Work in progress document…
The Case for Reducing Fuel Consumption (FC)
It’s the wish and dream of every petrol car owner to have their car having an improved fuel consumption. This is especially so for people who drive for a living. I myself am no exception.
I’ve been experimenting and trying out various methods and products to achieve this. The following are my observations and views.
First, you need to know your car. Understand if your car is performing as expected, better than expected or under performing in terms of FC. Know your driving patterns also. Did excess idling cause a decrease in FC? Was there any change done that caused a change in FC. I have realised that sometime my car can have “off days” where the engine seems rougher than usual. It would be good to record your FC down somewhere with some notes.
Engine Oil (EO)
Do check your owner’s manual to see what EO should be used and VERY importantly how much EO needs to be used. My car EO is only 3.2L less than what we think of the usual 4L. Each car is different and is usually an odd number. Do tell your workshop NOT to overfill especially if you are going on add in additives. EO is important for lubrication and hence managing friction and engine wear and tear. Do change it at the recommended intervals or shorter.
Engine Oil Additives
While EO itself has already added additives, I quote from Wikipedia “They typically consist of base oils enhanced with various additives, particularly antiwear additives, detergents, dispersants, and, for multi-grade oils, viscosity index improvers.” To make it price and cost effective, I believe that the amount of additives added are just sufficient to last the oil change and / or to meet the manufacturer’s specifications. Hence there are many after market additives available to aid in the performance of EO.
I believe that for long term benefits, an additive should prolong engine life by reducing as much friction as possible. Engine wear and tear is irreversible and if you are driving long distances daily, this is important. A typical car owner might drive 30,000km in a year while a PHV might be about 100,000km to 120,000km in the same period. Go figure. Wear and tear causes reduction in FC among other issues.
While there are many good additives in the market with outstanding reviews, the type of additiveI I am using and recommending is Graphene due to the protective properties it gives in relation to the amount that needs to be used and price. Graphene as a basic element does not change the chemical composition of your EO which is very important as this might impact the base oil of the EO itself. The 2 Graphene additives I am using are
Namitec (namitec.com.sg) and Carspeed (not much literature on it but I have visited the manufacturer). Namitec is pure Graphene while Carspeed adds in some cleaning agents to clean up the sludge over time. Hence I use both.
Again there are many many other alternatives out there and some are sworn by drivers. Please try out so you can do your own comparison taking into account cost.
Carbon Build Up In Pistons and Valves
Carbon Build up is due to the incomplete combustion of petrol. In Singapore we are fortunate that the petrol we have has detergents inside and is relatively cleaner compared to other countries. Hence our cars might not exhibit as much carbon build up in the same period of time. However due to idling, frequent start / stops of our urban driving, carbon will still build up. Again there are many product out there that claim to clean the carbon. Let’s first look at the fuel injection of cars.
Picture taken from (https://www.motorcars-service.com/information/motorcars-ltd-maintenance-series-6-fuel-injection-systems-need-maintenance-too/)
There are basically 2 types. Indirect and Direct Fuel Injection. Our modern cars use a variety of direct fuel injection. The point is that if the fuel is directly injected into the combustion chamber, any fuel additive which claims to clean the valve will have hardly any effect. Please read (https://www.landmforeigncars.com/blog/the-problem-with-direct-injection—coked-up-valves)
While the combustion chamber will be cleaned, the valves will be left uncleaned. Let’s focus on removal of carbon in the combustion chamber first.
Carbon build up is hard to remove if not prevented. I find it hard to believe any cleaner which claims to clean with just 1 application. It is like your burnt frying pan. It takes multiple cleaning attempts with cleaning agents to remove the carbon. Hence I believe that regular use of fuel system cleaners over 6 to 12 applications will do the job and hence maintenance thereafter. Polyether-amine based fuel system based cleaners do this job best. Why do I say 6 to 12 applications? Choose a cleaner which has 6 or more bottles per package as this will gradually clean the carbon over a few tanks of fuel. If too much PEA is used, it might damage the fuel system and other components. An important aspect to ask is where does the carbon go? It goes into the exhaust system and catalytic converter. If too much carbon is removed at one time, it can choke the exhaust system and cause the engine check light to come on. The amount of PEA in a system fuel cleaner is usually kept secret. I have bottled my own EL-05M cleaner and had requested to put in a higher concentration of PEA but the actual amount is unknown to me. If your system fuel cleaner comes in small bottles and in sets of 6 or more, I suggest using 2 bottles in your 1st tank and then 1 bottle thereafter. You can then put in 1 bottle every 2 or 3 tanks depending on your budget. I’ve also brought in CHIEF brand (which is one of the best selling brands in China) https://en.chief.cc The problem is the possibility of fake stock so be careful of whom you buy from. I get my directly from the factory. I will likely stock a few SKUs from them.
How then to clear the carbon from the air manifold intake? (To be filled in…)
Tyres
The assumption is that a higher tyre pressure will help in fuel efficiency. It is a known fact that under inflation will result in a decrease in FC. My experience is that the best would be to read the label on the passenger door which tells you the recommended pressure. Increase by a max of 2 PSI. When I overinflated the tyres, I actually noticed a decrease in FC as well as increase tyre wear. As tyre pressure decreases over time, I noticed that my FC improved as the pressure gradually reduced to the recommended levels.
Air Conditioning
The air conditioning system in a car consumes power as the engine. If the windows are up and you turn off the aircon, you will save about 8-10% on fuel. If you wind down the the windows hoping to save fuel, the drag might actually increase your fuel consumption! So will increasing the temperature save fuel? I think not. The reason is that most car compressors are constant speed and are either on or off. The temperature setting actually determines the amount of normal temperature air to mix with the cold air to get the desired temperature set. Meaning if you turn your dial all the way to 18 Degrees or 24 Degress, there will be no difference to the FC. Quite different from home air condiitioning systems which has an invertor system that regulates the fan speed. And hence of course the fan speed does matter in FC, the higher the speed the more power needed. So you can set a low fan speed and low temperature (cold temperature) to save some fuel.
What drivers neglect is the aircon filter. When the filter is choke, you will tend of increase the fan speed to get the same airflow and hence consume more fuel. So changing the air filter is important to save fuel and to prevent smell and health problems if you drive long hours in a car.
Image from https://gippsauto.com.au/2019/04/24/the-benefits-of-regularly-changing-your-vehicles-cabin-air-filter/
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