Xylene in the tank

[92rs25th]

One of my friends put something called Xylene in his tank in his svx apparently yu buy this crap at home depot. It's rated #1 for cleaning stuff thing is it's like used for paint stripping and what anyways...

The owner of SVX motorsports says that he's been putting it in his subaru for the last 8 years as a fuel additive. My friend tells me about this and says it will clean ANYTHING stuck the the valves , cylinders , pistons , rings , injectors , inside of the throttle body. I tell him it sounds too good to be true. I mean putting shit in your car designed for paint and home use ? I didn't agree to it.

As the story goes , apparently yesterday he put 1 gallon of it in with his tank of gas. He drove arounf 28 miles with it and said his car only started to perform better , better than it ever has since he's owned it. I ask him to check stuff out and what not so he pulls a spark plug , its like spotless shiney. His throttle body is sparkling and his car is running great.

The question here is - Is this a good idea to try on a v-8 domestic or should I just let it go ?

[black84z28]

xylene is used in octane boost type additive if i remember rightly...google it and there should be a brit car board where they were using it as just that...but remember you never wanna over do it

[cuda_dude]

i have only heard of it as a fuel octane booster.... i found a post on another site about it for you.... its about toluene and xylene which are pretty much the same.........
When we put Toluene in your car we definately felt a difference in acceleration. Car picked up MUCH faster than it did before, especially during higher RPMs
I remember when the topic of putting Toluene as fuel first came up, about a month ago, I was on Supraforums.com and saw a thread about homemade race fuel. I was like WTF, theres no way this could work. I checked out the link and the person who tried this said that his car definately felt a lot better and put down 35 rwhp on the dyno. (Same car, mods, just different gas).

I recently PMed him asking how adding toluene/xylene would work when added to a normal/or just a N/A car instead of his SP63 turbo. He said that it would give it some more push, just it isn't nearly as important for N/A cars as it is for forced inductioned ones. F/I cars have a much higher risk of it detonating.

People ask about adding addtivites, oils, to "lubricate" the gas when adding toluene/xylene to their tanks. Pump/Race gas already has a correct ratio of how much oil should be included. When you add toluene/xylene, it is pure, there are no oils because its not usually sold for fuel purposes; most of the time it is sold as a paint thinner. FYI- DO NOT GO TO xxx xxx AND ASK FOR PAINT THINNER AND PUT THAT IN YOUR CAR. Toluene/Xylene can be used as a paint thinner, but not vice versa. Back to the oil thing, because you are adding a pure substance into an already balanced mixture, more oil should be added to compensate for it.

The most common type of oil to use is Marvel Mystery Oil, or even some ATF (Auto-Tranny Fluid). Even if you're not using a lot, its better off safe than sorry considering it only costs $3.00 or so and will treat about 55 gallons of toluene/xylene. You add 0.5 oz for every gallon of t/x.

Xyleme/Toluene is not an additive, but an aromatic hydrocarbon, which is widely used in blending racing fuels, including C16 (which has an octane rating of 117, IIRC). I have heard that ~2 gallons of xylene and 10 gallons of 94 octane equals to about 99.7 octane. DO NOT RUN THIS STRAIGHT, ie. no pump gas at all. IIRC, Toluene has a reseach octane of 114, and xylene of 117.

Most importantly- Toluene and Xylene are VERY TOXIC chemicals. Use exteme caution when using these substances as they can cause cancer. Be sure to wear gloves and even a face mask. If any gets on you, drop what your doing and wash it off as soon as possible. It might sting a little, as Armand has experienced , but don't do THAT much damage. Also, look into buying a funnel to get it from the PITA cans to your gas tank or smaller, easier to use tanks.

[KaotiKCamaro5]

Xylene is some crazy shit.. we used it at work to strip paint.. if you do use it, make sure you dont get it on you, or your clothes.. wear some heavy duty cleaning gloves and some kindof face mask so you dont breathe it in..

*i dont think i would ever put that shit in my gas tank.. having to use it at work was bad enough*

[cuda_dude]

a little fact for you..... xylene is the 30th most produced chemical in the world

[92rs25th]

Picked some up today. Eh , I don't care about getting it on me. Hopefully my arm will rot off or something. Anyways , will add it tomorrow , when I get my new radiator and put it in , take muh shiz to gas station fill her up with 92 and then mix it. Let you know how it goes..

[KaotiKCamaro5]

you better care about getting it on you.. i've seen it eat through a rubber glove before...

[cuda_dude]

better add a little bit of oil to the mix and its some nasty shit so u might wanna wear the green chemical gloves..... im not the one to wear gloves and crap but from what ive read this is some nasty stuff....