Snake oil or true believer?

[Wayne 962]

Someone sent me this link today, I haven't had a chance to check it out, but for more than 30 seconds:

http://www.ecotekplc.com/

Any thoughts on this?

-Wayne

[Jerome Ryals]

My vote is for snake oil, in their FAQ's 'will not work on some boxer engines.....multi carburated engines.....etc,etc.

[divezic]

These products don't seem to gain any HP. At best they seem to take an engine that was poorly maintained and give some of the original HP back.

Snake oil...probably not. But it's probably not up to all the hype either. But that's what advertising is all about, isn't it.

Now if ya want to talk about snake oil, take a look at the "Tornado Fuel Saver" and cringe.

[wholberg]

My take:

Ekotek 100 - see Swepco oil additives. The only real potential product.

Power boost engine energizer - Sounds like a generic fuel injection cleaner formulated with enough high-volatile solvent to make it burn. Not really a new idea. 30 years ago people made the same claims by spraying Gumout carb cleaner down the carb throat while the engine was running. No real benefits then either.

CB-26P - Huh? They don't tell you how it works. HP increase is claimed but they state up front that a dyno won't show it. To be kind, I'm sure it's at least as effective as the Vornado and the magnetic fuel molecule alignment thingy.

[Quicksilver]

It be snake oil. They come up with as many fancy ways to avoid saying that all it does is play with a vacuum line in a way the the fuel system isn't calibrated to deal with. They really tried to avoid saying what it does. -> http://www.ecotekplc.com/faqs.htm#How%20does

The Power Boost can't be anything real other then a cleaner because there is nothing that will increase the quantity of BTUs other then something potentially harmfull like nitromethane.

Bzzzzzt... thankyouforplaying

[island911]

review:
15sec - Bs-Meter in the orange. (look at the real-looking product pictures)
30sec - Bs-Meter in the red-zone.

Performance:
On modern cars the CB-26P device works in at least two distinct ways to improve performance, it collapses the manifold vacuum allowing briefly for a richer mixture on the re-application of a trailing throttle and it creates an element of off-throttle turbulence (increasingly being used by Ford and Mercedes Benz in their performance engines) making acceleration smoother and more urgent.

[widebody911]

So what would happen if you mixed an E-Ram and a CB-26P?

Do either C3PO or R2D2 have a CB-26P?

What happened to preparations A though G?

[Quicksilver]

Originally posted by widebody911
...
What happened to preparations A though G?

I think they mixed preparations A and D to make Imodium AD. (Does that mean it is now Preparation I? Advertising is confusing me.)

[patkeefe]

Wayne:
The CB-26P thing seems like some sort of vacuum breaker. It must have a check valve in it, as it won't work on turbos. It looks like a PCV valve for your intake manifold. There are a few interesting statements in their claims. It doesn't hammer you with the claim to increase gas mileage; acceleration is the big deal. I have to figure out how it works before I condemn it. Does it increase the volumetric efficiency? It may well produce better atomization of the fuel...an accelerator pump on a Carter AFB is not exactly the epitome of atomization. They also state the benefit is to older engines, i.e., less modern, and stress they have borrowed principles from the more modern FI systems.

However, the advertising looks just as snake oil-ish in Europe as it does in America. I'll bet Ed McMahon could sell these by the hundreds.

Pat

[buster73]

The CB-26B seems to allow some extra airflow into the inlet manifold under certain conditions. This might increase turbulence and add some extra air which can result in some of the claimed improvements. However I don't see a 10% improvement in fuel efficiency being possible. I would also be very careful with anything more than a single cylinder engine. Depending on the location of the valve you might get variable conditions for different cylinders and there is a risk of leaning out. Certainly nothing I would like to try with my 911 engine.