Optimax... a few questions...

[tvradict]

Right, we all know about Optimax. "The greatest fuel known to man" blah blah blah. It checks in at 99 RON and all that jazz but, does it do what it says on the tin?!?!

Shell released some stuff about Optimax that said it cleans Valves, improves engine performance and efficiency
My engine is running like a pig, I just regapped the plugs, cleaned them up, cleaned the air box and the CFi thing etc but I need to clean the carbon off the inards of the Engine, I have been advised to put in a couple of tanks of Optimax, run it like that for a while and then revert back to 95 U/L!

My questions are,

Will this do any damage to my engine (bear in mind it's a Ford CVH 1.4!)
Will it make the slighest difference??

I'm not after any performance gains, just a nice clean engine!! Although if acceleration improved, I wouldn't complain

Cheers
Stuart!!

[CupraBri]

Performance and MPG wise, it does everything it says on the tin!

[McNab]

But only if you can find it, Stuart

[GregE240]

quote:
Will this do any damage to my engine (bear in mind it's a Ford CVH 1.4!)
Will it make the slighest difference??

I'm not after any performance gains, just a nice clean engine!! Although if acceleration improved, I wouldn't complain

Cheers
Stuart!!

Stu,

Must post that CD for you...its in my study. In answer to your questions, in order:
1) No
2) Depends. Will it stop it from running like a pig ? Probably not. Will it burn off all the carbon that you allude to ? Again, probably not. It's a high octane fuel, so if your car has some sort of EFI system it will give you a little more oomph, but that's about it. Your engine's not going to become a shiny new pin overnight on this juice alone.
You need to be looking at some sort of decoking agent, like Redex or such like. You have the choice of either chucking it in your fuel tank or straight into the carb (now you know how to take the airbox off !) - look for Redex at Halfords and possibly look at similar products. That's probably your starter for 10.

Greg

>> Edited by GregE240 on Tuesday 9th April 08:10

[HSV GTS]

Finally found some of this stuff yesterday on the A13 nr Barking, Essex.

Car going like a rocket. However, have already done half a tank (60l tank) after only 80 odd miles. Heavy right foot syndrome strikes again

[tvradict]

quote:
But only if you can find it, Stuart

I think they sell it on the M74 services, the one south from the Hamilton Services!!! Can't be sure though!! Every Shell garage I've seen north of the border doesn't have it!!

[tvradict]

quote:
Stu,

Must post that CD for you...its in my study.

Cheers Greg!

quote:
In answer to your questions, in order:
1) No
2) Depends. Will it stop it from running like a pig ? Probably not. Will it burn off all the carbon that you allude to ? Again, probably not. It's a high octane fuel, so if your car has some sort of EFI system it will give you a little more oomph, but that's about it. Your engine's not going to become a shiny new pin overnight on this juice alone.
You need to be looking at some sort of decoking agent, like Redex or such like. You have the choice of either chucking it in your fuel tank or straight into the carb (now you know how to take the airbox off !) - look for Redex at Halfords and possibly look at similar products. That's probably your starter for 10.

Greg

I went into Halfords yesterday and asked about it, the bloke in there advised me to tyr Optimax, I knew it was good stuff! Everyone raves endlessly about it!! I thought I would need some of that redex additive stuff though!!

I think a trip back to halfords is in order once more!!

Cheers
Stuart!

>> Edited by tvradict on Tuesday 9th April 11:39

[pdavison]

I used to use it in my S3 - I thought it made a difference to the performance of the car but the fuel economy went down a touch.

Regarding whether it cleans the engine - no idea, but there's only one way to find out !

I would imagine Shell have got a help line of some sort - have a look on their website.

Cheers

Paul

[Mark Benson]

One warning, if you do use the Redex you pour into the carb, don't look directly down into the carb while you do it.
A face full of Redex and carbon deposits isn't pleasant - take it from someone who knows....

[VTECDave]

To confirm Stuart, Optimax is on sale at the Abington services on the M74. I got my first tank of Optimax there on Sunday. Being a motorway service station, bog standard U/L is 76.9p/litre, Optimax is 79.9p/litre.

Shell claim that Optimax will be coming to Edinburgh within 2-5 months so I would assume the same for Strathclyde. I would expect a town/city service station to be much cheaper also.

[Bill B]

Hi i have just noticed your message i have also posted the same message, have you managed to sort yours out

[tvradict]

quote:
Hi i have just noticed your message i have also posted the same message, have you managed to sort yours out

Hi Bill,

I am thinking of using Optimax to clean the crap out of my car! Although the concensus on here is use a Fuel Additive, Redex or similar, You might want to try that too! I read your post, sounds to me like you just haven't used the car enough since the service, I have an astra (I know I know) that hasn't run since the end of feb, I bet that will run like a dogs dinner for a while too!!!

Hope you sort it soon, we can't have a Tiv running around that doesn't go like it should!!

Cheers
Stuart!!

>> Edited by tvradict on Tuesday 9th April 15:22