it's a waste of money. your truck is laid out for mid grade and will perfectly run with no difference with 87 fuel. Every additive you need is already in the gas. And higher octane does absolutely nothing- it simply increases the knock-point, which defines the self ignition point under pressure. Those products are under category: money maker.
But if you don't believe it, try.

 

it's a waste of money. your truck is laid out for mid grade and will perfectly run with no difference with 87 fuel. Every additive you need is already in the gas. And higher octane does absolutely nothing- it simply increases the knock-point, which defines the self ignition point under pressure. Those products are under category: money maker. But if you don't believe it, try.

I have a 2019 Ram 1500 and I've never seen any difference whatsoever using any gas treatment product. I have a shudder on acceleration from dead stop, but gas treatments have not helped this in any way. I'm taking the truck to the dealer for fuel injector service/tune-up. Truck has 70k miles on it so it's due. Ram says 100k for this but it needs it now. New plugs and injector svc should take care of this. Truck runs great after reaching about 25 mph.

 

I agree with guy65, I think you would be wasting your money....

 

Very well could be, but thought it might be worth a try in that the 89 octane is .30 cents a gallon more than 87 is.

 

A bottle of octane booster in a full tank might raise the octane rating of the gasoline in the tank by a tenth of a point. Or, it might not. Most octane boosters contain large amounts of xylene, toluene and benzene. All are carcinogens. Wear a face mask and rubber gloves. These compounds are readily absorbed through lungs and skin. You will need a 90:10 ratio or more of gas to octane booster to be noticed. This means that you will spend over $130 dollars for two gallons octane booster for each fill up of 20 gallons of gas.

Just use 87 octane unless you are doing some heavy hauling or towing, then switch to 89. There is no need to ever use anything higher.

 

UNLESS there is some mechanical reason, DO NOT add any additives. I can see in the winter sometimes dumping in a lil water absorbent or something similar. But all the Octane boosters and such, waste of $$$$.

 

Was thinking of trying an octane booster to see if it might help with gas mileage.

You would need to increase the heat energy of the gasoline to improve MPG. Look for pure gasoline often found around marinas. It is a cost balance versus MPG increase though, you could expect an increase in milage around 12% but the cost of pure gas over ethanol is, around me, $1 more per gallon.

 

Unless its a fuel system cleaner I don't really see what anyone is trying to gain with a fuel additive. Higher octane means fuel is more resistant to detonation under higher temps and greater compression, it doesn't really have anything to do with mileage at all

 

Fuel additives are as much a hot topic here as oil viscosity/type and gas octane usage. 8 posts to the OP and the question he was asking not even addressed. To the OP I'm not sure of the type of filler opening you have as mine (2010) has no spring loaded cover under the gas cap down in the fill tube so anything I put in the tank goes right in. However if you have a spring loaded cover inside the fill tube like I did on one vehicle I used a screwdriver to open the little lid and slowly poured in the liquid. I then found a small funnel with a long neck and it worked perfect as it opened the trap door and the funnel was sticking outside the vehicle.

 

Thank you Richard66. I have such a funnel although I am not sure what I can use it for now. LOL

 

Packaged with your jack, and in the same location, is a funnel that will reach past those obstructions in the filler neck, so that won't happen again.

Steve

 

I have to agree with guy65 as far as the waste of money, AND, not sure where you live but here in WI all the reg and mid grades already contain ethanol, especially in winter, so adding anything for gas line freeze up is also overkill. And divingbto Baltimore, At Louis, and Seattle I found ethanol to be the rule, with the exception of some areas not having it in their premium, 90 octane and above. Additionally, when I was active, we had a lot of the small boat stations adding dry gas to their new HONDA driven gas engine boats. They experienced gelling in their tanks, what a mess, due to the gas AND additives having too much ethanol and absorbing moisture from everywhere.....
just a thought

 

Running a higher octane will not increase fuel mileage. In fact, higher octane than recommended will actually reduce the efficiency of the engine.

 

I have a snorkel funnel I used to add STABIL preservative to my winterized engines (not my RAM), but to the other points - just pay the extra couple bucks a week for 89 octane as preferred instead of trying to make your own 89 octane witches brew out of 87 octane pump gas.

My towing (load) schedule is unpredictable so I always want 89 octane. And it should result in somewhat better mileage all around, since spark timing should advance with it.

 

The school is still out as to fuel additives. I recently was asked to replace spark plugs on a customer's 2011 GMC Acadia with the GDI 3.6L v-6 and 110,000 miles. Replacing plugs requires removal of the intake manifold.

I just knew that there would be heavy carbon deposits on his intake valves as I've seen so many times on these GDI engines. There was none... the valves were clean as new! I was flabbergasted. I'd prepared him for the expense of shell blasting the carbon from the valves and he was willing to pay for it.

Needless to say, he was happy when his bill was much cheaper that first thought... Naturally, I asked him what he was adding to either the oil or gas and he told me he adds Seafoam once a month and has since it was new.

Glean from that whatever you wish.

 

Interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience. I wish you also would have asked if he used Top Tier Fuels exclusively. Supposedly these must be certified to some extra level of detergent additives to to prevent engine deposits.

But in a GDI engine, the fuel never impinges the valve stems, so???

 

Top tier fuel isn't the answer on it's own. The new engine oil with the SAE classification "SN+" addresses the problem to an extent. The ethanol in fuel is a problem in emissions locations such as here in Houston, Texas. I've heard several old timers over the years swear by sea foam, especially a boat repair shop owner I know. That guy sings the praises of Sea Foam relentlessly. The additive known as "Techron" (polyetheramine) is nitrogen based and does a great deal to alleviate carbon build up, however, it is expensive from BG.

The solution is one requiring diligence and using several methods of prevention simultaneously... there is no "quick fix".

 

Isn't Techron available from Chevron? I've seen it on the additives shelf in the auto store. Along with Seafoam and Stabil, etc. And again - it only cleans intake valves if the fuel injector is in the intake manifold, not in the cylinder.

 

If you think about it.... carbon builds up on the valves... where did that come from? It comes from PCV system contamination from oil and fuel traces along with trace water. There are aftermarket "catch canisters" to be put into the PCV system to capture the "guck" which causes the carbon. Fuel does contribute however.

 

When I perform an oil change on a GDI engine, I'll use a good crankcase flush from BG. This is added to the old oil and the engine in run for 10 to 15 minutes at about 1500 to 1800 RPM. The oil is then drained and it is always nasty. Upon putting in the new oil, I add BG's new MOA 115 additive which has been formulated to help keep the carbon from building up under the piston on the oil control rings.

 

Techron is a name such as "Kleenex" or Coca Cola". Techron is polyetheramine. It is a very potent fuel system additive. BG has a product called "44K" that is a bottle of this chemical, except theirs is as if it's on steroids. My 2002 Sequoia, or any car for that matter can begin to have a gimpy idle and some minor drivability concerns due to build up of deposits on valves and on the pistons and combustion chamber surfaces. I have added a bottle to my own and for customers and the stuff WORKS every time! It won't fix mechanical issues, but is very effective in removing deposits throughout the fuel system. BG claims that it also cleans the converters.

 

If you need a little up tick in your Ram, try a Sprint Booster or some other throttle commander type item?
They really work well to increase your throttle response.