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Before Switching To The Premium Gas, Try To Clean Your Fuel System.Apr 15 '01 (Updated Apr 23 '01) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line If you have an older car that starts to knock/ping or loses power, before trying to switch to a higher grade gas, try to clean your fuel system.
As you probably aware, you should use the grade of gasoline that is prescribed in your car’s user manual. However, old cars tend to accumulate deposits in the combustion chamber and other parts of the fuel system. Accumulation of deposits in the combustion chamber increases the compression ratio and the clogged fuel injectors can create a lean air-fuel mixture, both of which lead to detonation/knocking. Case in point: My second car, 1988 Volvo 740 GLE, started knocking recently. Under part oto full throttle it sounded like a go-kart. Suspecting that the problem is in the fuel octane rating, I filled it up with premium 91 octane. Knocking did not decrease a bit. I always use 87 octane gas in this car, as the manual suggests. Since 91 octane didn’t help, I went to Target and got a STP “Complete Fuel System Cleaner”. Be aware that there are products that clean the entire fuel system, including the combustion chamber, like the one I got, and the other ones that only clean fuel injectors (and cost several times less). The product I got was produced by STP and cost about $7. I used cheap injector cleaners before and didn’t really see any effect. But this product really made me happy – the knocking disappeared and I can still use regular gas with no problem. Another case of “You get what you pay for”. It is recommended to use the fuel injector cleaner once every 3,000 miles, so I will probably do so. And the fuel system cleaner I used cannot be used more frequently than once in 4,000 miles, which is a good indication of its effectiveness. By the way, did I mention that the car has more power now? If you have an older car that starts to knock/ping or loses power, before trying to switch to a higher grade gas, try to clean your fuel system.  |
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