Fuel impacting motor wear

[ErylFlynn]

Well I get this guy popping up here and there and he has some interesting vids on oil and wear. But this was new. He is talking about friction modifiers added to the fuel impacting wear.

Can Premium Fuel REDUCE Engine WEAR?

Going to have to research brands in my area and see what I should be using to extend the life.

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[Lost1wing]

IDK. How long do you want your motor to last? I use 87oct mostly, and I have 200k, 260k and 400k on three of my vehicles. They run fine and don't smoke nor burn oil. That being said, I haven't had a reason to open one of those up to inspect. I guess it could be wore slap out. Snake oil?

 

[Mr._Bill]

The first thing I question is what are they selling? Second is why are they producing the content? I like informative, and recreational, videos. If it looks like they are just trying to sell me something, or producing the content just for clicks, I don't waste my time. I don't surf YouTube looking for stuff to watch. I don't even watch videos posted here unless there's a short summary included with it.

 

[ErylFlynn]

I get where you are coming from, this guy is an oil geek. He seems to be very interested in the subject, and not everything he talks about even pertains to us. He has talked about break in oils and the difference, as well as racing oils. If you aren't interested, that is great and fine. Just wanted to share something that seemed interesting and might have an impact on your motor.

 

[Mr._Bill]

Well I get this guy popping up here and there and he has some interesting vids on oil and wear. But this was new. He is talking about friction modifiers added to the fuel impacting wear.

Can Premium Fuel REDUCE Engine WEAR?

Going to have to research brands in my area and see what I should be using to extend the life.

I didn't watch the video. Friction modifiers can reduce wear. Diesel owners have been adding it for decades. I used two-cycle oil when they cut back on the Sulphur content. I periodically add SeaFoam to the fuel in my Gladiator. The additives added to the premium fuel brands are supposed to help. The brands I remember, from the articles I've seen, are Costco, Shell, and Chevron.

 

[TheSolarWizard]

Adding supplemental lubricant definitely helps the eco-diesel

 

[swtrailboss]

Chevron gas( or better- only a mild detergent difference between most gas) and keep your oil changed based on your daily driving routine ( hard on the acceleration-3500 miles / or easy does it - “ I like to watch my computer generated fuel economy gauge” 4500 to 5000 miles). No additives needed on a gas burner. If you maintain the engine it will maintain for you! ALOT of thought and energy is put into this category by some but it’s really the easiest two maintenance items to perform on a vehicle- gas it up, change the oil and drive it!

 

[GeneralMaximus]

I put a can of seafoam in the gas tank of every vehicle I own, every few thousand miles. At $11 a bottle now, it aint cheap. But $5 gas aint cheap either.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Well I get this guy popping up here and there and he has some interesting vids on oil and wear. But this was new. He is talking about friction modifiers added to the fuel impacting wear.

Can Premium Fuel REDUCE Engine WEAR?

Going to have to research brands in my area and see what I should be using to extend the life.

No, premium fuel doesn't reduce engine wear.
I don't care if he's a "geek" or what. As long as it's top tier fuel, it all meets certain minimum standards for additives and so on.
Friction modifiers in the fuel can't impact wear on anything other than the injectors - the rest of the engine won't see that stuff.

I put a can of seafoam in the gas tank of every vehicle I own, every few thousand miles. At $11 a bottle now, it aint cheap. But $5 gas aint cheap either.

IF it can help reduce carbon build-up and valve wear, it might have some value.
But it's not going to "reduce engine wear".
That's what oil does.

The additives added to the premium fuel brands are supposed to help. The brands I remember, from the articles I've seen, are Costco, Shell, and Chevron.

I'd change that to "top tier fuel brands". That means a TT fuel that's 87 will meet the same standards as a 91 TT fuel in the additives.

It's no longer the case that "premium fuel" is better and cleans better. It used to be a thing to get people to buy the higher price higher octane, or "premium fuel" but those days are pretty much gone.

Man, I wish half of youtube would go away, maybe sink into the ocean or something, as people see the stuff in those videos and suddenly..............

He has talked about break in oils

Break-in oils are a joke. Think about it - the original idea is to let the engine "break-in" by allowing certain wear, but then, isn't oil supposed to prevent wear? And you can't formulate oil to allow "break-in" of some parts and not others.
Engines are already broke in by the time you get them. There will be more "wear-in" but that happens over the life of the engine to some extent.
When we build an engine and run it - it is given back to the customer broken in. No special oil, nothing special needed except to vary the speed, no long idling, no lugging, and no constant speed for a while, but it's really already "broken-in".

I and many thousands of other mechanics and engine builders build our engines, and put in the exact same oil we're going to run them with long-term.
We don't believe in break-in oils.

I've seen videos like that -
Maybe I should start making them myself - I have the training (both college and factory) and 50 years experience, could get some facts out there.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

IDK. How long do you want your motor to last? I use 87oct mostly, and I have 200k, 260k and 400k on three of my vehicles. They run fine and don't smoke nor burn oil. That being said, I haven't had a reason to open one of those up to inspect. I guess it could be wore slap out. Snake oil?

Those videos are so misleading, and so much "misinformation" in most of them.
Octane is octane, and a "premium fuel" won't decrease wear or deposits or whatever, at least a GOOD brand, especially top tier fuels, all have to meet certain minimums, be they 87 or 91 octane. Running anything other than 87 quality fuel - like top tier, can't reduce engine wear.

 

[ErylFlynn]

Did you watch the video? How a study using radiation tested wear at the rings with different fuels?

 

[MrBones]

The link didn’t work for me but as for the title I assume it doesn’t refer to premium as in high octane but the term “Top Tier”. The owners manual usually refers to top tier somewhere. Top Tier is an industry standard for detergent additives.
https://www.toptiergas.com/gasoline-brands/
I worked for over 20 years in the refinery design business. Here’s how it works. In any particular area, all the refineries produce raw gasoline and ship it to local storage terminals. At this point it isn’t suitable for use by consumers. When the tanker truck shows up for a fill, the gasoline is pumped to a blending station where a specific oil company (Chevron , Shell, Exxon, etc.) additives are mixed with the gas in the truck. FYI Costco, not being affiliated with any one oil company buys top tier only on the spot market so one day you may get Chevron and the next it may be Shell or Exxon. But they guarantee that it's top tier.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You don't have a video link.

I merely said that if you run a top tier fuel, "premium" doesn't matter.
"Premium" typically refers to the octane level. Regular being 87, and premium being 91+
Top tier fuels have the same additives regardless of octane, so you don't need to buy anything other than a quality fuel, top tier preferable, and can run regular, not premium.
There's zero need for "premium" fuel in these, run quality 87 octane.
Octane has no impact on wear.

The link didn’t work for me but as for the title I assume it doesn’t refer to premium as in high octane but the term “Top Tier”. The owners manual usually refers to top tier somewhere. Top Tier is an industry standard for detergent additives.
https://www.toptiergas.com/gasoline-brands/
I worked for over 20 years in the refinery design business. Here’s how it works. In any particular area, all the refineries produce raw gasoline and ship it to local storage terminals. At this point it isn’t suitable for use by consumers. When the tanker truck shows up for a fill, the gasoline is pumped to a blending station where a specific oil company (Chevron , Shell, Exxon, etc.) additives are mixed with the gas in the truck. FYI Costco, not being affiliated with any one oil company buys top tier only on the spot market so one day you may get Chevron and the next it may be Shell or Exxon. But they guarantee that it's top tier.

Exactly - simply buy quality fuel - like from a top tier station. Some others match those standards but don't spend the money to get the TT certification and logo rights.

The word "premium" can be misleading. Just use a quality fuel.
There's no need for high octane - doesn't clean or reduce wear any better than "regular".
And the amount of wear being talked about in the YT videos - no one will really care about. It's so minute.
I've seen 258s and 4.0s go 200,000-300,000 miles on whatever fuel the owner felt like putting in. Could they have gone TT fuel and gone farther? Maybe, but at that point, who cares - other parts are needing help by then.
There won't be enough impact to ring wear on different fuels to matter to a typical car or truck owner. It's extremely small.

 

[Rocksalt]

my 2cents: all the frikkin gas comes from the same few refineries. Only difference is in octane levels

 

[ShadowsPapa]

my 2cents: all the frikkin gas comes from the same few refineries. Only difference is in octane levels

Additives are blended in later, post-refinery and post-pipeline.
But the gasoline itself - yeah.

I live near a large pipeline terminal and almost every brand of gas out there is represented on the trucks pulling in to fill up with gasoline from the pipeline.

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