Adding it up to fuel change

Broadly speaking, additives are things you can add to existing fluids to make them better. One such additive is fuel additive. Injector cleaner (or carburettor cleaner, if you’re using a really old car) is useful because it prevents injectors from gumming up. The injector is nothing but a nozzle that turns the fuel into a fine spray just before it enters the combustion chamber, or cylinder. Think of a pichkari that you use at Holi, or the kind of spray that exits the hose at a car pressure-washing centre.

Carburettors perform the same operation as fuel injectors, and have to let the fuel go through tiny holes that can get clogged if the fuel is bad, or the car hasn’t been used for a very long time, letting the fuel evaporate and leave residue behind. Additives are also present in branded fuels and they claim to do the same thing: keep your fuel delivery system and engine free from blockages and carbon deposits, which will reduce the engine’s efficiency, in terms of power and fuel efficiency.

With increasing demands, they had no choice but to increase the compression ratio and this presents a unique problem to the petrol engine, which needs the fuel/air mixture to be ignited with the spark – that of the fuel exploding by itself, much that diesel engines do. This is extremely bad for the engine and today’s car computers compensate for this ‘knocking’ or ‘pinging’ automatically. However, this still leads to increased wear and tear on engine components and reduced efficiency. 

Octane booster
What you can do if you have a high compression engine is add octane booster to your fuel to help your engine. A 350-odd ml bottle will suffice for a tankful of gas. It won’t offer more performance, but it will certainly improve low-rev drivability of a high-compression engine.

Engine oil additives simply take the job of engine oil and carry it a step further. Engine oil forms a slick surface between moving parts so that they can move freely; engine oil additive makes that layer slightly thicker so that the lubrication is even more. This makes for a decrease in engine vibrations, and in some cases, quietens it down considerably as well. If the engine is an inherently quiet, vibe-free unit then you probably won’t find much difference. There are different compounds for diesel and petrol engines – do pay attention to what you’re purchasing! There is a lot of choice available in the market, even in India. Abro, Bardahl and Wurth are a few manufacturers that produce additives in India and are therefore inexpensive compared to the imported-from-the-USA STP products.

Fuel ratings
For instance, octane booster will always be a good addition to a petrol Audi, because the company recommends 95RON fuel. Regular fuel is rated at 91RON.
In general, an overwhelming majority of car users found a difference when additives were used – you can blame it on our bad fuel quality standards, or lackadaisical attitude to preventive maintenance – but your manufacturer might not recommend you to use them. Please go through your owner’s manual or check with your service centre to find out if using additives will void your warranty before trying them out.