Re: THE NASTY TRUTH ABOUT THOSE MAGICAL ADDITIVES
TALES FROM THE SHOP FLOOR
with phil bailey
Phil Bailey is an engineer by profession, mechanic by choice, and owns a busy service garage he calls "my retirement hobby." Phil writes a weekly column revealing the truth about cars, through the eyes of one who sees them naked.
THE NASTY TRUTH ABOUT THOSE MAGICAL ADDITIVES
A young man shot through my waiting room door this week, full of enthusiasm for a device called a FuelSaver. Seems as though they’re coming out of the wood work again, after the last fuel price scare. He had signed up and paid a substantial deposit to represent this wonderful "space age" device.
He wanted me, of course, to go on air and on my web site and endorse the hell out of it, so that he could make a fortune and retire!
This device supposedly attaches to your fuel lines and “straightens out” all the molecules in gasoline so that the fuel burns more rapidly, or whatever. I had to deflate this young man’s balloon and I hated to do it; the expression on his face was exactly the same as the one that appears when kids find out for sure, that there really is no Santa Claus.
The million dollar magnet
It so happened that in a previous life I had headed up an energy conservation team for a large corporation. This company was spending over $ 23 million on heavy fuel oil to generate steam for their various plants. Naturally, I was a prime target for every witch doctor in the world.
One day, a man shows up and claims that he can save me a million dollars a year on feed water treatment by magnetically influencing my water before it got to the boiler. Now if this water isn’t softened properly a three million dollar boiler can be permanently ruined in less than a week. So naturally, I asked to see a boiler that was already using his system.
After a week of silence, the man called me back and referred me to a small laundry operation. When I visited the laundry, the plant engineer was fit to be tied. Both his boilers were down and absolutely clogged with minerals!
Gone in the still of the night
So when I was approached about the magnetic fuel modifier, I was very, very cautious. I offered to rent a brand new car, which assumes that everything is absolutely in tune, to submit this car to a professional emissions testing laboratory, then to seal the fuel tank so no additives could be applied.
I proposed to install their device and return to the lab for further testing. I promised that if the tail pipe analysis proved a major change in the combustion process had occurred, I was willing to advertise and discuss the product on my radio show.They accepted the challenge, apparently, but I never heard from them again!
On another occasion, somebody tried to sell me on the idea of rustproofing by means of an electrical current that generates "negative ions" in the bodywork of the car, to neutralize the positive ions in ferric oxide (rust).
Again my approach was simple: I offered to take my old winter car and file a postage stamp-sized bare patch on the top of one fender. If that patch was still rust free in the Spring, I agreed to publicise the product. What happened? You guessed it, they folded their tents and disappeared into the night.
Damage to the innocent
The bottom line is that NONE of these devices, liquid or solid, actually work. I know, I know, they have all kinds of “documentation” that “proves” their particular item works, but examine their evidence closely and you will find holes in the studies that you could drive a Ford Excursion through.
Most of them don’t damage your car, but they do enormous damage to the pocketbooks of the innocent, or technically unsophisticated, consumer. Let the buyer beware!
Phil Bailey hosts a special Chat on car care every Friday evening from 9-11PM EDT. Be sure to join him.
You can e-mail Phil at: baileycar@canada.com or view his Auto World web site
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