Over the years, much debate has been centered around the topic of using fuel additives to increase engine performance and fuel economy. Many people consider them to be a hoax or gimmick used to outwit the unsuspecting consumer out of their hard earned money. They are often referred to as “snake oils” because many people believe they will do nothing productive for a vehicle's fuel system or engine. In other words, many people are under the impression that they are simply a waste of money. For these reasons, most fuel performance, fluid applications have gotten a bad reputation and, therefore, are used less often than they should. Although some fuel treatment applications on the market today may do very little to increase performance and make claims of increasing fuel economy up to 30 or 40%, one should not group all fuel additives into this category. The truth is that while most gimmicky fuel treatments making these excessive claims are certainly questionable, some synthetic fuel additive and detergent products do help to revive engine performance and maintain vehicles, especially those vehicles with higher mileage.
As a vehicle ages and more and more miles are put onto the odometer, it's fuel and combustion systems form deposits left from the byproducts contained in all fuel octanes. These fuel-generated deposits along with soot left from hundreds of thousands of explosions inside the combustion chamber are left behind to clog up fuel injectors and attach themselves to intake valves, respectively. Over time, these problems can cause engine performance and, therefore, fuel efficiency to suffer. They will also cause many internal, engine problems and eventually require costly repair. Using a strong synthetic additive and detergent based product can clean these system components and return a vehicle's engine performance nearer to it's original, factory specifications. Not all fuel additives are hoaxes or make excessive claims about their capabilities. One well-known company, AMSOIL, estimates that their fuel performance improvement products will increase fuel economy by an average of 2.3% and as much as 5.7%. These claims are far from unreasonable or excessive.
Although many critics are justified in their skepticism of the fuel treatment market, this does not mean that all fuel additives should be completely disregarded. Vehicles with high mileage suffer from the inevitable wear of normal use and build-up of deposits in their fuel system. The idea that inexpensive measures, such as fuel treatment products, can be used to clean and protect these systems as well as be used for preventative maintenance is far from absurd. Researching which of these products is more reliable will ultimately produce the best results, but there is no question that the use of some fuel additives will revive engine performance and, in turn, increase fuel economy by considerable amounts.
