Fuel additive
Laughing Gas
Joined: Dec 2021
Posts: 1,088
Likes: 342
From: PG, BC, Canada
First off, Ford recommends what it recommends for THEIR OWN convenience and if you benefit, so be it. International recommended an ELC for their customers using the SAME engine as Ford. The 7.3 Powerstroke. Ford went with the old IAT with an additive every 15K. Saved them from carrying ELC and not use it as much. Test strips verify that it is not as good a coolant as the ELC.
Would you trust my wife to settle a dispute between us? Probably not. She is a benefactor. Take the oil to be tested. If your oil life monitor says 10000, drain it at 5000 if you want safety, take a sample in midstream and send it out to the labs. I will. I have done it with my other cars with oil quality sensors and they seem pretty close to the monitor. I'm pretty sure the lab I sent it to for testing has little to no stake in Mercedes. Once I am confident of the algorithms being close, I probably will go along with it and test every couple of years to see if something is happening with the engine. Problem I see with people with experience is that they base it on the past. If things don't change, I totally agree. When things change, it is time to re-evaluate. That is where the old timers fail. They don't accept that things have changed. It can be proven one way or the other with an independent test but you have to be willing to learn.
Would you trust my wife to settle a dispute between us? Probably not. She is a benefactor. Take the oil to be tested. If your oil life monitor says 10000, drain it at 5000 if you want safety, take a sample in midstream and send it out to the labs. I will. I have done it with my other cars with oil quality sensors and they seem pretty close to the monitor. I'm pretty sure the lab I sent it to for testing has little to no stake in Mercedes. Once I am confident of the algorithms being close, I probably will go along with it and test every couple of years to see if something is happening with the engine. Problem I see with people with experience is that they base it on the past. If things don't change, I totally agree. When things change, it is time to re-evaluate. That is where the old timers fail. They don't accept that things have changed. It can be proven one way or the other with an independent test but you have to be willing to learn.
I can hardly wait till I start a thread, saying something like, ( "is this snake oil? or does it actually work?") as I am actually in the middle of such a test to improve my trucks MPG...
Lead Driver
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 8,636
Likes: 2,432
I took a small Gatorade bottle and marked 2oz increments on it with a sharpie. Works well enough for me. You could do the same with the bottles you bought from Amazon.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 202
Likes: 44
From: Extreme Northwest, Pa.
There was an independent test done by "Research Laboratories" a couple years ago I believe in Diesel Power or Diesel World Magazine, the test concluded only 3 of the 13 addatives in the test had any significant benefit of use at all. Out of the 3 the top 3 were #1 Stanadyne, #2 Lucas, and #3 was Power Service.
These were the only ones that showed well in all fields of the test, ie . . . cleans injectors and pump, prevents anti-gelling, de-emulsifire (water/wax), reduce wear and friction (lubricity), reduced oxidation and prevents rust, no alcohol, improves mileage, also contained metal deactivators.
On a side note : Stanadyne has been in the business of building injection pumps, fuel injectors and other parts of diesel fuel systems for many years, they came up with their own formulation of fuel additive to help prevent wear and tear on fuel systems parts they had designed to increase the longevity and keep motors running longer.
These were the only ones that showed well in all fields of the test, ie . . . cleans injectors and pump, prevents anti-gelling, de-emulsifire (water/wax), reduce wear and friction (lubricity), reduced oxidation and prevents rust, no alcohol, improves mileage, also contained metal deactivators.
On a side note : Stanadyne has been in the business of building injection pumps, fuel injectors and other parts of diesel fuel systems for many years, they came up with their own formulation of fuel additive to help prevent wear and tear on fuel systems parts they had designed to increase the longevity and keep motors running longer.
Lead Driver
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 7,308
Likes: 250
From: Hartford, WI
So, you are saying ford (and me) and many other companies did NOT test synthetic oils before they "allowed" , the oil life sensor to make decision's as to how well the oil is performing in certain situations, and if those conditions are met, the oil life can, and is, allowed to go, to 10,000 Miles, before the monitor says it's at "0 %" oil life is left...???
I can hardly wait till I start a thread, saying something like, ( "is this snake oil? or does it actually work?") as I am actually in the middle of such a test to improve my trucks MPG...
I can hardly wait till I start a thread, saying something like, ( "is this snake oil? or does it actually work?") as I am actually in the middle of such a test to improve my trucks MPG...
I haven't checked yet but I believe that the truck uses algorithms to determine the oil life. I know that MB has an oil quality sensor that dips into the oil and measures something to determine if the algorithm needs to be pushed up or down.
Tuned
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 288
Likes: 38
Sorry for the boo-boo statement yesterday when I stated using an additive for increased octane. Brain fart there. To improve the CETANE rating is what I wanted to say. Most brands today of diesel fuel are only about 40 cetane unless they have added a cetane booster before the pump. Optimal burning of the fuel occurs with a cetane rating of 44 or higher. This means if you don't add a cetane booster then your diesel engine burns less clean and your DPF plugs much faster. Sorry again for the mis-statement. Old guys have brain farts.
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