As part of the oil service on Mercedes Benz cars, they recommend their fuel additive. Is there something special about their product or are there similar and equivalent products out there at local parts stores ie, BG44k. Tecron. Lucas, Liquid Molly etc.

 

Thanks for the input. You here a lot about problems with carbon and crap buildup in all these newer GDI engines like my 22 GLC300 2.0L, I just want to do the best to keep it perfect.

 

Ask them then, why isn't that mentioned in the manual which was written by the experts and engineers who designed the engine itself? This is BS. Dealers fancy approach to steal your money for something that arguably would make no difference. Some for replacing your key's battery prematurely. For the record, I use one fuel additive bottle per year, not because I know it will help, but just mentally and physiologically it makes me feel better and it's worth it for me this way, but at the same time I'd never pay the dealer to do it. Get something form the web for $10 or so and avoid the $50+ they'll charge you for it.

 

Here’s what I use, 1/2 bottle every other tank or so. Chicken soup for the engine, occasionally I would experience a mis-fire on some of my cars, lots of dealer fussing with injectors, coils, etc. Then I tried this on the recommendation of a former Blue Angel engineer and voila, no more missing ever since. I also hear good things about Liqui Moly.

 

My MB dealer uses zMax Micro Lubricant, although I decline the product.
The Lexus dealer wanted to put in a $390 fuel additive in my wife's ES300h. I declined telling him I would just use a $9 bottle of Techron.

 

It’s hard to argue with Techron. As an aside, I have stopped using Costco gas ever since my last mis-fire event. I love Costco, however I’ve heard reports of fuel contamination so I go elsewhere. I know they use Tier 1 gas and pump more fuel than Saudi Arabia, but still…

 

Barry Costco doesn’t refine oil into gasoline.... therefore they are purchasing it from a refiner and require a particular specification for it.
Every retailer will occasionally get a crap load of gas. Assuming the misfire issue you had was related to fuel.
Living in the valley of the sun I’m blessed with not having to suffer with winter blends that famously make for drivability issues.
Those of you with direct injected engines.... Nothing added to the tank will help with the crud that collects on the back side of intake valves. It cannot as zero fuel is sprayed at the valves. Only thing that does is having a competent mechanic perform a walnut shell or dry ice cleaning for them. This is part of why I won’t have a direct injected engine. That and when (Yes; WHEN) an injector fails the cylinder either runs lean for a melted piston or (more often) it sprays continuously for white fuel smoke out the tailpipe that can easily make for a hydro-locked engine with a bent connecting rod upon startup. Another perfectly good reason to stick with my old tech bent 12 that makes more than enough power.

Barry the Redline product you are adding is a good one that will likely do good things for keeping those DI injectors alive.

 

Or just use a gas that already has 3X the cleaners in it like Shell V-Power® NiTRO+ supremium. I get techron all over my hands just removing the stoopid seal from the top of the bottle!

 

Thanks, I also use Techron occasionally. I've been using Sams gas for years here in Pittsburgh and have never had a problem or an instance where I questioned the Gas.

 

All the lower tier gasoline is the same, the only gas that is different is premium. So Techron, is different from Shell V Power, but only in premium grades, which I'm sure we're all using. I stopped using Costco 5+ years ago. I get my gas at the local Safeway store, which is much better than Costco gas...who would have thout that??? Besides convenience and price, it's better than all the other non Shell and Chevron gasoline options. Costco is fine for non premium, but stay away for premium gas.

 

I have been using Costco gas since they started to sell it and never had any issues with it ever, I see no difference with Costco vs. the odd times that I run Chevron or Shell. They have top tier gas and in super unleaded (MB and my old Z car) and in regular (for my SUV) I see no differences in gas mileage or performance. I run liquid moly in MB 2-3 times per year especially try to drop in a can when I am going on a longer trip and know I will burn a full tank. I used Techron for years wish Costco hadn't stopped selling that, but I do it for piece of mind to keep fuel injectors clean. I would be super surprised if Safeway gas was better but no Safeway stations anywhere near me (They give .20 off Chevron with Safeway membership points) but I have seen some of their stations and it looks like they have low prices close to Costco.

 

And as for Dealerships selling fuel additives, my cousin is a car dealer and that is one of the things the laugh about along with "protection packages" that they install no cars for $40 and sell for $2,500 they often stick in a can of additive. There are more advanced procedures for fuel cleaning but that is only required if you have a real problem.

 

The review that convinced me if you have time to read it.

Redline SI-1 is currently the best fuel system cleaner that is readily available. One of the best examples supporting this statement is represented by the condition of my 2003 S2000's engine. I bought the car new and I'm responsible for essentially every one of the 99,700 miles on the clock. The earlier S2000s (1999-2003 model years - called the AP1) are notorious for oil consumption through the PCV valve (for a number of reasons), and as a consequence the intake manifold and throttle body will typically develop a nasty coat of carbon saturated goop. In contrast - the intake and throttle body of my S2000 could only be cleaner if I steam cleaned them (or ran a water/methanol injection system). I credit this product's use, in conjunction with using a top-shelf synthetic oil (Amsoil) with keeping my engine not only clean, but essentially free of wear. The last leak-down test performed on my engine (at 90,000 miles) showed less the 2% leak-down in all cylinders, and no more than 0.5% difference between all cylinders (1.25, 1.5, 1.5, 1.75 - cylinders 1-4). I do not drive my S2000 conservatively either, as it gets revved to 9000 RPM 2-3 times every time I drive the car - and my car is geared with a 4.44 final drive. Those are essentially 1/8th mile gears, and contribute to higher than normal RPMs in all gears, when compared to a stock S2000 - and significantly more RPMs on average than any conventional street car.

To give the proper perspective, the age of an engine is not simply a function of the number of miles driven, but as a function of how many average RPMs the engine turns per unit distance (measured in the engines average RPMs turned per mile driven). This is why (generally) a car with mostly 'highway' miles typically has significantly less engine/drivetrain wear than a car with mostly 'city' miles (and why city driving is considered "severe" driving conditions by most auto manufactures). With this in mind, your average Honda S2000's engine turns 1.5 - 2 times as many RPMs per mile as the average passenger car under 'normal' driving conditions. If an S2000 is driven in a 'spirited' manner - that number can be over 2.5 times the average car. So (for example) imagine a Toyota Camry with less than 2% leak down per cylinder with over 200,000 miles on the clock (essentially an engine that is barely broken in) - that would be amazing, and would give a more effective measure of part of the benefit of this product has provided my S2000. So imagine how much your 3 Series, Camry, Accord, Fusion… ANY gas fueled car would benefit from using SI-1 and a quality synthetic oil? It truly does make a difference.

You might ask - "how does a fuel system cleaner reduce wear in an engine?". The full answer is complicated, but the simplified explanation is that the the fuel - more importantly the additives in the fuel - provide upper cylinder lubrication (direct lubrication), and the detergent action in the fuel additives is designed to help prevent and remove carbon deposits in the engine. Deposits due to fuel quality and combustion byproducts are a major source of wear in all engines.

Most top-tier fuels (Chevron/Texaco, BP, Shell, Exxon to name a few) collectively established a self-imposed convention to supply higher levels of detergents than required by the government (a form of self-regulation). However, these fuels supplied with almost twice the level of detergents required by the government still do not provide enough detergent and lubrication to keep your engine clean - especially with the levels of ethanol pushed by the corn lobbies. As a result, deposit build-up is still a reality facing car owners. While deposit formation is not immediate in top-tier fuels - and most certainly not nearly as fast as with bottom-of-the-barrel fuels (Citgo, Raceway, Sams Club… etc), it will happen over time. This is where SI-1 shines: it provides outstanding upper-cylinder lubrication and cleaning action - keeping your engine almost analytically clean, and it does this without chemically breaking down your motor oil (in blow-by products).

One of the reasons this product works better than products from other quality fuel system cleaner manufactures (such as BG and Chevron), is the fact the SI-1's detergent process is more 'gradual', because it's specifically catalyzed by the heat of combustion - and the cleaning process is not solely reliant on strong chemical solvent action. The main components of SI-1 responsible for it's highly effective cleaning process (as mentioned by several other reviewers) are polyether amines (PEA). BG (44K), Chevron (Techron), and essentially most other fuel system cleaners rely heavily on strong solvents (non-polar solvents, of varying concentration and quality) instead of PEAs to remove carbon and other deposits (even though some of these products use low levels of PEAs in their formulation). While the use of quality solvents can be highly effective (again, dependent on the concentration and quality of the solvents used), the unfortunate side effect can be the premature chemical breakdown of motor oil - which is why most fuel system cleaner manufacturers recommend you use their products the tankful prior to a scheduled oil change. How many people are able or willing to schedule/time the last tank of fuel before a scheduled oil change in their busy lives? Not many.

You might have noticed I only mentioned two other capable fuel system cleaners by name (products which I believe are very effective "cleaners"). Their specific mention was deliberate. Other than Redline, BG, and Chevron the only other effective fuel system cleaner that I would recommend to anyone would be the one made by Amsoil (Performance Improver - PI). PI works in a similar manner to Redline's SI-1 and contains PEAs, but I have found Redline's SI-1 to be more effective and economical when compared to Amsoil's PI. The vast majority of other branded fuel system cleaners are essentially "snake oil", using ineffective concentrations or mixtures of solvents and carrier solvents (heavy aromatic naphtha, xylene), heavy petroleum products - and in the worst products, they use heavier alcohols (polar protic solvents) in place of more effective cleaning agents. The use of alcohols and some heavy petroleum products actually does more harm than good and actually creates more deposits. Your car may seemingly run a little better when operating with fuel treated with those products - but the car will rapidly run worse once the product is diluted in the follow-on tanks of gas. What does your average person do then? Buy more and add it to the fuel again (thinking it needs a little more cleaning). The car then runs a little better, but then doesn't (again) when the product is diluted… and I think you get the idea. This vicious cycle doesn't happen with a quality cleaner.

SI-1 Usage: The best way to use SI-1 is the way it was originally designed to be used - by titrating (mixing) a specified amount per tank (depending on how much fuel you fill up with). I personally use approximately 1/10-1/4 bottle per 10 gallons - using a higher concentration if my car's engine needs more cleaning (subjective decision), or if I am forced to use a lower-tier gas due to low fuel and few to no other options.
The instructions on the bottle recommend using a full bottle every 3,000-5,000 miles or so (like most of the fuel system cleaners available) - but not because of a formulation change. The change from Redline's previous recommended per-tank addition of SI-1 to a 3-5k mile interval was pure marketing - because most people are notoriously lazy and unwilling to add something every fill-up, and Red Line's marketing decided to accommodate those too lazy to titrate. While a bottle every 3-5k miles is not at all a bad choice (I occasionally do this to supplement the per-tank titration method), I don't substitute a 3,000-5,000 mile interval for the much more effective addition of SI-1 in every tank.

The main problem with cleaning your fuel system only once per 3,000-5,000 miles is the fact carbon and other deposits build up over the interval between clean-ups - and that build-up increases wear over that time. If you're running a conventional or cheap synthetic oil - that increased wear is happening just as your oil is breaking down, compounding the wear problems. Furthermore, treating one tank-full of fuel with your chosen fuel system cleaner once every 3,000-5,000 miles will not get rid of all the cumulative build-up, and the following interval between clean-ups will accumulate more deposits than the interval before the last (and so on).

SI-1 keeps my S2000's engine constantly clean as it is driven, and build-up (and wear) has never been a problem. Using SI-1 in conjunction with using a quality synthetic oil (such as Amsoil) is the best way to ensure long life and flawless operation of your (gas powered) vehicle's engine

 

My local mechanic uses a MotorVac machine for engine cleaning. On several tests run with it, it has been proven to make an engine with tons of soot and carbon buildup come out like a brand new engine. It cleans the intake, injectors, pistons, cylinder walls, and even the cats. If you do a lot of city driving, then this is probably a good thing to do every 30-50k miles.

If you change your oil every 3000-5000 miles and do mostly highway miles, then it probably will never be necessary to do a MotorVac cleaning or use any other fuel additives as the additives in the gas will do the job properly.

 

The thing is, with modern direct injection engines the gas bypasses your intake valves completely and gets squirted directly into the combustion chamber. And TOP TIER (TM) is really more of a marketing gimmick. If you add top tier detergents to mud you get TOP TIER(TM) mud. BP Ultimate used to be crystal clear like moonshine but wasn't TOP TIER(TM) certified, for example, despite being the best gas you could buy.

 

Something interesting where I live ... every drop of gasoline in Austin, TX comes via pipeline from a single refinery in Corpus Christi. It makes business sense, how could each company justify operating separate pipelines and fuel depots to serve one metro?

Each marketer then adds their own additive package to make the stuff their own product. If there's any 'bad gas' it's the result of the tanks it's held in before you pump it into your car.

So no matter where you go here, you get the same gas, just with different additives.

I throw a bottle of Techron in my tank once a year or so just because my cousin is an exec with Chevron ;-)

 

Bad gas is always more of a function of the station than the brand!