Does anyone have any experience using Stiction eliminator?

[Driver1]

I'm wondering if it will help with my fuel mieage?

[jass1660]

Your right foot is the biggest factor in fuel mileage.

[Ian Beale]

Years ago when such "fuel saver" products were much more widely advertised there was the sarcastic cartoon here with the caption

"He used them all and got a ticket for fuel spillage when his tank overflowed on the road"

[New Englander]

I was a kid working in a garage when a Ford came in running like crap. No compression in one cylinder. Pulled valve cover and saw intake valve stuck wide open. Pulled intake manifold and found the remains of a pinwheel device stuck under the valve that the owner had installed under the carburetor that was supposed to increase fuel mileage by some crazy percentage. The same guy had magnets on the fuel line.

With those devices he must have been making gas!

P. T. Barnum said it best: "There's a sucker born every minute".

[Matt Kirsch]

From reading the label, it sounds like it's most beneficial to old well-used engines that are having running quality problems caused by oil varnish buildup inside the engine. If you don't have that, it won't do anything at all.

It's an oil additive, and I've always been leery of oil additives because they seem to thin down the oil. I have witnessed clear benefits to using fuel additives, though. I will swear by Stanadyne Lubricity Formula, for example, as I've seen it make immediate and long-term differences in how multiple engines run.

[Cdfarabaugh]

The only legitimate use I've seen for sticking eliminator is on HEUI engines, especially the G2 spool valve injectors used on 6.0 powerstrokes and later DT 466s.  

If you can't swing a new set of injectors and can't stand hearing the thing missing for 5 mins until it warns up this stuff will help.  

[cobfly]

26 minutes ago, Cdfarabaugh said:

The only legitimate use I've seen for sticking eliminator is on HEUI engines, especially the G2 spool valve injectors used on 6.0 powerstrokes and later DT 466s.  

If you can't swing a new set of injectors and can't stand hearing the thing missing for 5 mins until it warns up this stuff will help.  

Yep 

[dale560]

4 hours ago, New Englander said:

I was a kid working in a garage when a Ford came in running like crap. No compression in one cylinder. Pulled valve cover and saw intake valve stuck wide open. Pulled intake manifold and found the remains of a pinwheel device stuck under the valve that the owner had installed under the carburetor that was supposed to increase fuel mileage by some crazy percentage. The same guy had magnets on the fuel line.

With those devices he must have been making gas!

P. T. Barnum said it best: "There's a sucker born every minute".

The magnets on fuel lines were big thing in the 70s and 80s. Line up the ions and molecules for better burning.

[Sask466]

I go back to one of my favourite songs “Snake Oil” by Steve Earle.

That’s funny Dale - you gotta get this gas molecules lined up in a neat and orderly manner, to be then squeezed through an injector.  

The niche spots like HEUI injectors, you bet.  But it was often still a reactive effort, to combat iffy maintenance like oil change intervals or fuel quality.

Fuel additives are probably useful in some applications, but I think oil additives are mostly 100% bunk.   Too many variables to try and control in motor oil. 

[New Englander]

1 hour ago, Sask466 said:

oil additives

Agreed. I do use Cam Guard in my plane's engine as it's FAA accepted and it's a corrosion preventative. Corrosion is a problem in aircraft engines that aren't used every day mostly because of the loose piston/cylinder clearance, especially large bore - mine are 5". The blow by means lots of water vapor which combines with combustion byproducts to produce acid. When the oil runs off everything the acid attacks. There's no PCV on an aircraft engine, they simply have a breather tube in the slipstream. Auto engines are much tighter, have PCV, and get run to temp more often.

[Sask466]

I imagine the cold temperatures planes operate in don’t help either?  
Our cold winter climate is hard on oil where I am.  

What is Cam Guard?  Is it a zddp additive as well?

[Ian Beale]

5 hours ago, Sask466 said:

I go back to one of my favourite songs “Snake Oil” by Steve Earle.

That’s funny Dale - you gotta get this gas molecules lined up in a neat and orderly manner, to be then squeezed through an injector.  

The niche spots like HEUI injectors, you bet.  But it was often still a reactive effort, to combat iffy maintenance like oil change intervals or fuel quality.

Fuel additives are probably useful in some applications, but I think oil additives are mostly 100% bunk.   Too many variables to try and control in motor oil. 

Baxter Black has a poem on a "magic elixir" too

[dale560]

The only real oil additive that was kind of proven was STP. German scientists or engineers devoloped it in world war 11 for the tank engines in Africa or something to that effect. Back in the 70s and early 80s we used to use STP a lot then as fuel injection and computers plus better oil that stuff all went bye bye. 
Another thing from the old days you didn’t dare leave home without in winter was a couple bottles of heet gasoline de icer. Haven’t bought a bottle in years but in old days bought it by the case very winter and still picked up odd bottles in town.

[Sask466]

Interesting about STP, I didn’t know it had a historical basis and worked.  A bit before my era I suppose.  I just assumed it was only effective in converting consumer money into NASCAR wins!

Up until my current car I still carried a bottle of gas line antifreeze.  I have never had a water issue in a vehicle.  I suppose that’s a case where environmental/emissions systems actually solved a problem?!

[New Englander]

16 hours ago, Sask466 said:

 

What is Cam Guard?  Is it a zddp additive as well?

No ZDDP in aircraft oil so it has other anti wear additives. I use it primarily for corrosion protection. My plane sat for a long time thus had rust on the lifters and some cylinders. Rust on the lifters led to spalling  on some so I replaced them all. Cam got some minor damage as well but acceptable according to the service bulletin. Continental engines use lifters similar to automotive hydraulic lifters with a lot of travel due the expansion of air cooled cylinders. They can be replaced. Lycoming engines have a tulip shaped lifter that required splitting the case to change - complete disassembly. They also have the cam at the top of the engine while the Continental have the cam under the crank, so it gets oil dripping off the cranks for a wile when not used. Early Lycoming cam and lifter deaths are almost always due lack of use. They actually have a manufacturer supplied additive to limit corrosion. The bottom end of an aircraft engine is dirty due all the blow-by caused by the loose fit needed.

Cam Guard make additives for earth bound applications that may have ZDDP, I don't know.

[New Englander]

11 hours ago, dale560 said:

heet gasoline de icer

It was nothing but alcohol that combined with the water in the tank to prevent it freezing and ultimately led to it being burned. No need anymore as the alcohol is already in the gas thus no more gas line freezing. Probably the only good thing about E10.

[New Englander]

16 hours ago, Sask466 said:

cold temperatures

Pre-heat is common for operating. You'll see heaters blowing into the engines at the airport on a cold day. Two reasons: Warm the oil so it will circulate and warm the cylinders as AV Gas doesn't vaporize easily as Mo Gas and is hard to light off when cold. Carburetor engines have a primer to get lots of gas in for cold starts and is often left cocked to push in more as the engine fires - with no preheat.  Fuel injected engines push raw fuel at the ports so we just run a little extra.

I have a heat pad on the oil sump I plug in a couple hours before I fly and blow hot air into the cowling as well.

Flying in cold is usually not a problem with multi grade oil. Mono grade can congeal in the oil cooler which can lead to overheating the oil. Oil temp is controlled by a thermostatic valve in flat engines, round engines have shutters on the coolers.

[Driver1]

Thank you to all who shared their wisdom . I won't be buying any . 

[dale560]

20 hours ago, Sask466 said:

Interesting about STP, I didn’t know it had a historical basis and worked.  A bit before my era I suppose.  I just assumed it was only effective in converting consumer money into NASCAR wins!

Up until my current car I still carried a bottle of gas line antifreeze.  I have never had a water issue in a vehicle.  I suppose that’s a case where environmental/emissions systems actually solved a problem?!

Heard the STP story a few times from dad’s old buddy who was in ww11 as a motor pool mechanic in Europe. I googled STP and it was invented by German scientists or a formula. Not necessarily STP but an additive close to it. The Volkswagen air cooled German vehicles performed well in the heat and dust of the desert. Then those vehicles were captured by allied forces they noted instead of oil it was almost all a STP like additive.

[Mr. Plow]

One bottle of fuel injector cleaner in my autos every oil change........for no other reason than to try to keep the carbon off of the long reach plugs so they don't stick when they need to be changed.   Not sure if it helps, but $3.99 every 5000 miles doesn't hurt either. 

Otherwise a few glugs of Marvel Mystery Oil in each 5 gal can of Cub Cadet fuel to keep the rings free......again, cheap insurance and not hurting anything. 

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

STP- Stay Together Please

It used to be respected by my friends who ran in the demolition derby. Those engines needed all the help they could get.