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Monthly Archives: March 2015

Fuel Additives
Carbon Cleaners, Fuel Addtives, Fuel System Cleaning

Using Fuel Additives at Higher Dosages – Overdosing

March 13, 2015 Oilem 14 Comments

A question I am regularly asked is whether fuel additives can be added at a higher dose or added to less fuel in order to make a stronger concentrate, and whether this is more beneficial.

The answer in most cases is no. This is because additives are specifically designed to work with a certain amount of fuel. This ensures that any deposits are removed and dispersed in a controlled manner and that too many deposits aren’t purged through the system at once.

Polyetheramine-based cleaners, for example, work much better when treating the correct amount of fuel (i.e. a full tank of fuel) and allowing the chemistry to gradually remove deposits in a controlled way. If you add a cleaner designed for sixty litres of fuel to ten litres of fuel, not only do you run the risk of removing deposits too quickly but you also lose the benefit of the extended duration that sixty litres will provide.

The reason for this is that many additives are designed to work with fuel flow where the actual action of removing deposits requires the fuel to be in motion. Therefore, deposits are removed layer by layer as the fuel is moving through the system. The stronger the concentrate – and the less fuel that is treated – the lesser the amount of total motion that occurs.

Therefore, do not be tempted to treat with a much higher concentrate except when professionally instructed to do so and when, for example, a heavily-contaminated fuel injector requires urgent attention. In this instance some cleaners can be safely added directly to the fuel rail or fuel filter. However, this is a procedure that should be carried out by a professional and is not really relevant to in-the-tank fuel cleaners.

Another question we are regularly asked is why some additives require a lot of product, whereas others require such a small amount?

An example we’ll use here is a high-strength cleaner, such as Archoil’s AR6400, which requires 400 ml to treat a full tank, versus their fuel conditioner AR6900-D MAX, which is treated at a ratio of 1,000 to 1. 400ml vs 50ml.

So, why is this?

Different chemistries work in different ways. High-strength cleaners in particular generally require a much larger volume of chemistry, polyetheramine being one of them.  Such cleaning power requires volume.

Some fuel conditioners act differently as there are nano-detergents that will provide an effective clean over a gradual period of time but with substantially less volume. For comparison, if you added AR6400 or AR6400D concentrate (or a similar product) to a full tank of fuel, you would start to notice a difference within ten to twenty miles of driving if there were excessive fuel system deposits. That is how quickly some concentrate cleaners work. With a fuel conditioner such as AR6200 or AR6900, noticeable improvements might take a few tanks. Rapid cleaning requires a volume of chemistry. Gradual cleaning, however, can be achieved at a nano level. Although cleaning takes long, it requires a very small amount of chemistry.

The concept behind AR6900 was very simple and this, we believe, should be the objective of all fuel conditioners – To deliver as many benefits as possible with the smallest amount of product possible.

Archoil has succeeded in producing a product that does as much as it possibly can at the nano level. This includes protecting against water, fuel contamination and corrosion, lubricating and cleaning the fuel system, removing carbon through the use of the catalyst, and improving the quality of combustion to improve MPG, etc. All of these benefits are achieved at the nano level; therefore, only a very small amount of the product is required.

What AR6200 or AR6900 cannot do is clean rapidly or provide additional anti-waxing protection because these processes require much higher volumes of chemistry. Also, the additives in these products are not necessarily about the chemistry themselves. The chemistry is there to deliver a process. Imagine adding a couple of drops of concentrated black dye to a bath of clean water. You will find that that dye will disperse very quickly and make the water black or gray depending on the amount of dye. AR6200 works in a similar way. It disperses very quickly, delivers a process, and produces the benefits that are described.

Andy

fuel additivefuel additive overdosingfuel additivesfuel catalystfuel conditioner
Cheap Engine Oil
Engine Oils

Garages & Repair Centers Using Cheap Oil

March 13, 2015 Oilem 3 Comments

There is a “cheap oil” endemic and I am concerned for the consumer.

As distributers of various lubricants, one of our tasks is to demonstrate to automatic transmission and gearbox rebuild specialists the benefits of using OE (original equipment) oils or at least lubricants that meet the required manufacturer’s specifications. This is much more difficult than you might think.

I am concerned at the percentage of repair shops that chose to use low-quality, or many cases, the cheapest oils available.  A customer can easily spend £1500, £3000, or even £5000+, on more complex automatic gearbox overhauls and yet, the garage performing the work will use oil that costs them around £1.50 to £2.00 per liter. And their response when they are asked why they choose such cheap oil? To paraphrase, their answer is generally this: “As long as it lasts the twelve month warranty period, it is fine.”

This raises an interesting concern, not just in the transmission rebuilding market but also with engine oil changes. My view is that as a consumer, you are perfectly within your rights to question and challenge the oil that is being installed in your vehicle, whether it’s the transmission fluid, engine oil, or any other fluid for that matter.

In virtually all cases, franchised dealers will use OE oils. That’s what your money is paying for and how they justify their excessive prices. While not always the best value or the highest quality, at least you are receiving an accepted and approved level of quality.

Our greatest concern is with some independent garages and repair centers. Too many garages still insist on “cheapest” and in some cases oils that simply do not meet the specifications for your vehicle. For example, when they use mid or high SAPS (sulphated ash, phosphorus, sulphur, etc.) oil with engines that are only designed to run on low SAPS oils. This is concerning because of the potential harm to the emission control components, such as the DPFs (Diesel Particulate Filter), and so on.  There have even been instances of an oil distributor selling recycled oil to their dealers, only for the dealers to discover that the engines were starting to burn and consume more oil! The base stock and additive pack were simply not good enough and the oil deteriorated very quickly to the degree that the oil bypassed the piston rings and the engines began to consume it.

If you are paying for a service, repair work, or a complete overhaul of the transmission or engine in your vehicle, you are quite in your right to enquire about the fluids being used and request high-quality ones. When paying substantial money for a repair, it makes sense to use OE quality as an absolute minimum. If your vehicle is modified and the engine is producing more horsepower then it is advisable to use oils that exceed the manufacturer’s specifications or at least change them more regularly.

Andy

engine oilfully synthetic oillow sap oiloil
Carbon Cleaner
Carbon Cleaners, Fuel Addtives, Fuel System Cleaning

Fuel & Carbon Cleaners – What Happens to the Carbon?

March 10, 2015 Oilem 2 Comments

Frequently we are asked about fuel-based carbon cleaners. Specifically, what happens to carbon deposits that are removed through the use of fuel cleaners and can these cleaners damage an engine?

Let’s begin by discussing the first part of that question.

Within the fuel system you’ll seldom find carbon itself. You are more likely to discover sludge, gum, varnish, debris, and similar deposits. The larger deposits are captured by the fuel filter. These and other deposits that have found their way through the fuel system are normally dissolved and dispersed in a controlled and manageable way using dispersal-based detergents. That’s why it is important to use additives at the recommended dosage so that deposit removal is completed in a controlled manner. High-strength fuel system cleaners that carry out this process normally contain a lubricant to ensure the entire system is lubricated during the cleaning procedure. This too minimizes the risk of any issues.

Most actual carbon formation occurs in the combustion chamber and post combustion areas. This includes the hot side of the turbo, intake, inlet valves, EGR, catalytic convertor, DPF, and the remainder of the exhaust tract. The reason why carbon remains is because there is insufficient heat to burn it off. Chemically, a liquid hydrocarbon fuel – such as gasoline or diesel – is very similar to the solidified fuel (carbon) that it creates. The difference is that to ignite and burn solid carbons a higher temperature must be reached because the flash point has changed.

High-quality fuel detergents, combined with fuel catalyst technology, reduce the threshold temperature at which the carbons can burn and therefore enable natural engine processes and inherent heat to gradually “burn off” the deposits. This is certainly the case for combustion chamber deposits.

Sometimes there also is a degree of active cleaning from any cleaning chemistry that is able to survive the combustion process and thus is still active post combustion. However, most carbon is removed by reducing the temperature at which it can burn as described above.

It is important to note that there also is a natural cleaning mechanism. When the combustion process is of sufficient quality – normally through an efficient fuel system (no injector deposits), sufficient fuel quality (more often than not, only achieved with fuel conditioners), and an engine that is up to full operating temperature – engines are designed to self-manage carbon build-up. The clean(ish) gases will naturally remove carbons with the aim of maintaining a respectable level.

The issue arises when this equilibrium is broken and more carbons are deposited than can be naturally removed. This could be due to a flawed engine design, poor fuel quality, fuel system deposits, driving style, failure to let the engine get up to the proper temperature, etc., or a combination of these.

This is why catalyst technology is so important in carbon cleaning and for keeping a system clean. When a catalyst is added to the fuel, it improves the quality of combustion to such a degree that it reduces the amount of hydrocarbons that are created, particularly when the engine is cold. These cleaner gases then get to work together, with the active work the catalyst is doing, to reduce the temperature at which these deposits can burn and be removed.

Essentially, a high-end fuel cleaner and carbon remover provides an environment where the quality of the combustion is much better and the exhaust gasses are much cleaner. The cleaner exhaust gasses will naturally scavenge and remove carbons from the combustion and the post combustion areas. The caveat is that this process requires heat. The catalyst will reduce the temperature at which the carbons can be removed and burned off, but it also needs heat.

This is why it is incredibly difficult for such chemistries to clean the EGR system. The problem is that an EGR and intake are designed to cool recirculating exhaust gasses. By doing so, they reduce the efficacy of any post combustion cleaner or chemistry. Unfortunately this also applies to the rear of the intake valves of direct poor injection engines. Those two areas are very difficult to clean because the gasses going through are cooled.

Also it is difficult to remove existing deposits in these areas. However, by using a high-quality conditioner with the fuel catalyst in both diesel and petrol applications, you’ll at least give the engine and emission control components a much easier life. This is because the engine and emissions systems will have fewer carbons to manage. This results in fewer deposits and hopefully removes the need to use high-strength cleaners or invasive measures to remove carbons manually.

What about the safety of cleaners and the risk of fuel system or engine damage?

Providing products are used as per the instructions, the risk of any damage is incredibly low. In fact, the few rare cases of alleged damage we have seen weren’t actually caused by the product. The product just revealed or exacerbated an underlying mechanical issue with the fuel system. This is incredibly rare.

Furthermore, manufactures err on the side of caution, so even if a product is used aggressively or improperly, it is still likely to be safe to use up until a certain point. For example, one of our main fuel conditioners is EPA tested. As part of the procedure the product is tested at ten times the recommended dose to ensure no possible harm to the fuel system or engine.

To summarise, fuel system deposits are generally dissolved, dispersed, and combusted naturally. Carbon is generally combusted through the use of heat and an added fuel catalyst and/or fuel borne catalyst. They are proven safe processes when used correctly and responsibly.

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