| Author | Message | ||
     Gregory M Lichtenson (Gml) New Member Username: Gml Post Number: 18 Registered: 09-2003 |
I have heard alot of talk about chevron Techtron fuel additive all pretty good testimonials,. They say it keeps carbon from building up on heads etc,also may prevent premature headgasket wear,....also if low octane fuel is not supposed to be good because it causes excesive carbon buildup are all these rumors true?and also what is the best octane level to use.I have always heard that high octane fuel was a waste of money,Is this not true for the 3.9....or Am I to assume that high octane has some kind of benifit for the 3.9..also what other benifits if any does techtron offer Discovery owners..PS how often should I use techtron... | ||
| Corey (Discobro) Senior Member Username: Discobro Post Number: 262 Registered: 12-2002 |
High octane fuel burns more than lower octane so there is less carbon left over. Rovers specifically need high octane fuel as they will staart to ping and get sticky valves. I don't really know anything about the Techron fuel. I personally think it's just a marketing ploy. I go to a little mom and pop gas station where I live because I have researched where their gas actually comes from. There was a topic about this back in March or April so I investigated - I mean I literally got ahold of this gas stations supplier (posing as a potential gas station owner) and found that it is the same fuel used by all of the big name gas stations except that their additives are different (Techron is an additve). This little gas station puts the same type of additive that Chevron does it's just not named "Techron". Techron is a trademark of Chevron. They also left out the alcohol additive of Ethenol. Arco stations add Ethenol to their gas as a filler to make their gas last longer and in turn making them more money and causing horrible gas milage and also causing more carbon build up. So I get my gas exclusively at this mom and pop place and I get the best performance and gas milage I have ever seen in my rig (noticabley different - on average 30-40 miles more per tank and at least 5-10 HP).Check the archives - there is a good post about gas and some very knowledgable members here on Dweb about gas and how it's made. Good luck! | ||
| June H. Han (Junehhan) Member Username: Junehhan Post Number: 93 Registered: 04-2003 |
Corey, i'm going to have to call you on that one. The octane of the fuel is a measurement of a gasoline's resistance to burning. Higher octane fuels do not burn as easily as lower octane fuels, which is why they help to prevent destructive engine detonation that can occur with lower octane fuels. That's why you will get the best performance and gas mileage by running the lowest octane fuel possible without encoutering spark knock. That's particularly why it's very important to run the grade fuel that is required by the manufacturer for the vehicle. From what I understand, the earlier Disco's did not require premium, therefore it would be a waste of money to run premium on a vehicle that was tuned for regular fuel. In fact, running too high of an octane fuel for a motor can cause harm as it can contribute to excessive carbon buildup due to it not burning as readily. Essentially, by running a higher octane fuel than required, you are causing the same effect to the motor as if you retarded the timing on it. However, if a vehicle requires the use of premium fuel, then using the proper grade is important to keep the vehicle running optimally as that's what it was tuned for. Running too low of an octane fuel in this case could cause the engine to pull back timing which will decrease performance, which will also keep the engine from running efficiently which can also cause it to run hotter, and build up excessive carbon. Techron is a very good thing. Car and Driver actually had one impressive article on the Techron additive a couple years back. Techron has been proven to work, while many of the other fuel additives on the market only work on theory. Look at how many of them have recently gotten shot down as being accused of deceptive marketing. Techron is exclusive to Chevron, despite some of the imitators that claim to perform just like Techron. You can actually buy Techron Concentrated at Autozone, Walmart, and many other stores out there as well at any Chevron station. Techron works as well as it does because it's a polymer, which doesn't get burned up in the combustion process which is why it may be so effective at cleaning even the valves and combustion chamber of deposits. I'm not sure how safe Techron concentrate is for our Rovers, but it's probably the most effective fuel additive you can buy. Of course, you don't want to overuse Techron as abusing it could dillute the engine oil via blowby, and could cause harm to various components downstream, but that's something you have to be concerned about with any additive you dump into your tank. | ||
| June H. Han (Junehhan) Member Username: Junehhan Post Number: 94 Registered: 04-2003 |
Oh, I forgot to answer your very first question. A couple of years ago, I emailed Chevron's technical support department with those same questions. What they told me, was that they recommend throwing one bottle of Techron concentrate every 3000-7500 miles depending on what your driving habits are. They said that using it in this interval, and by using the proper amount for the fuel capacity will ensure it's effectiveness without it causing any damage. He said for simplicity, he would recommend throwing some into the tank 1 gas tank before the next oil change. Techron concentrate is available in two sizes, one that treats upto 12 gallons, and a bigger bottle that can treat upto 20-25 gallons. | ||
| Mike Gensler (Vwzorm58) New Member Username: Vwzorm58 Post Number: 7 Registered: 08-2003 |
Can't help on any tecnical details, but I've been using Techron in every vehicle I've owned for the past 12 years. It costs a little more than STP or brand-x that claims to do the same thing, but there's enough reports out there swearing by Techron to keep me coming back. On my 95 Discovery with 90K miles (never anything but premium grade gas since new, BTW), I put in 2 of the small bottles of Techron every 5000 miles or so. This is a subjective observation, but the truck seems to idle a lot smoother and have a little more power for several thousand miles after I've run the Techron through. Mike g. | ||
| Peter Matusov (Pmatusov) Senior Member Username: Pmatusov Post Number: 1065 Registered: 09-2002 |
I believe Discoweb should start a museum of remarkable quotes... June, octane rating is an indicator of ability of fuel to withstand compression without self-igniting. Higher octane gasoline will withstand higher compression ratio without self-ignition; from thermodynamics (apologies for over-simplifying things), the higher is the compression ratio, the higher is efficiency. You will ALWAYS get better fuel efficiency with using higher-octane gasoline in a higher-compression engine than otherwise. FWIW, a 9:1 compression engine will have about 12% better fuel efficiency than the one with 8:1, but it will need approximately 89+ octane-rated gasoline to achieve this. | ||
| June H. Han (Junehhan) Member Username: Junehhan Post Number: 96 Registered: 04-2003 |
Peter, I understand what you are saying, but compression ratio is not everything when it comes to how efficient an engine runs. Engine tuning, timing, conbustion chamber design, and other details will also ultimately determine how efficiently an engine will be able to run. There are engines with compression ratio's as high as 10.5:1 that recommend 87 octane(Freelander), and of course we have engines with comparably low compression ratio's that require premium fuel. Using a higher octane gasoline in an engine that was tuned for lower octane will not yield any increase in efficiency regardless of what the compression ratio of that engine is. Also, you state that higher octane gasoline will withstand higher compression ratio's without detonation. As a result of the fuel ability to withstand higher amounts of compression, it also burns slower. Let's use an 03 Ford Taurus with the optional quad cam Duratec V6 engine as an example. It features a 10:1 compression ratio, yet is tuned to run on 87 octane fuel. Ford actually recommends against using a higher octane fuel that required as it is stated that it can cause drivability issues. In the manual, Ford states all of this, including that if the engine knocks when using the recommended octane fuel, to have it serviced immediately. If you look at an engine strictly by comparing the compressions ratio of them, then I agree with what you are saying. However, engine compression ratio is only one variable among many within a modern day engine. Higher octane fuels generally do not have higher energy content either. Steeda, or one of the Mustang tuners out there actually did a test to see whether running higher than recommended octane would yield any performance increases. What they did find is that their Mustang actually lost horsepower when running higher octane. Car and Driver also did a very good article on octane requirements within modern day vehicles a couple years back. Here is the C&D article http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=4&article_id=3604&page_number =1 Here is another article on octane http://www.freelanderliving.com/stories/view.asp?fldID=17 | ||
| thom mathie (Muskyman) Senior Member Username: Muskyman Post Number: 337 Registered: 11-2002 |
my .02 octane rating is simply a rating of the speed a fuel will burn. higher is slower lower is faster and stores more energy by volume. many well documented tests have proven that fuel with a octane rating higher then is needed to surpress detonation will reduce performance because by volume it contains less energy. yes i said less!!!!! so running purple race gas in a motor that does not need it is just a waste. june is right on the mark....corey is very mistaken...but then again he thinks that mom and pops can control the additives in there fuel  | ||
| Shaun Power (Shaunp) Member Username: Shaunp Post Number: 172 Registered: 05-2003 |
Is octane rating in the US like your gallons, I mean is it different to the way it is rated else where in the world. You blokes are talking about 87 octane fuel. In OZ standard unleaded petrol is 92 and High octane is a min of 95, in fact most of the good ones like BP ultimate and Shell optimax are 98, 87 sounds like lawn mower fuel. I run standard in the Disco but my E type jag loves the 98. I always thought our cars were lower compression than the US ones because our fuel was lower octane but the way many of you are talking you don't use high octane anyway | ||
| Mike Rupp (Mike_rupp) Senior Member Username: Mike_rupp Post Number: 267 Registered: 02-2002 |
There are two different measurements for octane in gasoline: RON: Research octane number MON: Motor octane number In the US, the octane reported at the gas station is (R+M)/2. I'd guess that in Australia the stations are just reporting the RON at the station. The gasoline itself is probably similar to what we use here. | ||
| Rich Zellmer (Personalt) Member Username: Personalt Post Number: 46 Registered: 11-2002 |
All I know is I had some missing problem, check engine light would come on all the time. Add some techron and the light went out and stayed out for about 1K miles. I still have some underlying issue that I need fixed but it definitly cleans some things out.. | ||
| Brendan Kearns (Howboucha) Member Username: Howboucha Post Number: 122 Registered: 01-2003 |
I am a strong supporter of the Chevron Techron. It would take care of the stuttering issue with my 95 Disco. I used it about every 3K. Brendan 97 XD | ||
| Peter Matusov (Pmatusov) Senior Member Username: Pmatusov Post Number: 1068 Registered: 09-2002 |
The first statement is true, the second is not. Now, isn't it federally-mandated that cars made in the U.S. should be able to run on regular gasoline? Sure you can take a 10:1 compression engine, and retard the ignition to accomodate for it. But if you used higher-octane gas and brought ignition timing back (which, I believe, most OBD-2 systems with knock sensor can do), you could see some improvement in gas mileage. | ||
| Brian Borek (Bbflyer) New Member Username: Bbflyer Post Number: 3 Registered: 08-2003 |
Gentlemen: Plz define "older discos" in ref to using regular unleaded ( mine is a '97 SD), great interesting fuel reading, btw..... | ||
| Hugh Bischoff (Goducks) New Member Username: Goducks Post Number: 7 Registered: 09-2003 |
I am pretty sure the "older discos" suggested octane is 92, which in Oregon is premium fuel. I have never burned anything less in my vehicles except for a 87 BMW 325 which the manual suggested nothing higher than 89 octane to prevent engine (injector) damage. | ||
| Jim Macklow (Macklow) New Member Username: Macklow Post Number: 12 Registered: 03-2003 |
Everything I've read from reputable sources say that one should put in the gasoline that your engine will run on without knocking. You're just wasting money by putting in the expensive high-octane gasoline if your engine runs fine on the low. Here's a link with a more detailed explanation: http://tinyurl.com/ms4r Note this pertains specifically to the '95 gasoline disco, which doesn't have a knock sensor, and can't retard the spark advance on-the-fly like the newer models. I'm ignoring the carbon buildup and additive issues for now :-). |
