I have been running with Star Tron added to the gasoline in my boat for about three weeks now. I added at the rate of 1 ounce per every 8 gallons and have run approximately 60 gallons through each engine. The rough idle problem I was experiencing stopped getting worse and has actually improved noticeably. While I am not out of the woods yet, there is enough improvement that I am hopeful it will be resolved over the next few weeks when I expect to double that amount of fuel consumption. I am pleasantly surprised and very pleased. I had previously tried both Sea Foam (before the carb rebuilds) and Techron Plus (after the rebuilds), and neither helped resolve nor prevent the rough idle problem. My mechanic, who has been as frustrated as me about my boat, also tried it in his boat at the same time. He had year-old gas (2 cycle) in his tank. He told me that it went from running very rough to now "purring as it should". A not insignificant part of his business is fuel polishing and tank cleaning, especially recovery from E-gas problems. Based upon our combined experience he is now recommending Star Tron as an additive for regular use. He told me he believes it is the first product he has seen that actually works to resolve old fuel problems.. I have also tried it in my car, and the gasoline for my lawn mower (4 cycle) as well as the weed eater and blower (both 2 cycle). In my car I can't tell any clear difference but the car is all of 18 months old and been on E-gas for most of its life. Both 2 cycle engines had become quite difficult to start - the weed eater had become a real problem and was headed for the shop. Both now start as easily as when they were new. The lawn mower is like the car in that I can't really tell a difference. Bottom line - there is a clear effect where I had problems. Where I didn't have evident problems any effect is subtle enough I can't determine it. I think this makes sense - it's hard to fix what isn't broken. That the Star Tron has been successful in resolving a couple of different, fuel-related problems suggests to me that regular use should prevent those troubles from occurring in the first place, and that is much cheaper and far more convenient than repairs. I am now in the regular user camp - it will always be on my boat and in my fuel.
8/20/07 UPDATE ... Last week I ran another ~60 gals per side through the engines on the boat with gas treated with Star Tron at a ratio of 1 ounce to every 8 gallons of fuel. That amounts to a total now of about 120 gals per engine using gas treated with Star Tron. The rough idle problem is now gone, and throttle changes at low RPM from idle (650 RPM) up to 1200 RPM is smooth and as it should be. This stuff seems to have worked for my problem. The next addition will be at 1 ounce to every 16 gallons. In the car (2005 Ford Freestyle, 31,400 miles) I now have about 1300 miles with Star Tron, first ~300 miles were at an additive level of 1 ounce to every 8 gallons. Since then additions have been made at a level of 1 ounce/16 gals fuel added. There have been no other changes in the car, driving or travels or gasoline used. For the past year the car computer showed average fuel economy of 20.1 to 20.6 MPG over 500 mile rolling averages. I never had better than 20.6. Yesterday showed the average economy was 22.0 MPG, and it has been running between 21.8 and 22.0 since last weekend. By my calculation that's a nominal 7.6% increase (a range 5.8% to 9.5%) in fuel economy in my car. Frankly, the efficiency improvement in my car surprised me. The car is still young and I have never detected any signs of problems or issues. The change to E-gas last year came with a slight drop in mileage, roughly the same amount as I seem to have recovered using Star Tron. I calculated my recent cost of using Star Tron in my car at 1 oz per 16 gals to be 7.4 cents per gallon treated. Yesterday I paid $2.63/gal for gas. The cost of adding Star Tron is a 2.8% increase in fuel cost for a ~7% increase in economy.
I will happily take it! - Eric Bancroft Houston, Texas |
