Do Fuel Additives Void Your Warranty
Do Fuel Additives Void Your Warranty? When it comes to vehicle maintenance, many car owners wonder about the potential impacts of using fuel additives. One common concern is whether these additives might void the vehicle’s warranty. Using fuel additives won’t automatically void your vehicle’s warranty. However, it’s crucial to use them wisely and follow your manufacturer’s recommendations. If an issue arises and the additive is found to be the cause, it could potentially affect your warranty coverage. Stay informed and make decisions that best support your vehicle’s longevity and performance.
What Are Fuel Additives?
Fuel additives work with the regular gas that you put in your tank. They function by, as the name suggests, adding substances, such as system cleaners, lubricants and performance enhancers, to the fuel to achieve a specific goal. No matter what your pump gasoline says or how it’s advertised, it does not have anywhere near the additive packages a professionally formulated fuel treatment does.
People typically use additives in small quantities, and they’re cheaper than changing the fuel itself. Modifications to an entire engine are obviously much more expensive, and additives can help drivers avoid them by addressing a specific problem or by helping with preventative maintenance. Using a fuel additive can solve problems on an engine without breaking the bank or the parts. Additives work on issues related to the movement of gasoline or the system it flows through. Cleaning agents, for instance, might be mixed with fuel to remove heavy deposits, reducing friction and improving flow. Individual components like injectors and valves need to be free of any buildup to work at their best. Cleaning out the system can put a stop to sluggish responses and hard starts, among other issues. Lubricants work similarly, helping parts to move better and more efficiently. Other tasks a fuel additive can take on include preventing gas from freezing, adding potentially performance-boosting octane and keeping fuel from going bad over time.
Different Types Of Fuel Additives
The benefits of fuel additives vary widely. They could be performance enhancers or Fuel Stabilizers. Fuel performance enhancers improve the functioning of your fuel. They may do so by cleaning a system and preventing buildup for the future. Fuel stabilizers keep the fuel intact, preventing adverse long-term effects, such as solidification and corrosion. Below are just some of the types of additives you can use in your vehicle.
Fuel Stabilizer
Most stabilizers are intended for vehicles and equipment that sees intermittent use or goes long periods without seeing use. The additive improves efficiency by preventing the separation of gas and water. When fuel separates after being left sitting for a while, it can cause hard starts and engine corrosion. A stabilizer blocks this process and helps the components to stay thoroughly mixed. If your fuel will be sitting for over a month or so, it is probably a good idea to add some stabilizer.
Octane Booster
Engines are typically designed to work with fuel at specific octane levels. Low octane levels can cause fuel to ignite under pressure. The shockwave from this pressure ignition meets up with a similar shockwave coming from the almost-simultaneous ignition from the spark plug. This process can lead to a knocking sound and make your engine less efficient. Using ethanol is one way that refiners increase the octane levels in gas.
Unless your engine is making this knocking sound, you likely don’t need an octane booster. Some older cars that use high-compression engines will benefit from octane boosters. Other vehicles that may require higher octane fuel include premium sports and luxury cars. Octane boosters can also include lubricants for the cast-iron valve seats in these older models. Lubricants can help to reduce wear on these components so that they cool the engine more efficiently.
Diesel Cetane Booster
In a diesel engine, you can increase the power in a similar but opposite way. A higher cetane level causes quicker ignition and better fuel usage. A short delay between the fuel injection and ignition is a sign of high cetane levels. A long delay, a sign of low cetane levels, can lead to incomplete combustion, significant noise and more emissions. With gasoline, a high-octane level makes the engine ignite more slowly, while a high cetane level in diesel makes it ignite more quickly. Different types of vehicles have different optimal levels of cetane.
Fuel-Line Antifreeze
In especially cold weather, it is not uncommon for condensation to build up in fuel tanks, freezing up the line. Using this additive can prevent freezing using an alcohol base. Others use water dispersants that absorb water in the fuel and move it to the engine, where it safely evaporates into steam that leaves through the exhaust. Ethanol accomplishes some of the goals of gas-line antifreeze, so if you’re using ethanol gas, you probably have some amount of freezing prevention already. An additive may be more beneficial for vehicles using gasoline without any added ethanol, particularly diesel. It’s most helpful when temperatures jump between freezing and thawing.
Fuel Injector Cleaners
The fuel injector in your car uses electronic controls to spray fuel into the engine, creating just the right mixture of air and fuel for optimal combustion. Pressurized fuel is pushed through the nozzle and sprayed out the other end of the injector as an atomized mist, so it combusts more easily. When this injector gets clogged, it can spell trouble for the entire fuel combustion process. Your engine may begin to stutter, misfire or stall, even during idling. General performance can suffer too, giving you less engine power or slower acceleration. Issues like these can be especially prevalent in cold weather.
A proper fuel additive will help to keep this system clog-free, so you don’t run into performance problems on the road. Some additives are for preventative maintenance, while others are a little stronger and can remove existing deposits, which are made of carbon that develops from the combustion process.
Anti-Gel Diesel Additives
Diesel fuel can have a tough time with cold weather, which causes paraffin wax particles to crystallize in the fuel and clog lines and filters. Cold weather can impede on engine performance, possibly even preventing your engine from starting at all. This can lead to major repairs if not addressed. The fuel combustion process is time-sensitive and depends on proper angles, flow and dispersion. To prevent gelling, this type of additive helps to bring down the freezing point of the fuel.
Gas Treatments
A comprehensive gas treatment can address multiple aspects of performance or preventative maintenance. These treatments often remove and prevent carbon deposits, including detergents, to clean parts and stabilize the fuel. Some will only include one or two of these, and sometimes you can combine them with more specialized additives, like octane boosters. If you’re looking for a preventative maintenance solution, a gas treatment is likely your best bet.
