I was wondering if anyone out there has had any good experiences with gasoline additives . I am looking for something that will clean the carb. out . I purchased my car about a month ago and I know it sat around for a bit .

I am thinking there should be a few good products out there .

Thanks !!! ...

 

I like Seafoam

 

Previous owner let my car sit most of the time over the 3-year span he had it. Barely put any miles on it. When I got it was alright, but seemed to idle weird and stutter once in a while. Earlier this year I decided to try Seafoam to clean out the carb, hoping maybe it'd help. I ran Seafoam for 3 consecutive tanks and the car seemed to run a little better. This last time I filled up I didn't have a can to add, and the car feels like it's back to it's old ways. This is all anecdotal: I know very little about how engines are supposed to sound and perform, so I'm just going by what I perceived.

But still, I guess I have to factor in a can every time I fill up.

 

I add a small bottle of Lucas fuel treatment to a full tank of gas at every oil change...it seems to improve the engine idle/smooves out the idle. The carb also looks very clean in the float bowls/no varnish build-up.

Seafoam is equally good.

 

I ran some Seafoam through the carb(each barrel...) and it smoothed out the idle on my '72. It also stopped/reduced the diesel-ing it would do(still turning over with ignition off).

Still got the carb cough on shutoff... D'oh.

 

Ok , so I have had good luck with lucas in the past but with tranny and rear diff additives . I am going to put some in my next tank fill up , then some seafoam in the carb .

I took the car out this morning , running good but a little rough when cold . I have a feeling the gas has been in there a long time .

I live on a circle and it's about a mile and a half around . I have no seats in the car , so I stuffed some pillows on the floor and off I went .

I drove it about 8 times around the circle and the car was noticeably running better after about the 5th time around .

I am trying to run the gas as low as I can and then add the lucas and put in some good new gas .

I will update after a few laps with the additive .

Thanks ...

 

Did you pour it straight into the carb with the car running ?

How much did you pour in there ?

 

Yeah, I took off the air filter(silly triangle of death) and poured the seafoam into the carb with the car on.

The entire bottle went into the carb and vacuum lines. When you add seafoam(or water) to the carb, the RPM's drop. So you have your buddy press on the gas pedal(or if you're exceptionally dexterous you can play the throttle yourself with the linkage.) From what I've read, watched, and experienced, bringing up the car to 2500-3500 RPM tends to be the sweet spot. When you're pouring it in, the last 1/3 or 1/4 of the bottle you can let the car stall with if you're comfortable with the idea. The idea behind it is you give the seafoam time to soak in the cylinder/piston head to dissolve the carbon, and then you fire it up to burn it out.

Here's a video I've watched that explains it. Simple lawnmower engine, easy to understand with before and after picture/video.

 

As far as I know, my most successful gasoline additives have been to just add extra high octane gasoline. With my long ago L88 clone engine, I would fill the tank up with high octane aviation gasoline ...say for a trip to Las Vegas, I would fill it up with pump gas when it was a 1/3 low, etc. I could make it to Las Vegas and back most of the way with no problem...as I burnt out the high octane fuel, I would dilute the remaining fuel in the tank with pump gas. .....and an old war story..I was buying enough av gas for my 69 Corvette...initially by buying it by the Jerry can (5 gallon) container...to eventually the man at Torrance Air Port would have me drive my car out of sight, and just pump av gas straight into my 69 Corvette...highly illegal, but I don't think there was any harm to society.

For my 68, I currently have alcohol free racing gasoline in the tank. I have to buy it in 5 gallon cans. It's about $10 a gallon and I think it's about 110 octane. Pretty expensive gasoline but I don't drive it that much. If I were to drive it for an extended time for many miles, I wouldn't mind buying pump gas with alcohol in the gasoline, but for storage, I don't want alcohol in the gasoline.

When I had my 08 C6 dyno'd...Andy Green of A&A Superchargers, said that his opinion was that the only gasoline octane additive that worked was something called "torq oh." I'm sure I didn't spell it correctly.

If you can, buy toluene. It's the hydocarbon most fuel additives use. I have a couple of gallons, but it's been a long time since I bought any. By the gallon, its a lot cheaper than buying it by the small bottle labelled as fuel additive.

 

I put Stabil 360 in every tank (C6, C3 and VT700 Shadow) When they get put down for winter, I add a little more.

Keeps them clean and easy staring.

I know some say its snake oil. But It works on keeping our lousy NJ fuel from fouling the jets in the carb on the bike.

 

For carb maintenance, I like Seafoam. I don't use it very often though. I use in at every fill-up 2-cycle marine oil with TCW3, 1 oz per 5 gallons. before you laugh and make fun of me, check it out.

 

I have been using Lucas Fuel Injector (carbs also) cleaner for years. Buy it on sale at PepBoys or when I have a coupon. Since the 82 is my "dd", I add 6 oz's per week with a full tank. My injectors have a nice umbrella spray pattern and they haven't been cleaned or rebuilt in the last 66,000 miles. I also have started using it in my ZR-1. There are a lot of products out there that work, but this one works for me.
On the other hand, my '03 Vibe which now has 150,000 miles, has never seen an additive other than "HEET" when I thought I had moisture in the tank. And those injectors has never been cleaned or rebuilt.....and it still runs great....go figure......
But I will keep using the Lucas in the Corvettes........ Tom

 

Techron:

http://www.techronworks.com/en-US/pr...l#.Vb_Jc_lVhBc

 

Thanks everyone , the car needs to be run and I am hoping by this weekend I will have my seats back and be able to take it for a good long overdue cruise .

What I did notice was after running the car for about 20 minutes , it definitely started to run better . There was a little hesitation at low rpm but that seemed to go away .

I am hoping some good gas and a few rounds of additives that I will be good to go .

Thanks for all the advise , I am going to give them all a try ....