Valvtect fuel

[Baker]

Is it worth it???* My dinghy troubles continue due to "gasohol".* Valvtect gasoline claims that they have the proper additives to combat alcohol related fuel problems.

I am starting to think the diesel really is worh it.* While I do not have a Floscan, it does seem like my fuel lasts longer when using this stuff.* Also, you know how your exhaust smells kind of acrid under load if the fuel is not great.....it seems I don't get that smell with this stuff.* Just the* nice sweet smell of diesel and no smoke.*

Anyway, I may be imagining things.* I am not a big fan of the guy who sells the stuff around here.* I will be using the gasoline for my dinghy on the next tank.* I have to "revive" my dinghy every time I take it out now due to that crappy ass gasohol.

 

[Keith]

Are you sure it's the gasohol? I never have problems with my dink outboard, and my fuel sits sometimes 6 months. I just use regular old gas station gas and a good quality 2 cycle oil. It's*a Yamaha 25 2 stroke.

Valvetect claims a lot, and I've never had any problem with their diesel. Of course, I still add Startron and Marvey Mystery Oil at each fill-up. Maybe you should try Startron for gasoline instead of going the valvetect route.

 

[Baker]

I had another thread on here about the gasoline deal. I honestly never had problems either until I put treatment into it and then it seperated everything(shocked it) and has been giving me fits. Anyway, no more additives for me. I don't burn enough gasoline in my dink where the extra 60 cents a gallon is gonna hurt me that bad. I will at least give it a try and if works, then 3-4 dollars a tankful will be worth it when I might burn 3 tanks a year.....maybe!

 

[Nomad Willy]

Keith, Why do you use Marvel Mystery Oil as an additive? I remember machinests that would not go out on a field job unless they had Marvel Mystery Oil. They used it as a cutting oil. For you is it an upper cylinder lube, stabiliser or what?
Eric Henning
Willard 30
Thorne Bay AK

 

[Marin]

Somebody on this forum posted the supposed findings from an oil company that "reverse engineered" Marvel Mystery Oil to find out what it was. If the report is true, it consists of No. 1 diesel, oil of wintergreen to mask the diesel smell, and red dye.

If this is true (and I have no way of knowing if it is) then adding it to diesel fuel would accomplish pretty much nothing since you're just adding diesel fuel to diesel fuel. Unless the "solves all problems" miracle ingredient is the oil of wintergreen....

 

[troy994719]

Baker wrote:

I had another thread on here about the gasoline deal. I honestly never had problems either until I put treatment into it and then it seperated everything(shocked it) and has been giving me fits. Anyway, no more additives for me. I don't burn enough gasoline in my dink where the extra 60 cents a gallon is gonna hurt me that bad. I will at least give it a try and if works, then 3-4 dollars a tankful will be worth it when I might burn 3 tanks a year.....maybe!

You might need to do a carb cleaing, 99% of the time if a two stroke is giving you trouble pulling the carb of and cleaning the jets out will fix it.

 

[Baker]

It runs great when it is running fine. The filter bowl just fills up with crap over time and at some point, that crap makes it into the carb.....then I use carb cleaner and that does the trick.

 

[Keith]

In no particular order:

I add*MMO at the recommendation of Bob Smith at American Diesel. It supposedly adds lubricity to the diesel and*helps save your injector pump from the new lower sulfur diesel fuels. While that can certainly be argued, if it's good enough for Bob, who marinized all the Lehmans, it's good enough for me. It's not a stabilizer... I use Startron as well. In any case, the MMO can't hurt.

As far as not adding additives... Valvetect is nothing but fuel that they put additives in for you. If you read their web site and brochures, they state that plainly, so you can't say you're going to use Valvetect and get rid of additives. But whatever works for you... Maybe your gas was bad anyway, and it was too late to use an additive. Keep it fresh, and add the additives when it's that way if you plan to leave it a long time.

 

[Marin]

You can also use lubricity additives made specifically to deal with the problem of low-sulfur fuel. The one we use on the recommendation of our diesel shop is Select 3 which is made by Hammonds, the same folks who make Biobor. They use what they say is a mil-spec lubricity additive called Lubribor.

Marvel Mystery Oil was formulated by Burt Pierce shortly after WWI. The company is now owned by Turtle Wax. What's interesting is to read the claims by the original company and now Turtle Wax. Most of them say, "It [MMO] appears to (do such and such)." In other words, no real definitive or substantive results. In another speculative MMO ingredients list, in addition to the oil of wintergreen and red dye, it is thought that 20 percent of the mixture "...is solvent, probably mineral oil." The SAE rating (weight) of MMO is said to be about 3.

There are a lot of people who swear by MMO, particularly people who run or had most of their experience with old-technology engines. But I suspect if their engines gave good service they would swear by any additive they happened to be putting in whether it actually did anything or not. And if one of the ingredients is solvent, then I can see how putting a certain amount of this in the fuel would help keep carburetors and cylinders free of buildup which would certainly extend the service life of the engine and enhance performance.

The original claim for MMO was as an upper engine and carburetor cleaner. The claims about added lubricity didn't start appearing until much later, when lubricity became an issue in older engines. It certainly can't hurt anything-- at least not in an older engine like the FL120--- and probably does some good in the same way that dumping a quart of ATF into an engine's lube oil can often free up sticking lifters, etc. (MMO is not recommended for use in crankcase oil, by the way, from all the reviews I've read about it). But I have to think there have been improvements to lubricity additives since WWI.

 

[Baker]

Keith wrote:

In no particular order:

I add*MMO at the recommendation of Bob Smith at American Diesel. It supposedly adds lubricity to the diesel and*helps save your injector pump from the new lower sulfur diesel fuels. While that can certainly be argued, if it's good enough for Bob, who marinized all the Lehmans, it's good enough for me. It's not a stabilizer... I use Startron as well. In any case, the MMO can't hurt.

As far as not adding additives... Valvetect is nothing but fuel that they put additives in for you. If you read their web site and brochures, they state that plainly, so you can't say you're going to use Valvetect and get rid of additives. But whatever works for you... Maybe your gas was bad anyway, and it was too late to use an additive. Keep it fresh, and add the additives when it's that way if you plan to leave it a long time.

I did read their website and I agree.* I guess all I am saying is that if anything came out of suspension during "treatment", it will have already been dealt with and filtered out.....instead of showing up in my fuel filter bowl......which is no longer*cylindrical due to warping by alcohol.

 

[Nomad Willy]

John, Does that " crap " that shows up in your system have a redish orange tint to it ? I think you've just got water in the fuel.
Eric Henning
Willard 30
Thorne Bay AK

 

[Marc1]

For those who like to add back some lubricity to low sulfur diesel and improove combustion all in one, here is a simple formula for home made additive that will not hurt your wallet and make your engine very happy.

Ingredients:
2 litres of 2 stroke oil. (Find a good brand that claims 1:100)
1 Litre of pure acetone. (Only pure acetone will do, not nail polish remover.)

Mixed properly should give you a thick syrup, green or blue depending on the oil you bought.

Add 200 cc for each 40 litres or 6.8 US fluid ounces for every 10 gallons of diesel.
It works for petrol too but needs 50% more, so it is 300 CC per 40L if your engine runs on petrol.
For 2 stroke petrol engines like outboards, just add 90cc of pure acetone per 40L of fuel when you do your mix using your usual oil and usual oil ratio. If you are just mixing a couple of litres for a small outboard or even a lawnmower or chainsaw, add a few drops of pure acetone in the tank. Good buy smoke!

You fuel pump and engine will be very happy.

-

-- Edited by Marc1 at 03:32, 2008-08-19

 

[FF]

Valvetect is nothing but fuel that they put additives in for you.

All fuel of every brand is stock low octane they pump up the pipe between pigs.

The local distributors are supposed to add the proper goops to create hi test , or Valvetech.

Not a great believer in their expertise , I add my own goop.

All 2 stroke outboards suffer from the gasahol picking water out of the air and becoming unusable in time.

All gas , looses octane from the addition of lube oil , that becomes worse with time .

The racing folks will only use mix on the day its created.

Folks that only have a low powered 2 stroke can use AV gas , and keep it mixed in a old metal OB can that can take pressure and not vent.

This will last the usually months it takes for a 4 hp to eat 6 gal.

Shake well each use and be sure its water cooled 2 stroke oil , not universal or air cooled 2 stroke oil.


-- Edited by FF at 05:17, 2008-08-19

 

[Baker]

nomadwilly wrote:

John, Does that " crap " that shows up in your system have a redish orange tint to it ? I think you've just got water in the fuel.
Eric Henning
Willard 30
Thorne Bay AK

And you are right and that is my whole point.* The gas was fine when I bought it but with the addition of alcohol, when water is introduced, the alcohol(and water) fall out of solution/suspension and end up causing all of these problems.* This was not a problem with straight gasoline because the water did not have such a willing partner(the alcohol).* Anyway, I have never had this problem until the gasohol stuff came around and even then it wasn't too bad until I used a treatment that I think exacerbated the problem in the short term(shock causing all kinds of stuff to seperate and end up in my bowl and carb when it was probably quite happy sticking to the bottom of my tank).* I am gonna use the Valvtect gasoline and I'll let you know.

Marc, if you can tell me why your cocktail works I would be willing to give it a try.* What does the acetone do?

And FF, all absolutely valid points.