Opinions on Miller diesel fuel additive

In particular, their Diesel Power Ecomax.

My limited experience with it seems to indicate that while it may look just like all the other "snake oil" injector cleaner/performance boosters, it ain't snake oil. It actually seems to do what it says on the tin.

My Kia's consumption has been slowly deteriorating since purchase (from new) rather than improving as I'd anticipated. I thought I'd give the Miller product a whirl as it's well reviewed and whilst I can't claim to have performed any strict consumption tests, my range per tankful on supermarket fuel has been improving and it seems to be paying for itself and then some.

Any regular users here? What are your experiences? I've got no ties to the company, just a user.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+
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Snag is you've paid out the money and convinced yourself it is working? It's quite easy to build up a history of fuel consumption by logging the mileage reading and the amount put in. Over a period of time this will give an accurate indication of the mpg.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Tim,

As the owner of a used 6 year old Kia Cee'd 1600cc diesel (77000 on the clock) I've found some useful information on it from here.

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It may be worth a look.

As a matter of interest, about a fortnight ago, after picking the car up from the main dealers after a warranty repair (yep they're still honouring the warranty until next March) I asked the foreman mechanic there if he would advise the use of an injector cleaning fluid and which one [1] - he said yes, at that mileage and to use Wynns, which I have done. So I'm waiting to see if it works - fuel consumtion (as per the onboard computer) is around 45mpg on mostly short journeys ann around 52 - 58 on long motorway runs.

HTH

[1] I'm more interested in keeping the injectors clean than getting a better fuel consumption BTW
Reply to
Ormolu

,

Indeed. I have a simple spreadsheet into which I enter the details of each fuel purchase, and it calculates both mpg from the last fill-up, and over my ownership of the car. Interestingly, this does not always match the car's onboard computer's calculations. The spreadsheet also keeps track of the pump price over time.

Reply to
Davey

,

I know that, and obviously it applies to all snake oils. I've tried other injector cleaners and never detected any difference though. This time, consumption *seems* to have improved by 10%+ based of the computer and the range per tankful.

Not sure I can be arsed. ;-)

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

,

Can you make that spreadsheet available? Perhaps by email?

Thanks

Reply to
Mark

Do you want to know Dave's fuel consumption or just historical fuel prices?

If the latter, how about this?

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Tim

Reply to
Tim+

I use Redline 85+.

It is supposedly an injector cleaner, upper cylinder lubricant et cetera.

linky:

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Used it since new on our 335d, now 7,100 miles and 41 months old. At the MoT test, the tester could not find a trace of PM in the testing equipment.

On a rolling road test, the car was making 301 hp and 458ft/lb torque in standard form, which is in line with their (Redline's) claim of 6% better engine performance.

No connection other than a satisfied user.

David

Reply to
David

,

It is not complicated.

Column headings, A>K: Date Mileage Litres. Miles Driven Part. Miles Part mpg Tot. litres Cum. mpg Notes p/l Promotion

Start at Row 2, filling in as appropriate. Formula for D10: =B10-$B$2 For E10: =B10-B9 Formula for F10: =IF(CODE(I10)=70,(B10-B8)/((C10+C9)/4.54609),0) For G10: =G9+C10 For H10: =(B10-$B$2)/(G10/4.55) Col I, 'Notes', has either 'Filled' or 'Not filled', which sets up the partial economy calc., or not. After a Not-filled pumping, then the expression in col. F may have to be adjusted to account for the number of fillings missed.

'p/l' is pence per litre, Promotion is how much discount was given off of the pump price (Morrisons is our local supplier).

Easy!

Reply to
Davey

Either in addition to a spreadsheet, or instead, you can use:

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I use both.

John

Reply to
John Henderson

Snag is you've paid out the money and convinced yourself it is working? It's quite easy to build up a history of fuel consumption by logging the mileage reading and the amount put in. Over a period of time this will give an accurate indication of the mpg.

Further snag is, you might (subconsciously) be driving a more economical style to further justify the expense and thus produce the hoped for results.

So it could actually turn out to be that buying the Snake Oil does actually save you money, but not for the reasons the Snake Oil company state. (But quite possibly this is precisely the M.O. they are employing)

Gareth.

Reply to
Gareth Magennis

,

Duh, I know all that, which is why I was asking if there were any regular users and what were their experiences.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

,

Duh, I know all that, which is why I was asking if there were any regular users and what were their experiences.

Tim

Obviouslym, anyones' "experiences" are not going to prove anything at all, being as pretty much all experiments here are fundamentally flawed due to the reasons I have stated.

I don't know what you hope to gain by asking such a question here.

Gareth.

Reply to
Gareth Magennis

I'd be more impressed if it were 107,100 miles.

Rolling roads are notorious for telling you what you want to hear.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

My usual comment to these additives is that if they really are so good, why doesn't a fuel supplier add them and make a truly justifiable claim that they improve consumption? Or the car maker recommend them?

I must admit to having tried an injector cleaner on a high miles petrol engine. No difference whatsoever.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Well, I suspect that if you buy full priced fuel from Shell, Esso, BP etc, you probably do get them but I tend to buy supermarket fuel so I'm just putting back what they've left out.

It's currently costing me 2.5p per litre to treat my own fuel and round here, the supermarkets are usually more than that much cheaper the the branded suppliers. I've found a cheaper source which will approximately halve that cost though.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

Well some folk take more time to check consumption over long periods.

Feedback from someone with actual experience rather than witterings from those who haven't tried it?

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

I used it for a while, when the Leon had a slightly lumpy idel while warming up. That's gone now, thanks to a software upgrade.

I convinced myself it was a bit smoother/quicker, but that could be just me *thinking* that, no hard evidence.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

I suspected the car was down on performance, that is why I took it there.

This rolling road company does not do any 'upgrades', therefore he has no incentive to fabricate results.

I have been there before with a car that was down on spec, so I have no reason to doubt the results.

David

Reply to
David

No matter. They are notorious for not being properly calibrated - or for the results being translated into engine BHP etc incorrectly.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

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