Does Octane Boosters actually work?

[NYC_99Camry]

just curious about all those bottles they have in auto stores. some of them are octane boosters, some are fuel cleaners. others promise a 30% increase in horsepower. does it really work???

[BlueFusion6851]

...No. The octane boosters just use that for advertising. The 30% gain is usually noted in laboratories under 'perfect conditions,' and if your car doesn't need the higher octane, it's just a waste of money. The fuel system cleaners and injector cleaners I'm not really sure about, the only one I use is Seafoam.

[ONE_to_HATE]

redline sg1 worx well as a fuel system cleaner... octane booster doesn't really work unless ur running 91- but even then; unless you're gonna track your car- its not worth it for daily driving. gains are minimal - if that.

[bigbird]

no, they dont work on these cars.

[marc780]

Caveat emptor, since voodoo and black magic are not sold in a can maybe they are just trying to get your money? They will say anything they think they can get away with to get you to buy this stuff, but if you drive a stock camry it's doubtful that your engine would benefit from such a product.
Read the label, if they bother to list the ingredients most of them are little more than naptha or napthalene (same stuff they use to make moth balls), and some kind of alcohol. (If you really want to try an additive that might be helpful and may increase your mileage too, try acetone, about 2 or 3 oz per tankful - and it sells for $11 a gallon at walmart.)

[Hajoca]

Reputable Octane boosters will tell you how many points the additive can boost your fuel. Usually these products boos up in the range of 0.3 to 2 octane points, and is only effective if you bought, or can only get very low octane gasoline. Some countries pump gas is the equivalent of 65 octane.

[atomix099]

They actually decrease horse power according to this test... http://www.tuninglinx.com/html/fifth...videos-25.html

[papariccardo]

Originally Posted by marc780

Caveat emptor, If you really want to try an additive that might be helpful and may increase your mileage too, try acetone, about 2 or 3 oz per tankful - and it sells for $11 a gallon at walmart.

2nd. I use toluene rather than acetone, although both products compound is very similar. Definate results, more so in my twin turbo than the 3VZ. It works as a good cleanser as well, although the 300ZX forum I visit swears by seafoam (Here in NZ I've never heard of it ) Most octane boosters are not good value per se, but the better brands of fuel system cleaners are well worth it.

However, beware that acetone & toluene can cause premature weakening of rubber parts, don't use on a tired old engine, or your insurance fire cover may be called for!.

[94CoupeV6]

Octane Booster fools people by saying it raises octane levels by 6-8 points or whatever. So, you're thinking "oh sweet, my 92 octane will now be 98-100 octane". Nope, a point is .1, so you're raising your octane from 92 to 92.6-92.8. Pretty lame, huh?

[unkit]

fifth gear did a test on these addatives, and apparently, in PERFECT conditions, they ALL reduce power by 2%... not worth it.

[rayprog]

According my experience - no. But if you use some fuel system cleaner it helps to restore power.

[vishayne]

they worked on my camry which has induction and branch exhaust

[94CoupeV6]

^ Proof? How do you know they "worked"?

[geoff5093]

Octane boosters just increase the octane rating right? Why not just get 93 instead of 91 or 87?

[bigbird]

ive used them in my gen3 for road trips before and i "think" i noticed slightly better gas milage. but no power boost and nothing that made it worth much of the 8 bucks i spent on the bottle.