fuel additives

[warlocke]

OK I'm sorry if this ain't the right forum, I'm asking a maintenance question so i thought this would be right


OK now on to my question, i have a 95 aspire and bought it in July, i have not added any fuel cleaners or anything into it ye, although i know i need to soon, Ive use step fuel ink cleaner before but want to know what would help get better mileage

I'm currently getting 22-25 and I'm around 132,500 miles on it. is this decent or can i get better? i have replaced the plugs and wires, changed oil, and replaced the air filter in July when i got it.

another thing when I'm driving down the highway doing about 65-75 constant my check engine light does not come on but if I'm driving @55 constant my light comes on, anyone else have this problem? if so what is it?

[packrat427]

You may want to give it some Seafoam . it is a additive that cleans up the fuel system , injectors .Here is a funny little video I made showing me giving mine a heapin helpin of Seafoam :lol:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7554&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

[darkdan]

Seafoam does wonders through the PCV system on a hot engine, but IMO, it's far too weak to do anything once it's mixed with gas through the fuel system.


Personally, I use FP60 by www.lubecontrol.com and have for over 2 years now. 1 oz per 5 gallons every tank. For the price of about 3 bottles of techron I get enough FP60 to treat over 600 gallons of gas.

It's not your typical "fuel system cleaner". Heck, the flash point on the stuff is nearly 400F if I recall correctly. Compare that to the average $4 bottle of kerosene at the store called a "fuel injector cleaner".

Also, www.auto-rx.com made a huge impact on my mileage.

[geezerstiva]

hmmm... 22-25. well, my car may be strange, but i get about 40. i know an aspire is a little bigger, but i don't think its that much bigger. maybe try changing your fuel filter.

[warlocke]

ill try that soon as im w/o a job atm and money is tight, im not asking cause im not happy with the mileage btw lol, my other car is getting 7mpg so im extremly happy with it =)

[bsirvine]

I have to really flog my Festivas and Aspire to get less than 40 mpg. I understand automatic transmissions get significantly lower gas mileage normally.

I notice that you didn't say that you changed your rotor cap and distributor rotor. That might make some difference. With the mileage on the Aspire you might possibly be having compression problems. A lot of people didn't maintain Festivas and Aspires well so maybe your Aspire was treated ruff during its adolescence. I'd do a leakdown test.

[warlocke]

ok bringing this back as i have a question i didnt ask when i seafoamed my car, i did not have alot of smoke, did i do somthing wrong? i put it thro the vaccum line that goes to the intake from the firewall and put about half a bottle thro it, the only smoke i had was from the exhaust manifold (i think its loose) and none out the tailpipe or anything, should i rev the motor high while sucking it up cause ima do a second bottle sunday because i start school monday

[darkdan]

IF you put it in slowly enough that the engine kept running then there wouldn't be much of any smoke.

The proper way is to make sure the motor floods out and dies from sucking in the seafoam.

Seafoam works by two methods. Solvency and thermal shock. The cold seafoam hits the hot carbon and causes it to quickly contract and break free. If it doesn't hit in liquid form then it doesn't do much good because there won't be anything for it to dissolve.

[warlocke]

ok so rev high then let off of the throttle? and let die and sit for 30 min?

[darkdan]

What I used to do:

1.) Warm motor up
2.) Turn engine off
3.) Fill cup with 4 oz to 10 oz of Seafoam
4.) Remove PCV hose and stick into cup
5.) Turn motor on
6.) Motor should run for a second and then die. If not turn off immediately
7.) Comfirm seafoam is gone
8.) Wait a while
9.) Start engine
10.) Go for a drive