You may have seen numerous advertisements claiming premium fuels or fuel additives can improve a vehicle’s fuel economy. That’s quite an alluring appeal and you can easily read it on any bottle of fuel additive which you’ll buy. Even after spending a few bucks, you may still wonder if fuel additives are actually effective as what those commercials claim.

Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tested over 100 fuel products, including additives, which claim to improve fuel performance by a promising range of 15% to 25%. The study, however, revealed that none of the products stacked-up to their own claims and many could actually harm a vehicle’s engine.

Moreover, worldwide governments have started implementing directives that every fuel sold must contain a minimum amount of deposit-control additives to prevent any harmful build-up in vehicle’s mechanism. So, do our cars still need any additional help? The appropriate answer will be – It depends!

There is a wide-array of fuel additives available in the market, however, buying the one, which is compatible with your vehicle is quite a complex task. Essentially, every additive helps in relieving a different pain-point of any vehicle. Therefore, it’s important to understand about a few most common types of fuel additives and how they can help.

• Fuel Injector Cleaners: It is a specific type of cleaner that scrubs away carbon which built-up on the fuel injectors that reduces gas mileage. It also protects injectors from the gumming properties of Ethanol, which is particularly common in certain cars with higher-end engines.

• Fuel Stabilizers: These are designed to maintain fuel’s efficiency, especially when your car is not in use. They also prevent hard starting issue due to gas separation and engine corrosion in seasonal vehicles like boats and RVs.

• Gas Mileage Additives: These are the most popular additives, as they work beyond simply cleaning your vehicle’s fuel system to ensure an increased gas mileage – specifically when gas prices rise.

• Octane Boosters: These help in increasing fuel’s octane rating and include a lubricant to protect the cast-iron valve seats, mostly found in classic cars.

• Anti-Gel Diesel Additives: These additives unclog diesel fuel filters and reduce hard starting issues, primarily during extremely low temperatures.

• Cooling System Additives: While most of the fuel additives are, at worst, harmless, experts warns against using engine cooling system additives, that claim to protect leaks in your vehicle’s mechanics. Result shows, that these work temporarily on small leaks, but will have no effect on larger leaks and could even cause severe damage to the vehicle.

Caution is the Only Way to Protect Your Vehicle

There are surely some benefits of using fuel additives, however, it’s important to use the right additive in the right amount for your vehicle, as well as to have realistic expectations. Using too much of any particular fuel additive can damage sensors and other mechanical features of your vehicle’s engine. This way you’ll end-up spending more in the long run than you would have been dealing with any damage caused by typical deposit build-up. Therefore, it’s better to select the compatible additive, read the instructions carefully, and check your owner’s manual when in doubt.

Developers at Maynex Technology Limited, an innovative technologies provider, have recently launched an advanced mechanism – the Maynex H2-Flex – that runs on an alternative fuel (water converted hydrogen gas). The system not just cleans your vehicle’s engine while driving, but also ensure the best ROI on your spending.

The H2-Flex converts water into 100% pure hydrogen gas on demand, without using electricity! Also, it doesn’t generate Oxygen (O₂), so there is literally No need for O₂ extenders or Electronic Fuel Injection Enhancer (EFIE) fuel injection system modifications to your car.