EcoTek on 98 E430
I put a dual setup of Ecotek valve last week Monday. And I have since driven a full tank of gas with it. The installation took no longer than an hour. The plastic hose gave me a little problem, but once I figure how to use it to my advantage the setup and tuning of the Ecotek valve was done in minutes.
When I first drove the car, with the Ecotek, I didn't notice anything different with the car. Except for the bubbling, and squeeching of the valve. Alot of the Ecotek users said that they immediately saw/felt a quicker respond in the low-end. I didn't see it. Instead when I took my car on the freeway, it seem to have gotten a bit quicker in the mid-range and upper-range. So I was pretty happy. Now for the real test. And that was to see if I get extra mpg!
When I first filled up, I put in exactly 20.3 gallons at the pump. Today I filled it at 20.1. My final Mileage? 422 miles on the tank! I was quite impress. Normally, prior to the installation the most I would get was around 320-350. I usually don't get this type of mileage, unless I take the car for a trip to San Francisco or Las Vegas. Just normal Los Angeles Freeway traffic and crowded surface street, I got 422! I am quite shock. I guess it does do what it supposed to do. NOTE: This is done on my normal driving style, which had some pedal to the metal scenarios, some hole shots from a stop light, and few other "thing"
. The A/C was on 98% of the time. I tried to make it as "normal" as possible.Of course all this must have a down side. And there is....my wife even notice it. It was the squeeching and the bubbling noise the valve made. Since I had the valve installed near the firewall, the noise was apparent in the cabin. Ecotek does offer a filter/silencer for their valve, this might make them a bit quieter. I will probably try those filters on my wife's car.
My final thoughts. If you are on the fuel conservation side of things, this little unit might make it worth while. There isn't any "performance" gain as I can see or fell, so all you power buff head will probably have no need for this.
Final note, the Ecotek valve itself works on a 2.6l or smaller engine, anything higher requires you to have 2.
You can find more info at http://www.ecotekplc.co.uk
Last edited by Turbo][; Jun 12, 2002 at 03:28 AM.
This time I filled up at 19.3, and I got 419.2 miles. It looks as though this thing is pretty good. Will do a final count on the 3rd tank.
Three times a charm!
Questions answered here: http://www.ecotekplc.com/faqs.htm
can you post pictures of the install? I'd like to do it to my E430 and CLK55 but want to make a "stealth" setup or maybe replace a whole section of tubing that I can just put back on before the scheduled "A" or "B" service at the stealership.
Thanks.



