Does anyone have any experience of using this ? I have seen it advertised on the ATS site and wondered if it might be benficial for a diesel (dreaded Ford 1.6 PSA) on 80,000 miles or is it a waste of money ?
Probably better on an older car to have it well maintained if you had to choose, though this sort of additive or using 'super' fuels (accompanied by a good blast once a week or so down the local motorway/dual carriageway when warmed up, booting it occasionally) may be of benefit if you do a lot of/primarily short and/or urban journeys in slow-moving traffic not giving the car a chance to burn off the accumulated soot particles.
As per my post on the thread about using superfuels, evidence from users of such fuels and additives seems to tend towards little effect on newer and/or well-maintained cars that aren't performance models, but having a greater effect on poorly-maintained ones (especially older and/or performance models equipped with knock sensors to adjust engine running to suit fuel octane/cetane rating) and particularly modern common-rail diesels, which seem to be far more susceptible to gumming up the petrol-driven and less 'advanced' (complex for emissions reduction) ones.
Many of the additive products seem to be (by reviews anyway) much of a muchness, so its probably worth looking around for the best value-for-money one in concert with reviews (if you can find them) from people with a car with your engine in it (quite a lot - its in Fords, PSAs, Mazdas and Volvos). I actually bought some Redex (petrol) fuel injector additive to use with Shell V-Power on a forthcoming set of long trips (including holiday) to see if they make any difference to performance/feel/mpg of my 11yo Mazda3 1.6 petrol (well-maintained and mainly used on longer journeys) - it may not, but as some have said, in some circumstances (like those I described above), use of superfuels and/or additives seems to have some beneficial effect on the long-term health of cars. I even found that Redex (for example) was, currently at least, cheaper at Halfords than on-line, though they may have it on offer - at least then you can have a look at many alternatives in the shop.
|