Fitch Fuel Catalyst

My first reaction was to scream "SNAKE OIL", and mock you for being gullible, but in this case there is a tiny grain of real science inside a tankful of snake oil. Fitch fuel catalyst has been shown in some tests to possibly provide a tiny bit of benefit to poorly running diesel engines. The tests are suspect due to poor scientific method, but even if we accept the results, there is no indication that this additive will do anything useful in a properly tuned gasoline engine. Save yourself some money and don't buy any more of this dubious product.

Tom

 

Two words: Hess's Law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hess's_Law

 

How do you propose to do a controlled study without controlled conditions? At the very least you need a good dynamometer and a lot of time. Driving around and comparing mpg is not going to tell you anything, except that mileage varies from tank to tank.

Tom

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

If this Fitch thing was so s*** hot, you'd see GM, Ford, and Dodge snapping up hundreds of thousands of the units to put into their pickup's - all of their vehicles - right at the factory. That alone would dramatically up their CAFE - if it worked

Considering how the Big Three are drowning in red ink, the Fitch thing would be a lot cheaper than massive rebates, plant closure, and future uncertainty

The biggest knock I have against these products is that they encourage a Placebo Effect. There was even a news crew that reported astonishing gains in their van. Is that due to the gadget, or due to the sudden awareness of fuel economy, and driving much more gently?

With my FJ, if I slow down to 80 km/h, I can easily achieve 30 mpg, Imperial gallon. That thing will also happily cruise at 120 km/h, the one tank I tried driving like that I got 19 mpg

As Tom stated, I want to see a carefully controlled lab test of a test engine, without the gadget to establish a baseline, with the gadget to see what - if any - "gain" there is, and then WITHOUT the gadget, to see if the test consumption returns to baseline

The EPA has tested a lot of these gadgets. Guess how many actually work as advertised?

 

A lot of people never even think about their driving habits and are not likely to know the difference between driving efficiently vs inefficiently. Most people assume efficient means slow and that's it.

I regularly get 53-55mpg on my commute to Fairfield (76miles) but the other night I got a call from a girlfriend and my mpg dropped to 47mpg for that same trip. Driving patterns make a huge difference.

 

Yep us guys can't help it. In that matter, speed is *everything*

With age, maturity, and perhaps certain ointments, you'l be able to "slow down" and enjoy the ride. If you catch my drift nudge nudge wink wink

 

Hahaha I drive a Prius remember? I'm all about efficiency and helping others achieve similar levels of efficiency.

 

And you can demonstrate that the observed effect is independent of ambient temperature, prevailing winds, and splash cooling of the catalytic converter, correct?

Snake oil is only good for oiling snakes.

 

" Snake oil is only good for oiling snakes."

why does make me think of the 50's?

 

Ahem, "Anything else ..." perhaps you might start by listing what you already have so we won't be repeating ourselves?

If all you have is this "Fitch," the list gets long very quickly but I think we have some pointers to existing lists. I'm not trying to be coy but you can see how open ended such a question could be.

Bob Wilson

 

Yup. Not driving it!

So... are you #440 on the Tesla list? There's your answer for saving gas. An answer that's got some science behind it!

 

The placebo effect is free. Print out one of these and
put it in your glovebox after reading it thoroughly, and
you'll get 20% better fuel economy. All for just one
piece of paper! The secret is that it aligns the molecules
of your right foot and causes fuel to be injected in more
sensible proportions.
.
_H*