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Hot take: I used to think those fuel additive tests were all marketing, but one changed my mind
I had a 2005 Duramax come into the shop last month with a real rough idle and some power loss. The owner swore by a specific cetane booster he'd been using for years, but I was sure it was an injector issue. We ran the tests, and everything checked out fine on the mechanical side. Just to prove a point, I told him to run a tank without the additive. The truck came back a week later running noticeably worse. We put the additive back in, and within half a tank it smoothed right out. I guess the fuel quality in our area has dropped more than I thought. Has anyone else seen a case where an additive actually made a clear, measurable difference on an older engine?
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rowan72510d ago
Wait, you actually saw it get worse without the stuff? That's wild (and honestly a little scary for our local fuel). I always figured those bottles were mostly snake oil, but that's pretty solid proof right there. Makes you wonder what's actually in the tanks these days.
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jenny39110d ago
Saw a mechanic on YouTube do a before-and-after compression test on an old gas truck using a cleaner. The numbers actually went up after a few tanks, which was surprising. He said the baseline fuel just doesn't have the detergents it used to, so gunk builds up over time. Kinda lines up with your diesel story.
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