Here at Hot Shot’s Secret, we know fuel additives are a controversial topic. Some people are diehard additive fans, while others believe they’re a gimmick.
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J.C. Counts, owner and operator at TD Diesel in Newberry, South Carolina, says customers frequently ask him to use specific additives even though they’re not sure what those products are supposed to do.
“It puts me in an awkward position because I know their request is for a substandard product,” Counts says. “They simply recognize the name on the shelf and nothing about the product itself.”
Fortunately, real, trustworthy additives do exist. Discover the benefits of using the right additives in the proper applications.
A fuel additive is a product you introduce to your system to improve performance. Different additives can clean your engine, lubricate your system or even increase your gas mileage. Most common additives are created for diesel engines, but additives for gasoline-powered vehicles are also available.
Manufacturers design fuel stabilizers to maintain a vehicle’s fuel condition during long-term storage when someone doesn’t plan to drive it. The more common types of fuel additives are fuel performance enhancers. Companies design these to improve your engine’s capabilities while it’s running.
There are two main types of additives you can use in your vehicle: fuel additives and motor oil additives.
EPA regulations require that diesel fuel contains ultra-low levels of sulfur. The issue is that the sulfur removal process introduces hydrogen into the fuel, which reduces the fuel’s natural lubricity.
Biodiesel contains moisture, but ethanol and methanol configurations require dry fuel. With the various hydrocarbons and polar solvents in the fuel mixtures, the unknown characteristics of the fuel at the pump can cause some impactful and sometimes damaging results in your engine. The right fuel additive helps to restore lubricity removed in the fuel refining process. It can help to disperse moisture, boost cetane levels, remove internal deposits and build up and stabilize various fuel blends. These factors increase the motor’s efficiency and prevent breakdowns without damaging any part of the system.
Counts says that he sees a huge difference in mileage when using fuel additives in diesel vehicles.
“I can tell I have improved throttle response,” Counts says. “My fuel filters are cleaner at replacements, and specific to my vendor’s additives, mine are nearly as clean and white as when I first installed it.”
The essential function of motor oil is to flow easily through the motor to lubricate the friction between moving parts and dissipate heat throughout. Using the proper additive can significantly improve the performance of that oil.
Motor oil additives help improve viscosity, reduce the friction created by moving parts and cool the engine during daily operations. These additives work by creating increased lubricity bonds between the source oil compounds, which allows the oil to flow more smoothly through the motor.
Some drivers are skeptical of fuel additives to the history associated with the products. In the early days, some disreputable companies and individuals sold fuel additives that were little more than snake oil. However, these days, buyers can find many reliable, trustworthy manufacturers that offer excellent fuel additives. As technology, market testing and scientific research advanced, manufacturers harnessed them to produce high-quality fuel additives well worth the money.
Besides these historical concerns, some fuel additive skeptics criticize fuel additives without giving them time to do their job. Many of these critics expect fuel additives to work immediately, providing all their benefits to their engines as soon as they use the product. The problem with this sort of thinking is that fuel additives need time to provide more noticeable advantages.
When you first put fuel additives in your vehicle, don’t expect to notice an immediate difference. Most vehicles need to cycle through multiple tanks of treated fuel before the additives start to show significant performance improvements. The bottom line is that fuel additives work, but you need to have a little bit of patience.
As a complex piece of machinery, your vehicle’s engine needs to be maintained to perform properly. For diesel fuel applications, the factories are obligated to distribute the newer ultra-low sulphur fuel with less lubricity. Biodiesel contains moisture. Ethanol and methanol configurations require moisture to be removed from your fuel. With the different hydrocarbons and polar-solvents in the fuel mixtures, the unknown properties of the fuel at the pump can cause some harmful results in your engine. However, the correct additives can help distribute the moisture, boost cetane, remove the internal deposits and buildup, and support the various fuel blends, so the motor operates more efficiently, with less damage and more prevention breakdowns. Especially with diesel fuel, the proper additive helps restore the lubricity filtered out of the fuel from the refinery.
But not all fuel additives are created equal. Trustworthy manufacturers and scientifically proven formulas are the recipes for high-quality fuel additives. Bottom line, when proper research and science goes into a product, your vehicle will perform better.
Many vehicle owners rely on fuel additives for several advantages. Since fuel additives are simple to use, almost anyone can add them on their own and reap the benefits. Some of the primary advantages include improving fuel efficiency, increasing an engine’s cleanliness and raising a vehicle’s performance.
Below are some of the top potential benefits of using fuel additives.
Here’s a list of our top additive picks and the benefits you can expect to see from each:
FR3 Friction Reducer is an oil additive with patented synthetic lubricants that increase the host oil’s ability to lubricate and reduce wear in your engine.
Its unique lubricating properties come from Group 5 synthetic esters, which are negatively charged particles that adhere to your engine’s internal system to lubricate it. Those esters also increase the lubrication of your rubber seal and prevent oil leaks by slightly swelling the seal.
FR3’s patented carbon nanoparticle close microscopic holes on the machine’s surface, which creates a smooth film that the lubricant can attach to. This process reduces wear rates by 43% according to the ASTM G-133 test.
Our nanoparticles crosslink together, which allows the formula to increase system lubrication and film strength. The synergistic nature of these components improves performance in friction reduction, shear stability, film strength and oxidation stability.
By removing deposits that appear on pistons and rings, FR3 provides a smoother surface, which increases the effectiveness of ring sealing, improves combustion efficiency and reduces blow-by.
Reducing friction also lowers operating temperatures and enhances the oxidative stability of your host oil, which can extend the life of your engine. Plus, regular use of FR3 frequently results in 5% horsepower and fuel mileage gains, as demonstrated in dyno and road testing.
Everyday Diesel Treatment (EDT) helps replenish the lubricity lost in creating ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) and biodiesel.
The removal of sulfur, and hence the loss of lubricity, from diesel fuel causes increased friction between all the moving parts in your fuel system. Plus, lower sulfur fuel is unable to dissolve the waxy soap deposits that form in fuel systems and are very difficult to filter. Most diesel fuel contains at least a portion of biodiesel, which contains glycerides.
We formulated Hot Shot’s Secret Everyday Diesel Treatment to work as an injector cleaner, cetane improver, neutral and sulfur-free lubricity agent, water dispersant, rust and corrosion inhibitor and fuel stabilizer.
EDT’s injector cleaner cleans diesel injector and waxy soap deposits from all parts of your fuel system, including your upper cylinders, fuel tank, fuel pumps and lines. It also returns asphaltenes and glycerides into the solution, which prevents an excess from forming. When your diesel fuel is clean, your system can be free of filter plugs and injector deposits. The injector cleaner also neutralizes acids produced by hydrodesulfurization, which prevents carboxylic salts from forming in your system.
Independent testing on EDT showed a restoration of up to 67% lost power in the Peugeot CEC F98-08 DW-10 test. The product also passed the ASTM D Filter Blocking Test.
In most states, diesel fuel contains cetane levels of around 42 to 45. While the minimum required level is 40, most diesel engines operate more efficiently with levels of 48 to 50. To guarantee your engine’s most effective performance, EDT contains a cetane improver that can raise your cetane number by four to seven points.
There are many benefits to increasing cetane numbers. For example, cold starting your car using higher cetane fuel produces less black smoke because it will improve your combustion efficiency. Additionally, using EDT in your fuel can decrease the presence of hydrocarbons and particulate matter in your exhaust, which reduces the risk of blocking your diesel particulate filter by 50%.
Increased cetane levels can also improve fuel mileage and power. In fleet tests using EDT, fuel mileage improved up to 7.3%, and power increased up to 12.3%. This happened due to the combination of Hot Shot’s Secret injector cleaner and cetane improver, which also restores throttle response.
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Further, EDT’s cetane improvement effect provides a smoother, less erratic pressure buildup in the combustion chamber during the ignition delay period between injection and ignition.
Hot Shot’s Secret’s original Stiction Eliminator is a safe, effective injection cleaner that breaks down stiction formations on any oil-wetted component. As a result, it scored a 92% clean rating on the ASTM D scrub test. Using a Group V synthetic ester, Stiction Eliminator returns important additives and deposits to your solution, which reduces friction and lubricates your system.
When International Truck and Engine requested a product to eliminate stiction-caused warranty and performance issues in the powerstroke and navistar hydraulic electric unit injectors (HEUI), we created Stiction Eliminator. The formula removes the friction created from sticky byproducts of burnt oil, thus eliminating the black smoke, bucking and chugging you might experience when hard starting.
Stiction Eliminator is not a flush that contains harsh solvents which can potentially harm your engine. It’s a long-lasting solution that cleans away the gum, stiction and varnish and stiction built up in your system while lubricating the engine. Because you can leave Stiction Eliminator in your system for the duration of your oil’s life, it’s an inexpensive way to prevent stiction issues in the future. It can also help to reduce spool time while building maximum boost sooner in the RPM range.
Stiction Eliminator also returns HEUI injectors to factory standards and optimizes engine performance by restoring injector oil flow. This restoration corrects injector timing, injector spray patterns and fuel flow.
Those benefits hold true for more than just HEUI injectors since stiction can appear on many other engine components. For example, high-temperature turbocharger bearings that operate with tight tolerance are known to experience severe stiction buildup.
Whether you use it to solve existing problems or to prevent future ones, Stiction Eliminator will thoroughly protect and clean your diesel engine.
When you look for a fuel performance enhancer for your vehicle, you’ll encounter a few different options. Fuel system cleaners and fuel injection cleaners are the two primary types you’ll find on the market. As you decide which one is right for your vehicle, you probably want to know the differences between them before you make a purchase.
As you shop for fuel performance enhancers, take a moment to review the primary categories below.
Fuel system cleaners are among the most popular additives. Companies design these cleaners for scrubbing buildup, primarily carbon, from your fuel system to improve a vehicle’s performance. Alongside removing buildup, fuel system cleaners also prevent deposits from forming. If you have a fuel-injected engine or your engine runs on ethanol, fuel system cleaners are especially effective. Since ethanol-containing gas can cause buildup in the engine’s combustion chambers, fuel injectors and intake valves, it’s crucial to clean them out.
Fuel injection cleaners are fuel system cleaners specifically made to remove built-up carbon on the engine’s fuel injectors. When you don’t use these cleaners, the carbon can harm your fuel economy significantly, leading to less fuel mileage. Drivers with high-performance engines featuring overhead cam setups can see considerable carbon accumulation. Additionally, cars that go on shorter trips, where the engine can’t warm up enough to clean itself, can have more buildup in them. These vehicles can benefit significantly from fuel injection cleaners.
We’re fuel additive fanatics, but we acknowledge that some people can benefit from additives more than others. You’ll see the best results if:
If your vehicle is new, you don’t need additives. You can use them, but the benefits won’t be as noticeable since your vehicle’s performance is already at its peak.
You also may not need certain additives if you live in a region with a moderate climate. For example, if you live in an area where winters are harsh but spring and summer are mild, you only need to use additives in the winter. Ultimately, consult with a trusted mechanic to ensure you’re using the right product for your vehicle.
In addition to increased mileage and improved lubricity, high-quality additives can provide some of the following benefits:
Of course, the benefits you experience depend on the products you use and the problems you’re trying to solve.
It’s a common misconception that using fuel additives while your car is still new can void your warranty. In reality, if your car is damaged, your warranty can only be voided if your original equipment manufacturer (OEM) can prove that the additive was the cause of the problem. So if you have a newer vehicle, you can rest assured with the knowledge that pouring a little Stiction Eliminator in your engine is safe.
Another issue that many people run into with additives is the sheer amount of additives on the market today. It can be overwhelming to choose the right additive for your engine when there are so many similar products that promise to do the same thing. Researching each different product can help pin down which ones could benefit you.
Need a starting point? Check out our online Diagnose Your Diesel tool for recommendations.
One more thing to keep in mind is that additives from less reputable companies can contain damaging chemicals. Make sure you do your research before choosing any additive. We at Hot Shot’s Secret formulate all our additives with high-quality ingredients and subject each product to multiple rounds of rigorous testing before putting them on the market.
Fuel additives are appropriate for all vehicles, whether they run on diesel or gas. If you’ve never used them, it’s time to start, as they can provide significant advantages to your engine. To get the most value out of your fuel additives, you need to use them at the appropriate intervals.
To help you determine how often you’ll need to use fuel additives, take stock of how often you tend to drive your car. If you usually drive short distances and infrequently run the engine, you’ll likely want to use your additives more regularly. Since brief, infrequent drives cause more deposits to build up and don’t fully warm up your engine, it’s generally wise to use your fuel additives every 3,000 miles.
The same fuel additive interval applies if you operate your vehicle in lots of stop-and-go traffic or if you drive in cold weather. When you commute in these conditions, they can cause deposits to gather on your valves and fuel injectors. If left unchecked, these deposits can make your vehicle create more pollution and lose its fuel economy and power. While 3,000 miles isn’t always necessary, using fuel additives at this interval can serve as a kind of insurance for your engine’s performance.
Drivers who tend to drive on the highway more, going for long drives and using their car more frequently, can usually go longer between fuel additive intervals. Even in these conditions, deposits can still form in your engine, and you must take steps to prevent them. Generally, using fuel additives every 5,000 miles is appropriate for more frequently used vehicles and those regularly driven on the highway.
Your fuel additive needs often change based on the brand you select. Always check the manufacturer’s recommendations for use to ensure you get the best performance out of your fuel additives. You can also find some fuel additives that you can use every time you fill up your diesel engine, such as Everyday Diesel Treatment, to improve power, performance and fuel economy.
Are additives worth it? If you want your vehicle to run better, reduce the total cost of ownership, avoid breakdowns, and stay on the road longer, then the answer is yes. Check out our testimonials to hear from real people who love our additives.
STP is a “Viscosity Index Improver”. Translation: It will make your oil thicker.
How thick? Nobody can predict this, as we don’t know the current viscosity of your oil. All I can say is that I would personally avoid this stuff, as you could wind up with oil that is too thick to flow properly, particularly if temperatures drop. And, if oil doesn’t flow properly, you could wind up with lubrication problems, and that could spell an early demise for your engine.
As to a fuel system cleaner, if your engine is in need of this, the only two brands that I would recommend are Seafoam and Techron (by Chevron). The other fuel system cleaners don’t do much of anything except lighten your wallet, IMHO.
I have a slightly different take on STP. Many ago I was responsible for all operational decisions and work in a very large high speed production plant. I had my guys just finish a major “to the floor” overhaul of a production line. We had just started it up and were running it without making product and at low speed to work in all the hand-scraped main bearings etc., etc. When I told them to speed it up to full speed I had them run it for and hour or so and on one of the machines in the line driven by a 50 HP motor with a forced oil lubrication system I had our electrician check the current draw on the main drive motor. I then had STP put into the crankcase according to the mixing instructions and after it was thoroughly mixed into the motor oil I had the electrician check the amperage the motor was drawing. I do not remember the exact figures but the current draw was about 20% less. Since only about 10 minutes had elapsed between the two and since the speed was not changed I concluded that the significant reduction in amperage was the result of reduced friction. This machine had three large crankshafts that operated the mutitude of mechanisims on the machine. To me reduced friction was good - very good!
So based on this I believe that dismissing STP as worthless is open to discussion.
You don’t need this additive unless you have a near worn out engine.
Mike is exactly right about STP and cold winter days. It’s going to work the battery and the starter motor much harder; if it starts at all.
Many years ago I worked for a small town Subaru dealer. Subaru at one time required, and paid for, an manual transmission oil change at the miles mark along with several other little chores.
Our sorely lacking service manager INSISTED that every trans oil change (they used 80/90W hypoid oil) also get a can of STP oil treatment with it.
You can just imagine what shifting a transmission was like on a zero degree day, much less a 15 below one, with STP diluted 90 Weight gear oil.
The best analogy would be rowing a boat through a tar pit.
One could even notice it when the car was decelerating since it gave the feeling that the brakes were half-applied.
STP is an interesting product, and few people understand it, so let’s get rid of some of the nonsense. First one person said to thicken oil simply use 2 cans of 30 weight oil, this isn’t a good thing to do for modern cars where the owner’s manual recommends 0-20 or 5-30, straight 30 could cause some fatal damage to engine. Now try this, take a can of 30 weight oil, or even your favorite oil regardless of weight and get some on your naked, yes that’s right I said naked, index finger and thumb and rub them together, feel how slippery it is, then wipe the oil off with a rag and try doing the same thing with STP, you will discover something interesting…it’s slippery then your engine oil even though it feels a bit thicker. I would not use any oil additive in a modern car due to the tight tolerances in engines today, but if you have an older style engine from the ’s and older and you have issues with it burning oil than STP might help to reduce the oil burning.
I think too that with modern engines that use 5-20 or 5-30 engine oil as the miles tick up eventually you will want to shift to a high mileage oil at probably around 100,000 miles; and shift to the next higher weight oil, so from 5-20 to 5-30 for example, when it starts using more oil than normal. 5-30 is still thin enough to be plenty safe for winter use. Typically you should never use any oil thinner or thicker than the car manufacture states to use, but when the car starts to use more oil between oil changes that is due to more space, or slop from wear going on inside the engine, at that point it has enough wear that the tolerances aren’t as critical as they once were and the next step up in weight won’t hurt the engine and will protect it longer. Once you go to the next thicker oil you’ll need to watch the oil usage closely to get a baseline, once you have that and later, say 100,000 miles later and it’s using more oil than what that baseline gave you then you can go to the next weight up like 10-30, by the time you get to that 10-30 weight oil you should be pushing around 300,000 miles depending on how the engine is using oil of course. Most new cars today do use oil naturally as brand new engines so you have to know you vehicles oil usage really well because you don’t want to jump up to the next weight shortly after you get the new car, that thicker oil could ruin your engine and void your warranty on top of it!
I had a vehicle once that never used any oil between changes for 240,000 miles! So all I did was switch to a high mileage oil at the 100,000 mark. I sold the vehicle so I don’t know how long the engine either lasted or if it started to burn oil at some point.
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