Fuel star - too good to be true?

[QuickSilver 0]

Ok, so I read the article in the herald today, it all seems just a little too good to be true, its not overly priced, and the gains would be worth it in my opinion, has anyone had any experience with these?

Are they worth getting? Do they really do what they claim?

Thoughts? Experiences?

Linkity Clickity - Fuel star site.

Cheers.

Alex.

[Mark 178]

What an utter load of crap. These products prey on the fact that consumers are looking for a quick fix to rising petrol prices without having to make sacrifices in the way of buying a smaller car/traveling less etc.

You'd think that if this sort of technology works and is cheap, car manufacturers would use these principles when designing their engines! They don't because they don't work!

As for the "testimonials"... if you buy one of these "fuelsavers" you're going to try to get good fuel consumption figures so you can impress your mates telling them how well your new purchase works. Therefore you subconsciously drive more economically and get good results! It's like doctors giving placebo pills to hypochondriacs, the pill does nothing, but the power of positive thinking does wonders!

Save your money for another tank of gas, it'll get you further in the long run!

/rant. Phew!

[Nobimmer 694]

Really don't see how an inline filter would do anything.

[rowanhol 0]

just put a peg on your fuel line and run it lean!

ping ping

[my_e36 43]

What are they still around advertising something that's clearly not working? Isn't that false advertising?

[normsmith 0]

What an utter load of crap. These products prey on the fact that consumers are looking for a quick fix to rising petrol prices without having to make sacrifices in the way of buying a smaller car/traveling less etc.

You'd think that if this sort of technology works and is cheap, car manufacturers would use these principles when designing their engines! They don't because they don't work!

As for the "testimonials"... if you buy one of these "fuelsavers" you're going to try to get good fuel consumption figures so you can impress your mates telling them how well your new purchase works. Therefore you subconsciously drive more economically and get good results! It's like doctors giving placebo pills to hypochondriacs, the pill does nothing, but the power of positive thinking does wonders!

Save your money for another tank of gas, it'll get you further in the long run!

/rant. Phew!

I don't know man. The guy's been selling the units for a long time and has remained in business. If he was a fraud he'd have been busted by now. He's had quite a bit of press coverage.

I have a question for you, have you ever tried it? I think the proof is in the pudding. You have to try it before you judge it.

[David 0]

I don't know man. The guy's been selling the units for a long time and has remained in business. If he was a fraud he'd have been busted by now. He's had quite a bit of press coverage.

I have a question for you, have you ever tried it? I think the proof is in the pudding. You have to try it before you judge it.

Yes I have tried it, and it didnt work.

I had a RS Legacy with a group n chip in it. When the petrol changed to unleded it would sound like a bucket of bolts

under hard acceleration.

They told me the Fuel Star would fix the problem, it didnt, took it out and gave it back.

I ended up running 10l of avgas per tank, that fixed it.

[QuickSilver 0]

Yes I have tried it, and it didnt work.

I had a RS Legacy with a group n chip in it. When the petrol changed to unleded it would sound like a bucket of bolts

under hard acceleration.

They told me the Fuel Star would fix the problem, it didnt, took it out and gave it back.

I ended up running 10l of avgas per tank, that fixed it.

Thank you, looks as thought im gonna give it a miss.

[ducatiss 1]

While I am a big skeptic of quick fixes such as this I actually observed this thing do some good for a friend of mine. He had (dont laugh here) an Austin Princess which would not run properly on unleaded unless the timing was that retarded that the thing would hardly move (yeah I know...dont say it). Much to my amusement he fitted one of those fuel star things and never looked back. After a couple of tanks we could advance the timing back to where it should have been and the car ran sweet with no fouling up of plugs. The theory is that a minute amount of tin is passed into the fuel system that acts like lead. What this had to do with being able to make this Austin princess run as well as it did is beyond me - but it did. I dont think it is something that modern BMW owners should even bother about, but "may" be worth a try on older cars that require leaded fuel and have still have issues with it.

Edited March 26, 2008 by ducatiss

[rxsumo 33]

While I am a big skeptic of quick fixes such as this I actually observed this thing do some good for a friend of mine. He had (dont laugh here) an Austin Princess which would not run properly on unleaded unless the timing was that retarded that the thing would hardly move (yeah I know...dont say it). Much to my amusement he fitted one of those fuel star things and never looked back. After a couple of tanks we could advance the timing back to where it should have been and the car ran sweet with no fouling up of plugs. The theory is that a minute amount of tin is passed into the fuel system that acts like lead. What this had to do with being able to make this Austin princess run as well as it did is beyond me - but it did. I dont think it is something that modern BMW owners should even bother about, but "may" be worth a try on older cars that required leaded fuel.

Are you sure that the car wasnt actually just suffering from crap gas?

We had a run down south a few years back, and my 3.0Si was running sweet until I gassed at Twizel. I couldnt get the timing back far enough to stop the knocking, in fact by the time I got to Invercargill I even tried about a litre of Octane Booster, and that didnt help.

I rang Shell and spoke to their engineering expert who checked the fuel that was being supplied to the gas station, apparently some of the SI gas stations were supplied with a MON rating very close to the lower limit, any car running a highish C/R would pink.

The situation showed up a couple of years later with an old 2500 as well, that didnt clear up until we got Challenge at a small gas station near Picton.

Personally I think Fuel Star is another version of snake oil, if it was soooooo good, how come the manufacturers dont fit it to all their cars.......

[kerrynzl 3]

If I remember correctly, The AA did a controlled test a few years ago, and there was no inprovement.

But I know of a few racers that have done better lap-times with one [ uncontrolled test ] , which is the placebo effect needed to justify the stupidity of buying one in the first place [ they were probably driving better, or conditions changed ]

You can only get 'so much' energy from a BTU, pumping fuel thru lead or zinc pellets [ or an ion polariser ??? ]

does not increase the BTU content [ British thermal unit ]

If this "magic wand" altered the molecular structure to get significant gains, I am sure Oil Companies with their Petrochemistry skills could do the same to get the competitive edge [ conspiracy theorists may argue this ]

Hey,

Buy a " Turbonater" , at least it contains one moving part,

Or jack your car up in the rear [ so it's going downhill all the time ]

[Mark 178]

If he was a fraud he'd have been busted by now. He's had quite a bit of press coverage.

Press coverage these days can easily be obtained with a little thing called "money".

Please don't put this device on your E90 Norm. Even if he does give you your money back you still have to replace the fuel line you severed to install it and you'll have ugly mounting holes too! Put the $250 towards an intake or freer-flowing exhaust... it'll give way more improvement (well, anything is better than zero improvement! )

[QuickSilver 0]

Hey,

Buy a " Turbonater" , at least it contains one moving part,

Or jack your car up in the rear [ so it's going downhill all the time ]

Legend.

[OLLIE 26]

they may work a little bit as described however on a car they are not noticeable - they have applications on large trucks and ships - here is where you will see an improvement in fuel economy and ultimately cost savings.

[ducatiss 1]

Are you sure that the car wasnt actually just suffering from crap gas?

Well I can't argue with you on that as I don't know whether it was bad gas or not - but the problems the guy was having were over a pro-longed period of time before using the product. He did use the car daily to drive about 40 kms to work and back and reported better consumption and overall driveability. I dont really want to debate it too much as I dont have anything to back up the guys findings, I'm just posting an alternative viewpoint based on a friends experience with the product.

Edited March 27, 2008 by ducatiss

[OLLIE 26]

I have been in touch with the fuelstar distributors and hope to do an independent trial on my car.

It will be interesting to see the results.

[Braeden320 0]

Great Stuff

[jimbo01 0]

Just to jump in here - I know nothing about the fuel star BUT...

My brother swears by some damn magnets, plus a fuel addiitve, and oil additive that he put on his work 2006 Comadore. Anyway I've seen 900km travelled on the trip computer, with 200km to go to empty; and hes not driving any differently. His firm is considering putting their entire national fleet on it; they've seen the guy with the worst fuel consumption across the fleet go to the best. This is a guy who has lost his licence 3 times on speed demrit points - he does not drive for economy.

He 1st put this this setup in his 1989 VR4 rally car and got more power on the dyno, and good results racing (1st equal around Mansfeild in 2007 daybreaker rally, and on a gravel suspension set-up). Apparently Peter Brock used to back these and took a huge dent in his credibility for it when he publically endorsed it.

Scientifically there is no possible effect magnets can have on the fuel - I know this - I try explaining this to my brother but he just points to the trip computer with a smug grin, "Then big bro EXPLAIN THAT!". Even the local Holden dealer won't accept the economy hes getting; "Impossible" is their answer.

Make you wonder whats in that bloody additive!

[Driftit 1957]

Im about to Dyno my 180sx. Maybe I should try one run as normal and one run with this thing to see if affects things like peak power, a/f ratio, tourqe etc.

Would be another good test.

[kerrynzl 3]

Just to jump in here - I know nothing about the fuel star BUT...

My brother swears by some damn magnets, plus a fuel addiitve, and oil additive that he put on his work 2006 Comadore. Anyway I've seen 900km travelled on the trip computer, with 200km to go to empty; and hes not driving any differently. His firm is considering putting their entire national fleet on it; they've seen the guy with the worst fuel consumption across the fleet go to the best. This is a guy who has lost his licence 3 times on speed demrit points - he does not drive for economy.

He 1st put this this setup in his 1989 VR4 rally car and got more power on the dyno, and good results racing (1st equal around Mansfeild in 2007 daybreaker rally, and on a gravel suspension set-up). Apparently Peter Brock used to back these and took a huge dent in his credibility for it when he publically endorsed it.

Peter Brock Endorsed an "Atom Polariser" and wanted it to be a standard item on his "HDT Senator".

GMH refused to back any new car warranty with these items fitted [ hence the Brock-GMH split ]

The Fuelstar flows thru a pile of "tin" [ or pewter ] pelets .

C'mon you guys, do you all honestly believe in all this Bullshit!

This forum is for car people who generally have a bit of car knowledge [ I could understand a fuelstar being used on a Lada or a Hino Contessa ]

[*Glenn* 854]

I'm just going to sit this one out........and smile ( controlling the laughter )

Maybe the race guys could use pewter or tin instead of lead weight and put it in their tanks and get all the claimed HP & fuel gains ??

While I'm sitting here smiling.....I could dream up ways of selling "Bullshit"

[Infestus 0]

They did a thing on mythbusters awhile back on some of these magnets and other fuel saving things, they proved they all dont work, Ill try find the eposide when I get home from school.

[kerrynzl 3]

I'm just going to sit this one out........and smile ( controlling the laughter )

Maybe the race guys could use pewter or tin instead of lead weight and put it in their tanks and get all the claimed HP & fuel gains ??

While I'm sitting here smiling.....I could dream up ways of selling "Bullshit"

In 1969 Penske Racing [ Mark Donahue driving ] Ran a Camaro in the US Transam Series.

They used a fuel cell full of lead pellets [ shot gun pellets ]

In fact they had a huge gravity fed fuel silo and aircraft dry-break system, so they could dump the sh*t in when doing a 'splash-n-dash" at the end of the race

At least their cars were legal when they weighed them at the end of the race [ it wasn't cheatin', it was innovation ]

Hey Glen!

Don't rely on racers as a benchmark. Ever heard of the "chrome eagle" syndrome [ If I bolted a chrome eagle to the hood of my car and started winning, I gaurantee some racers would copy me the following week ]

Weekend racers are notoriously bad for spending $$$$ on 'trick' parts [ because the need them,Haha! ]

[normsmith 0]

If I remember correctly, The AA did a controlled test a few years ago, and there was no inprovement.

But I know of a few racers that have done better lap-times with one [ uncontrolled test ] , which is the placebo effect needed to justify the stupidity of buying one in the first place [ they were probably driving better, or conditions changed ]

You can only get 'so much' energy from a BTU, pumping fuel thru lead or zinc pellets [ or an ion polariser ??? ]

does not increase the BTU content [ British thermal unit ]

If this "magic wand" altered the molecular structure to get significant gains, I am sure Oil Companies with their Petrochemistry skills could do the same to get the competitive edge [ conspiracy theorists may argue this ]

Hey,

Buy a " Turbonater" , at least it contains one moving part,

Or jack your car up in the rear [ so it's going downhill all the time ]

I rang up AA and asked if they did a review on this and they said had not. Where did you get your information from?

[normsmith 0]

I have been in touch with the fuelstar distributors and hope to do an independent trial on my car.

It will be interesting to see the results.

I am very keen to know what the results are. Please keep us informed.