Is your car running not as well as it should? Lauren Fix explains how to get your engine running better.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Due to the large number of recent changes to fuel, numerous problems with gasoline powered vehicles have developed. These problems are not always immediately identified as fuel problems, and therefore technicians are spending a lot of time and money on symptoms, rather than root causes.

Most technicians will tell you they have seen a dramatic increase in the number of complaints of performance, poor fuel economy, or Check Engine light illumination due to the failure of the exhaust related emissions items (EGR, Oxygen Sensors, Catalytic Converters, etc.) in the last two years. Ask them the root cause and you will hear many theories. In order to properly understand what is happening a little history review is helpful.

In the late 1980s, emissions standards had become more stringent making fuel injection a necessity. These vehicles burned cleaner and ran better than carburetor equipped vehicles ever could. Drive-ability concerns began to develop after a short period of time in the form of starting and stalling when cold, rough running, and stumbling on acceleration. These were caused by the accumulation of soft carbon deposits in the engine. The higher operating temperatures and tighter clearances combined with the quality of fuel were the main contributing factors to these problems.

In the early 1990s, the Federal Government established requirements for fuel additives to reduce the occurrence of these problems. All fuel sold in our country had a minimum amount of cleaner whether the fuel companies advertised it or not. One of the main additives was MTBE. It was very effective at keeping injectors clean and carbon growth to a minimum. In the mid 1990’s vehicles more stringent emissions standards and on-board diagnostics OBDII was universally adopted on all vehicles. The amount of cleaner in the fuel was adequate in most applications to stay within emissions and maintain acceptable levels of drivability, until the price of crude oil began to rise dramatically shortly after 2000.

The Federal Government was keeping a close watch on the price of gasoline in this country due to its impact on the economy. When the price of fuel rose above $3 per gallon the Government approached fuel manufactures. The threat of $5 per gallon fuel, the regulations for the required amount of cleaners in fuel were lowered substantially. This did keep the price down, but driveability concerns began to slowly return with decrease in fuel economy, poor performance, and increase EGR problems. The root cause was the increase accumulation of deposits in the engine causing hard carbon to form. The OBDII system reacts to detonation (spark knock) faster than the ear can detect it. It electronically retards the timing until the detonation stops. This retarding of the ignition timing robs power and economy and creates more emissions in the exhaust stream.

Shortly after this first change, MTBE was found to be a cancer causing agent that easily finds its way in to ground water and contaminates it for upwards of 600 years. It was ordered out of fuel, yet cleaners were still needed. The most common replacement currently used is Ethanol. Ethanol does have some cleaning qualities; however the negative side effects are staggering. It is a very strong product that attacks plastic. As most fuel systems have moved to plastic or epoxy coated parts, this has caused severe problems already. Fuel filters are becoming clogged, and the dissolved plastic forms deposits anywhere it can find a heat source from the fuel pump, to the injectors. Once sprayed from the injectors, the deposits cause hard and soft carbon to form at an alarming rate. Severe deposit formations cause excessive ignition timing retardation and oil contamination with unburned or partially burned Ethanol causing engine oil to emit phosphorous vapors into the PCV system, which are in turn pulled into the intake system and burned. These burned phosphorous vapors coat the sensing surfaces of the oxygen sensors and the reaction bed of the catalytic converter causing them to malfunction further affecting drivability and illuminating Check Engine Lamps.

An additional problem with fuel today is the fact that Ethanol absorbs water; even the humidity in the air will transfer in to the fuel. This happens when fuel is stored in tanks at the fuel station. When the amount of water exceeds a certain amount, the Ethanol and water “fall out” to the bottom of the tank. This is called “Phase Separation.” Phase-separated fuel confuses the engine management system causing decreases in performance, mileage. It also leads to premature failure of expensive components.

Standard fuel additives such as dry gas and fuel stabilizer have little effect and some even aggravate the problem. The only solution to this problem is a product call Fuel Fix offered by WellWorth Products and will keep the ethanol blended and your drivability problems should be fixed, I use it and helped my car with a similar problem.