. long as I can remember. I'm sure you can order it off that internet thing too...

 

i might see if they can order it in. you can always order stuff online but some things just seem to be so much more expensive when ordered online.