some additives work, some dont... if you want to see a jump in mileage/performance you can try this mix... mix a bottle of octane booster with techron fuel injector cleaner to about 12 gallons of gas. you WILL see a jump in mileage BUT it is not cost effective. however your motor will love you for it. did this a couple of times in my 2000 ram and always saw a boost in mileage & performance when I did it. note that the mileage boost was based on where the needle was and how many miles driven before I reached empty. always ended up being more than w/o the mix.

 

You want good gas mileage, buy a motorcycle. You wanna haul s@@t around town, buy a truck!

 

hahaha, agreed... however, I'm getting decent mileage with the diesel... average 15's & have gotten into the 17's on the hiway... as is lifted, wide tires & all... plus with the push of a button, 25, 50, 75hp... and on and on... up to 190 extra hp & 600 ft lbs of tq... gotta love it. next weekend i'll be doing a test to see if I can get into the high 19's on the hiway. of course I wont be pushing any buttons...

 

By nature I tend to be fairly sarcastic but online I try to keep things straight up as my humor doesnt always come across right or is misunderstood

Mythbusters also tested an internet fuel cell with complete instructions on how to build it. Thing wouldnt even start the car let alone run it. They did try hydrogen from a compressed cylinder and it would run the engine fine though they almost blew it up on a backfire lol.

Magnetic fuel line gimick, no difference in mpg at all.
300mpg carb they tried killed mileage. Cant remember the #s but think it was about 1/2 the mileage the stock carb gave.
French fry oil run threw a diesel engine gave 30mpg compared to 33mpg with diesel. It was free oil but took fuel to pick up and a fair bit of time to filter so they felt it wasnt that great a deal as supply and demand would eventually make it similar in costs but with lots more work involved.

 

Oh man, the stories I can tell you from the fruitcakes who come to the Air-Cooled VW forum asking about these whacked out technologies. They get really pissed when you tell them to quit spending dollars to save nickels. First, they buy a VW since it's cheap transportation. The drawback is that an older VW requires regular maintenance, and most of these people can't even operate a screwdriver. Then, we get the acetone idiots, super carburetor idiots, and finally, the ones who want to try to convert the car to run on Ethanol (conversion would negate cost savings). The next batch are the ones who have heard about the hydrogen generator and the other want to load the damn thing up with a bunch of batteries.

Finally, you get the diesel conversion people. Those who want to know how to convert a gas engine to diesel (I mean modifying the existing engine to run on diesel), and those who want to rip out the gasser and install a diesel. They come out when diesel prices are lower than gasoline prices. After those people come, the "free fuel" hippies come out. Those are the ones who want to convert their diesel engines to "greasers", or old french fry oil. They think they will have free fuel for life, but fail to take into account the many modifications and constant maintenance a greaser will require. One thing needed is a constant heat source in the fuel tank and throughout the fuel system, because once it cools, the grease/fry oil coagulates, and then you're not going anywhere.

I have seen an actual greaser. The guy drove his converted VW Vanagon to the Eureka Springs VW show two years ago. Smelled funky (both he and the vehicle) and he had to do some wrenching on it for some reason.

Either way, there is no "miracle fuel", additive, nor fuel delivery system for any engine. That's just the way it is.

 

The EPA official line is that both 'Reformulated' gasoline, 10% ethanol gasoline and winter blend gasoline slightly reduce MPG by 1-5%

http://www.epa.gov/orcdizux/rfgecon.htm

if you haven't read it yet
this Popular Mechanics magazine article
on gimicks that claim to improve MPG is worth a read:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/auto...s/1802932.html

as is this Consumer Reports magazine article:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...view/index.htm

if you want a fuel supplement to try out
the one that improves engine smoothness the most...
but does not seem to improve MPG enough to measure in an old test by me that was not up to the highest standards
is this one:

http://www.le-inc.com/products.jsp?productID=175

 

Wondering ....... has anyone tried using actual snake oil?

 

"Snake oil" actually has real health truths that are worth studying.

The original 'snake oil' was a 'tincture of echinacea' where the native american plant was soaked in a 50/50 mixture of water and alcohol. It was advertised as curing many ills.

One particular salesman was famous for touring the big cities of the USA in the 1870s and letting a rattlesnake bite him, then he would drink his tincture of echinacea and ...... he would live!

We know know that 'pit viper' snake bites only rarely kill.
Out of 5000-15000 USA pit viper family snake bites per year,
only about 15-30 people die each year,
and most of these deaths are of 16-36 year old males
who were legally drunk at the time of the bite.
Many of the 'bites' are from dead snakes whose still operating nerves will reflexively bite...even with the snakes head cut off.

We also know that there is an immune response
and that after a few snake bites from a pit viper
you become at least a little "vaccinated"