Ecotek CB-26

In article , snipped-for-privacy@totalise.co.uk spouted forth into uk.rec.cars.modifications...

Only useful if you get turned on by the sounds of Ducks farting.

A lot of people seem to have had good experience with this device. I haven't! It made my car run like a pig.

It does not work with cars that have large, low-revving engines or with CVTs (my car has CVT transmission) as apparently it needs the change of air pressure that happens in a manual when changing gear. I don't pretend to make any sense of the science behind Ecotek because I am not sure there is any sense there.

Its bollocks, creates turbulance in the inlet manifold to create a more even mixture??? FFS You can get that effect by getting the grinding stone down the manifold and taking some chunks out of it, and much like the Ecotek that won't increase performance either!!!.

Matt

LOL :)

"Fuck off spam boy" is that the sort of comment you were looking for?

Based on what? Have you used the device, and did you conduct a proper peer-reviewed test of the device?

No, you didn't. And strangely enough, neither did the makers of the device. Here's a clue, it doesn't bloody well work, except in one respect, it's a device for spearating mug punters from their money.

Utter s**te. The original poster is a shil, seeking to draw mugs into a web site. The fact that you are a mug doesn't make the device work.

Why don't fraudulent traders just f*ck off?

They claim it works by "creating turbulence in the inlet manifold thus improving the combustion process; this means that it reduces emissions, improves fuel consumption and maximises engine performance"

** Yet they offer no proof of have performed rigourous testing on many engine types of different ages **

The tests by Warren Springs laboratory tests were commissioned by a separate company ten years ago on a different device and performed on two shagged out (100,000 miles+) Vauxhall Cavaliers. They don't tell you this on the site!!

The very same person that did the tests also tested the Ecoflow magnetic device and declared that it also reduced emissions and increated fuel economy.

The customer testimonials are also extremely subjective - people report they feel huge increases in power "it's like a new car" etc, and huge fuel savings - "it did 550 miles to a tank - it usually does

400!!".

The other suspicious thing is the magazine reviews - all the positive ones are from magazines where Ecotek advertises regularly. One magazine did do a negative review - Car and Car Conversions, Ecotek say they were talking to the magazine about it - I heard nothing further.

I believe Trading Standards and the ASA are investigating. Stay Tuned.

Gareth

And you'd expect their site to say it *didn't* work well?

I'm just saying that there are 1000's of posts in the forums, and some positive and some negative, you make up your mind, I notice that the OP's id is a totalise one, meaning that it is just wasted spam advertising. but still a more interesting site than the Surbo that was posted here a while ago.

Every newsgroup you go in, all u see is people flaming, but this post is on topic, it is a mod and it is in the UK, so he is doing nothing wrong.

If somone posts about how to get $$ or penis enlargement's then they deserved to get flamed, but on topic UK advertising is acceptable, and I enjoyed spending my morning reading the forum's

It doesnt mean I'm ganna buy one does it.....

ron

Don't confuse this with the Surbo mate, this device takes an air supply from the Brake Cylinder and regulates the amount of of forced air that is pushed into the engine, thus leaning the engine out, which should increase the mpg. it looks a little like a bleed valve on a Turbo.

the surbo was a piece of shit that wedged in the air intake and suposedly swirled the air round to make the car breathe better :P

Ron

Why do people fall for this garbage???

Like watching QVC selling magnetic bracelets...

Don't bother...

I got one of these (for free) and tried it on my 306 Rallye hoping it might give me just a minor increase in fuel economy as it supped like a good 'un.

Anyway, it did nothing to the economy, nothing to the performance and just made a daft noise, so I took it off and I aint gonna fit it to anything else!!!

Based on what? Have you used the device, and did you conduct a proper peer-reviewed test of the device?

No you didn't.

So how d'you know they don't work?

Personally, I've never used one, so I don't presume to give an opinion one way or the other.

You forget that the engine makers are constrained in ways that the aftermarket isn't.

There's a healthy market in "driveability" chips that improve throttle response.

Because they have to comply with emissions and economy constraints. This "gadget" apparently improves both, so they should all be fitting them as standard then??? Plus... If it REALLY worked why is their website (a cheap template in frontpage I may add) all "tesimonials, and nor "real" testing results? And... You get similar sites from people selling fuel addatives (QVCs "motor up" oil addative really makes me laugh) and magnets for everything from fuel economy, to healing aids, and they are all SCAMS! Non have any proper evidence. They work because of the sadly gulible in society...

First - in case there's any misunderstanding - I'm not suggesting that it works or it doesn't work. Unlike some people who just jump on the "snake-oil" bandwagon, I have a mind of my own, and I like to make it up myself. The only way to do that would be to try it, and I'm not risking the cost.

Having said that, of all the devices you mention I can't recall a single one that has had the positive reviews in newspapers and magazines that the Ecotek has.

You are very naive if you dismiss it out of hand just because you don't understand how it works.

I have looked at one very closely after a guy I know took one off a car (not his, he was the guy operating the dyno). It was already fitted. But it made noise, achieved nothing whatsoever that was measurable (not even a significant change in exhaust gas under any form of load, only at idle... and it was just a waste of time.

Basically you can reproduce this "effect" by drilling a small hole in the inlet manifold. It can do nothing more. And as the inlet manifold depression drops off rapidly as you open the throttle it cant do anything for full power operation as there is no/negligible flow...

Now, I have built LOTS of racing engines and have lots of real testing experience with my own dyno systems, and exhaust gas analysers, and I can assure you it will do nothing beneficial!

It may well have a slight effect on the exhaust gas composition at idle (just as drilling a small hole in the inlet manifold would do the same) and these effects will on some engines "improve" the figures. Depending on your opinion of improved! They only show the effect of a weaker mixture. Because IF your engine is idling a fraction rich it will "correct" it! But so would adjusting the idle mixture... Or if its running "perfectly" then it will make it fractionally leaner at idle. This will in most cases reduce the CO figures and decrease the C02 figure, and at the same time increase the unburned hydrocarbons, and the oxygen content. So there will ALWAYS be some changes both good and bad. The manufacturer already decided on the best figures for a variety of reasons. The changes will only help if its already a little rich... But thats a setup problem anyway.

And... These figures (often quoted I might add) change from one minute to the next on all cars anyway! So an unchanged engine will return different exhaust gas figures just by changing engine/oil/air/fuel/exhauist tempratures by reving it for a couple of mins...

And IF it "pulls" better this will be easily seen on the dyno (where this data is conspicuous by its absense, or is on or two "selected" results. I can run the same engine on the dyno and do six or seven power runs, and get

6 or seven different curves due to changing external parameters and transmission/tyre/oil/engine/water/fuel/air/temperatures to name one or two.

Good, now do you want to buy a share in the Brooklyn Bridge? I also have some gold bricks I could let you have cheap.

Swirl is very much a feature of engine design, however just randomly adding some stupid device to the inlet manifold is unlikely to change the characteristics for the better. As with all similar devices this one relies on some vaguely plausible sounding bullshit and a continuous supply of customers with little between their ears.