Gas Prices? If You Drive A Guzzler

[bountyhunter]

http://www.nationalfuelsaver.com/

I don't sell these, don't make a penny, don't guarantee anything. I just offer this information to anybody who wants to try it. They worked for me, but are probably only $$$ practical on cars with carburetor engines (explained below).

I have personally used these devices on my 1986 Dodge and also my 1979 Kawasaki motorcycle and can report they do improve mileage there (average +15% on the Dodge, +8% on the bike). My friend put one on his old VW beetle and saw an increase of about 15%.

In a nutshell, it injects platinum vapor which catalyzes the air/fuel reaction and burns the portion of the fuel not utilized in an engine (in any engine, about 15% - 20% typically goes unburned and is ignited in the cat converter).

To install, the engine must have a vacuum line and a PCV (crankcase vent) into the intake manifold which can be T connected. One caveat:

Modern engines with computer controlled multi-port fuel injection use a feedback loop to rich up the mixture based on the reading of the O2 sensor in the exhaust stream. Unburned fuel is more or less proportional to free O2, so the engine can be calibrated around a set point and regulated to it. But, if you install a system which burns the fuel more efficiently (like this one), the unburned HCO's drop and the feedback loop opens up the injectors more to rich up the mix and regain the "set point" more or less cancelling out the fuel savings you would have gotten because it is running richer than necessary.

On carburetor engines or older cars which did not have computer controlled FI, the platinum system should work fine.

The other benefits I saw using them was that the combustion chamber carbon was gradually reduced which let me go back to running regular in my Dodge instead of premium. My motorcycle also quit fouling spark plugs. YMMV.

For the record, I investigated the claimed patents and they are real. The physics and chemistry behind the process is also for real. Whether the system works or not depends on how the fuel system of the engine responds to the change in HC in the exhaust. Also, the amount of added fuel economy you get will depend on how inefficient the engine is to begin with. My Dodge was choked to death (I saw 15% increase) my Ksaki had free flow headers so I saw less there.

Provided for your information.

[Kory]

I wonder how much of the fuel savings come from the mere addition of a controlled vacuum leak. That would lean it out some, reducing booster signal at the venturis and thus draw less gas from a carb. I am a skeptic. Having a new vacuum leak sucking air through a platinum containing solution in what amounts to a bong under the hood, I just don't think it would be all that effective. How much platinum can it really be adding, an still generate a cost savings? Platinum is kinda spendy.

[bountyhunter]

The added vacuum leak is negligible in effect. The air is drawn through a tiny orifice and draws about one bubble every two seconds.

The system works because the platinum coats the inside of the combustion surfaces and is availible to radicalize the hydrocarbon fuel mix, pping the amount which is in the "burnable" configuration when the spark lights.

The ability of platinum to do this is well known: experiments were done where the inside surfaces of the head and tops of the pistons were plated with platinum (exactly as your cat converter is inside it) and the added combustion occurring due to the platinum catalyzing was seen.. but it was eventually consumed. Nobody figured out a way to get it delivered into the inside at a controlled rate.

As for cost: The system costs around $100 when I bought it and lasts for about 30,000 miles. The reservoir is topped with platinum each 5000 miles with the platinum liquid.

Is it worth the cost? Well, if your car gets 20 mpg and it increases by 10%:

At $2.50/gallon, 20mpg translates into a fuel cost of about 12.5 cents per mile or roughly $3750 for 30k miles. Increasing the mileage by 10% (mine went up 15%) would save you $375 over that period at a cost of $100 to you. You save $275 along with the performance benefits. As price of gas goes up, your profit goes up.