fuel aditives?

what do u guys think of fuel additives like stp octane booster, or gumout fuel system cleaner? right now im running them every other tank and ive noticed that it starts smoother but i was wondering if it was just in my head, or if they could do any damage\

its a 97 tuarus gl with 170k miles

octane boosters increase the octane in your fuel so if your engine is knocking it will reduce or eliminate that, also if your engine is retarding timing it will allow it to run more timing advance. you'll notice more power and better fuel economy. if your engine isn't knocking it won't do anything.

For the gumout and such, i don't know how well they work but if you have carbon deposits in your engine it might restore your compression and help with power, smoothness and fuel economy, it might also clear up gunk in your intake ports and help your engine run better.

since you don't seem to have too many miles on your engine i don't think there should be that much gunk in it and i also doubt that your engine is knocking, i personally think it would be a waste of money but someone else might say differently, it all depends on how clean your engine is and how well it runs.

well, the car was free because the entire vehicle was in rough shape, the octane booster was more of a preventative measure, because i dont want anything bent out of shape if it knocks, and the gumout was just cuz it seemed like a good idea for a filthy beat up engine

i wouldn't use it that often though, once or twice and you should be good for a long time. as for the octane booster it really depends if you need it, run on supreme with a spare can of boster, if it doesn't knock, run lower octane, do that untill you're at the lowest octane you can get from the pump. if your engine knocks, pull over, turn off the engine, add the booster, and run on whatever the next octane rating is.

ah
ok then, that sounds like a better idea, and cheaper thx

Octaine boosters are a joke, you wont see anything out of them. They only raise it a point or two thats not from say 89 to 90, that would be from 89 to 89.1.

The only cleaner I have found that works is Sea Foam. I use it fairly offen. A can in the tank and run about half a can though the intake manifold and you'll be doing good. You dont need to use it all the time though, once every few thousand miles is good.