Hi all,
You might have seen the BP's billboard ad, saying its ultimate fuel will "clean" your car in just two tanks.
Personally I've been fueling up my car (normally 91) with Shell V-power or BP Ultimate 98 once a month just for the "cleaning" purpose, but does it really do anything?
Any petrochemical engineers or industry insiders could verify this?
Myth or Truth? Cheers!
One thing I'm certain is the car does accelerate faster..haha..
cause ur wallet is lighter!
Well I never pay with cash, and always the same card.. Can't say it will make a difference? plus most of the time it's discounted egift card ;)
This was something I was really curious about when they first released these 98 RON fuels. I was skeptical at the start and for years, I alternated between the types of fuels.
Performance-wise, I did notice a slight difference but it wasn't huge. With it just based on a feeling, it might have well been a placebo effect perhaps.
But what I am certain of was, for each full tank of 98 RON fuel (it was Shell Optimax at the time), the mileage was a little over 10-15% more than a tank of 91 RON. It was over a number of years that I did that and kept coming up with the same results. Eventually, I just stuck with the 98 RON even though the cost was about 10% more (so cost per km was about the same) because each tank took me further, meaning that I didn't have to stop at the petrol station as often.
When it comes to the cleaning additives though, I couldn't tell whether it was actually doing anything.
my mechanic insisted I use 98 as my old 1998 vienta 3L has a slow leak and was missing badly. he felt it was cheaper than reoving the engine to replace the gasket etc. the missing seems to be going off. not a placebo effect as the car was quite bad before the change. then we forgot and it started shuddering. again.
the auto expert link says the same as NRMA. not sure if there are other workarounds like injector cleaners which I used 3 times on his advice too. hard to argue with the improvement in performance and no misfiring.
Two separate issues: [octane rating], [fuel injector and engine deposit cleaning additives]. The OP refers not to some magic higher octane cleaning properties, but to special cleaning additives BP is adding to some petrol only. The "expert" quoted above talks about what octane to use. Different things.
Exactly! so does the additive worth the extra money?
In my opinion, this marketing about "cleaning" your car only came in quite recently and always seem to be attached to 98 only.
The truth is CostCo Petrol Moorabin has the same "cleaning" additives on its 91 range and when the price goes max for everybody else, the price differential is up to 25c. I know because I tracked them.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2470912
otherwise
http://costco.com.au/Common/Fuel.shtml
In other words, its pure marketing on BP behalf.
Surely they can't put advertise such bold statement "clean your engine in two tanks", surely other petrol will sue them or even ACCC will go after them no?
Nope. Because what they claim would probably be true.
The truth is, cleaning additive is added to all fuel grades (e10,91,95,95,etc). However, the petrol companies will advertise that these additives are added to their PREMIUM fuel (note, they do not say "ONLY the premium fuel") because it's a way for them to sell you more expensive fuel that you don't really need.
Look, they don't necessarily have to lie. They just don't tell you truth.
===================
Aside: It's actually much worse in the food industry,
NO ADDED SUGAR => Can still contain more than you daily recommended intake of sugar.
NOTHING ARTIFICIAL => Pointless statement. Why? Because it usually contains NATURAL food colouring and NATURAL sweetener.
SUGAR-FREE & NOTHING ARTIFICIAL => usually means, contains natural sweeteners such as STEVIA.
You got any proof of the statement of 91 contains same cleaning agent as 98?
@Droid11: I never said that 91 contains same cleaning agent as 98.
All I said was:
1) ALL fuel grades contain cleaning agents.
2) "Clean your engine in two tanks" is probably true.
Also, there is no proven benefit of using a fuel with a higher RON than what your car manufacturer recommends.
Nor is there proof that the "superior" additive in 98 is any better than the one in 91.
Good reference with further links if someone is curious to study it a bit more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Tier_Detergent_Gasoline
You can read marketing blurb, and/or engineering perspective, and decide yourself.
I'd be careful using fuel to clean your car. Not only will the fumes smell, they could be hazardous to your health, especially if somebody was to light up a cigarette.
See example
Lol!
I think you're thinking about the wrong sort of cleaning bud.
Ciggie while filling the car, hell smart!
On a side note higher octane petrol is supposed to clean the fuel lines etc I did notice the difference in a older 86 Gemini, 90's cars I have never noticed much of a differents maybe slightly more k's out of a tank but about all.
I got another Subaru take 95, but also put in Subaru fuel additive as recommended once every 6k..Guess I could discount using 98 altogether eh..
didnt even think people filled up at BP, Too expensive!
No 'detergent' will clean out the cylinders and shit to the degree they say it does.
So in conclusion, does any experts or industry insiders can verify if the cleaning additive in 98 is better than 91? Or are we just paying extra for higher octane?
isnt 'paying extra for higher octane' enough? I mean if you buy a car that needs 98 then feed it 98.
Or dont buy that car and dont count on any 'detergent' speil.
If you read the original post, the question the OP is asking is simply:
My car only requires RON 91. Should I be feeding it RON 98 just for the cleaning additive?
My answer would have been NO!
And I'm replying to Mr. Droid.
If I was interested in replying to the OP I would say so.
And I'm replying to Mr. Droid.
If I was interested in replying to the OP I would say so.
Mr. Droid is the OP. Just FYI.
(Which is why I have no idea why you are replying him about cars that require 98, when he clearly stated that his car can run on 91).
So in conclusion, does any experts or industry insiders can verify if the cleaning additive in 98 is better than 91?
TL;DR : Basically, he just wants to know if the cleaning agent in 98 is better than 91. That's his question. He doesn't give a damn about the RON.
And to add, putting 98 adds to responsiveness and reduce engine knock.
If that sort of things matter to you then yeah but I think it isn't worth the extra 17c (Shell/BP) or 14c-15c (All others) over 91.
Don't buy 98 just because of cleaning additives.
The only exception is CostCo Moorabin where the 98 to 91 differential fluctuates between as 10c to 14c (but never seen it above 14c).
So short answer to OP in my opinion should be NO.
the difference was 17 cents during last week (99.7c/L - 91 / 116.7c/L - 98) when I was there…
That's interesting. Last time I took a poll on 13/02/16, 91 was 97.7c and 98 was 109.7c. 12c differential.
So now they go even higher….
I might need to restart my polling.
price is a subject of change - it's fine. I'm there quite often as i use it as my main servo since it's been opened.
Not sure if the cleaning is marketing drivel or not.
Use what is recommended for your car. Pretty much anything from 2000 should be using 95, at least. Especially Japanese imports (the top RON in Japan is 96, so 95 is closest). If you use 91 you are wasting fuel as the timing is off and the combustion is not happening correctly (hence the tapping you will hear).
2015 Corollas insist using 91 only.
Have my hobby car that is tuned to run on caltext 98 and I did some work on the motor and I can say that the 98 stuff burns a hell of a lot cleaner and there was virtually bugger all mess in the block.
I also run my other everyday cars and they do have noticable improvements.
Hell my wippersnipper and lawn mover have had the odd days of 98 and can tell they have improvements as well.
Side note: ACA (Yup, credible.) ran a segment with a car running laps around a track using the 3 types (91, 95, 98). In terms of best milage, 98 was first, followed by 95.
The question does the extra mileage compensate for the extra 20-25c paid?
I have funny question. If I mix 91 with 98 fuel, would it be 95?
Long story short, if your car ordinarily runs on Unleaded 91 then running 98 through it will bring no discernible improvement to your car's performance nor health.
For those who do claim to see improvements in their car after running 98 through it, there's a thing called the Placebo effect that would explain the so-called benefits.