Snake Oil?
 

A friend (P1800ES owner) noticed this ad and asked whether it might be genuine. It sounds like snake oil to me - has anyone tried it or have any more information?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VOLVO-P18...-127635-2958-0

Alan

My vote would be Snake Oil!🤔

Not a lot of useful info, but as they claim it lasts for over 100,000 miles it is presumably a hetrogeneous catalyst and not a sacrificial one.

In which case the answer is "snake oil".

Yes. If she is worried run Esso premium or another premium fuel.

I remember similar being advertised in car magazines back in the 1960s and 70s. They were debunked as useless back then. Presumably the manufacturer and advertiser think that everyone will have forgotten by now and they can chance their arm again!

Many thanks chaps,

I think we may conclude it is snake oil.

The lady already runs Delores on premium gas, and hasn't had any problems.

Alan

You see quite a lot of this type of product still advertised in various car magazines:~
The same seller has them for sale-what a coincidence!

If it looks like a snake then it ------ --
Plenty of snakes & balls in this one I think.
Bob.

Snake oil?
 

An interesting discussion about these fuel catalysts and I will share my experience.

I fitted one to my car probably about 30+ years ago as an inline version as I was not sure if putting the product in my fuel tank would cause problems. After about 20 years or so I dismantled the inline version and put the half the contents into my fuel tank because I had to change the sender unit in the fuel tank and also fit a new fuel pump. So far the product has not caused any issues but I suppose I have only covered about 15000 miles in this time and have also had my B20E head reconditioned to use unleaded fuel.

Several years ago I got talking to an old chap ( well older than me) that specialised in the tuning of cars, he reckoned as far as I can recall that the catalyst’s definitely work as some type of additive that increases the octane of the fuel and they also stop the fuel from going stale in the tank. It also seems that the unit eventually dissolves.

If you go onto the net there are numerous claims and counter claims about how they work and many claim they are snake oil. My advice would be that if the car is running smoothly and has no starting issues even with old fuel there is no reason to buy one of these devices.

Gavin

Its only the sacrificial type that work, the ones that very slowly dissolve over time and add their constituent chemical elements to the fuel. It's a crude method of delivery, but they can work.