Quote:
Originally Posted by WesternStarSCR
I can also add that confusing a vacuum hose to the brake booster for a heater hose prior to a coolant flush from a garden hose will clean a lot of stuff out of the manifold. No worries, a few vacation days, sea foam, MMO, shop vac, 3 oil changes, Wd40, and extreme meticulousness later and all was well. New MAP and EGR valve just because of paranoia too.
OMG!!!
Not recommended intake tract cleaning procedure though...
LOL .... but not funny for you at the time, I'm sure!! 
Curious bout your Amsoil additive test. There oil is top notch from my minimal knowledge and used it twice. Additive should be good right? |
You know, I don't really know much about Amsoil. I first heard about it decades ago, know some people like it - can't recall hearing anythng bad about it.... It was mentioned here on another thread, so I decided to test it & see if it works. He said it could give "up to 5.7% increase in MPG", so if that's true, it's worth looking at! Trouble is, it seems like product after product makes these kinds of claims & just don't live up to the promises. So we'll see.
As I understand it, the stuff is basically a fuel system cleaner that also removes carbon deposits from the intake manifold, injectors, valves, pistons, chambers, etc. That's all fine & good, but what if the mileage improvements are just from cleaning something that's dirtier than it should be? Like putting in a new, CLEAN, air filter will "increase power" (but only because the old dirty one was choking the engine so bad it LOST power). So you put the new one oi, and PRESTO - more power!! Well, not exactly, you're just not LOSING it anymore, see?
To test the "up to 5.7%" mileage increase claim, first I'll change the oil & filter, and then do the Seafoam just to reduce any of those "choked air filter" situations. (although I suspect my car isn't bad since it's currently getting better than 50% over EPA). Then I'll go run a "baseline" data set before the Amsoil is added. One of the claims was "30 more miles per tank", so I'll do at least one full tank until drained dry. With hypermiling, I should make 500 miles on a tank, which I've never logged before, so that'll be a fun "milestone".
With a fresh oil change & probably the SECOND tank after the Seafoam, go out and make one, non-stop (or nearly so) highway trip of 200+ miles, and calculate my MPG. The next day, with a full gas can on board, go shoot for that 500 mile tank, or however far it'll take me, then calculate the mileage there too. Then do one more 200+ mile trip like the first one, exact same course, speed, etc, and find out my MPG there. If I get good consistant data - not too big a spread - then I'll add the Amsoil. If it is a big spread, I'll do another trip first.
Once it's in, I'll burn through a tank to avoid any anomolies that may show up during the "cleaning", like carbon coming out & burning in the catalytic converter, and any possible "fuel value" to the additive itself while burning. Once that tank's gone, the next one will take the same 200+ mile trip, same speed, same everything, then calculate my "Amsoil MPG". Next day, go for the 500 mile trip again & see if the "extra 30 miles on a tank" claim materializes. Then finally, the third 200+ mile trip to calculate mileage again.
There will undoubtedly be some differences in wind, weather, and temps. on all those different trips. If the weather is obviously "different" one day, I'll just wait until it's the "same" again to continue. At a projected 30 MPG, a 5.7% improvement would be 1.71 MPG.
One problem is I won't be able to just go back & immediately do the second "A" part of the test, because once the stuff is in there, it's supposed to last 4000 miles. To deal with that, once I pass 4000 miles, I'll go out & make another couple of trips & see if the mileage is down again (assuming it went up at all)
So that's my plan. If you or someone knowledgeable about testing (like MetroMPG) would like to offer some advice, I'm open to suggestions. My route will be "out & back", so if there's STEADY wind (not always the case around here), the average should be ok. And, looking for a 1.71 MPG improvement, it should be clear whether it's there, or if this is just another empty promise.