Fuel treatments

[Sibbo]

Just thought I'd share my experience with everyone - I have a 2014 1.6 Vti Benefit that I bought second hand last April with only 9K on the clock. Its up to 19K now and its been a good car but, I have to say, I've been a bit disappointed at times and Citroens service has been appalling on the couple of occasions I've taken it to them. Just lately I noticed a drop in performance - generally sluggish and hesitant when pulling away just not running very well. I considered taking it in to Citroen to look at it but I was reluctant to because of bad experiences, so I thought about taking it to an independent garage but couldn't find one I was happy with so I looked around the internet etc for an answer. I came across a website called Powerenhancer www.powerenhancer.co.uk. They've got loads of additives for fuel and oil and stuff for cleaning the engine fuel system, turbos etc etc.
Hmm I thought, maybe I'll give some it a go for £20-£30 it might be worth it - if not, I haven't wasted much. I also came across forums discussing the merits of fuel treatments and some were quite scathing and said they didn't work and that its just a placebo effect so I went into it expecting it to fail. I did see a You Tube film of a bloke testing its effectiveness using a Honda on a rolling road (not a Powerenhancer product but something similar) www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUkICPS0zQE and it seemed to show clear evidence that the stuff he used did work.
I bought a bottle of AR6400 P Max (http://www.powerenhancer.co.uk/shop-...rate-2343.html) which is a pour the whole bottle into the tank job. I'm not kidding, after a couple of miles the difference was utterly incredible. I have nothing to do with Powerhancer and I don't want this to sound like I'm creating an advert for them but I just felt I wanted to share my experience because my car has NEVER run as well as its running now. The throttle is sharper, its running smoother and quietly - its like I've bought a new car with an extra 20hp for £16!!! On the success of this I bought an oil treatment that you simply poor into the engine. It contains a substance that has a very low friction coefficient - again amazing.
To maintain this new level of performance I'm going to get some AR6900 P Max which you use every time you fill up.
I'd be interested to hear of other peoples experiences with these types of products and if there are any out there that other people have tried that work.

[baasacJak]

If you want some anecdotal evidence:

I got my 1.6 VTi petrol from almost new (~1k, now 60k), so I decided to only ever use premium fuels which claim to keep the engine clean. I've never had any performance drops, that I've noticed. Here's a bit of a breakdown:

My trip computer, which I've never reset, says I'm getting 41.5mpg, call it 40 to make the maths easy, that's 1500 gallons. Except we pay per litre in the UK, so 6800l of petrol
The premium fuel is roughly 5% more expensive than standard.
The average petrol price today is 120p/l.
So assuming today's price over the life of the car to date, I've spent £408 on the "cleaning" fuel premium:

£8160 + 5% (£408) = £8660 (bring on decent electric cars).

You spent £16 to clean yours, plus however much you're going to pay each time to put in the fuel additive, but had to put up with the stress/hassle of the performance drop.

On a similar topic, I put a K&M air filter in when I last replaced the stock filter, and I could swear it felt just the slightest big torque-ier, with less low-rev judderyness.

[Sibbo]

Nice one thanks for that. Came across some info (can't remember where now unfortunately) but there seems to be evidence that suggests premium fuels do work and are much better but the engine/injectors will eventually still get carbon build up. Its also best to use them with a clean engine as they dont work well to clean a heavily clogged up engine/ fuel system. Difficult to find unbiased info though. Might try and do a bit of experimentation - use premium fuel only for 6 months and then the additive for 6 months with regular fuel and just see if I can tell any difference.
I'm still amazed at the difference it's made - its genuinely like a different car. I swear it wasn't performing this well when I bought it with 9k on the clock so it clearly doesn't take long for the carbon to build up.