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Snake oil or not

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by bhaynnes, May 27, 2008.

  1. bhaynnes

    bhaynnes Member

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    Anyone hear of this stuff? It looks like a good way to waste money to me.

    Pay Less For Gas With Ethos FR
     
  2. ZC1

    ZC1 Junior Prius Owner

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    Wow, a really wordy advertisement on that site.

    I guess if it's good enough for Gabriel, the young woman with the low cut top, then it's good enough for me, right?

    And what about the man, two adverts below, holding up what looks like his underwear (or depends) , stained in one picture, almost clean in another?

    Classic one here:
    "The Maryland emission test found nothing coming
    from our tailpipe"
    No DUH...start the engine already.
    LOL.

    The esters sound more like scrubbing bubbles, which my wife says doesn't work, the only thing scrubbing is me.

    Don't forget the "Wait, but that's not all....."

    Last but not least, the disclaimer.
    * Gas savings and emissions savings with Ethos vary and are different from car to car and your driving habits. Example: Whether you have an agressive or more passive foot on the gas pedal.

    Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. I didn't know gas savings had anything to do with being aggressive or passive on the gas pedal.

    Buy some, use it and report back here.

    ZC1
     
  3. bhaynnes

    bhaynnes Member

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    I'm much too frugal (cheap?) to buy it and try it myself until I check to see if anyone here has tried it yet.
     
  4. zeeman

    zeeman Member

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    hey, it costs 53.95 for 32 ounces!

    hello?!
    at that price, how is that going to save money on gas?


    lady, do your math
     
  5. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    It's not even good enough to be snake oil. Snake oil at least has some lubricating qualities...

    Tom
     
  6. Stev0

    Stev0 Honorary Hong Kong Cavalier

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    If the question even enters your mind, the answer is invariably "yes".
     
  7. morpheusx

    morpheusx Professor Chaos

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    It must be, I'm at work and the ethos website wont open because it is on the banned / blocked list.
     
  8. RobH

    RobH Senior Member

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    It's hard to separate the marketing style from the science. The science seems plausible, although I would expect that there would have to be adjustments to the engine in order to take advantage of any potential extra power.

    Back in about 1965 a friend owned an Oldsmobile F85 with a turbocharged engine. The turbo boost was limited to about 8 PSI with a waste gate. There was also a several gallon tank of "Turbo Rocket Fluid" that was added to the fuel mixture when the turbo went into boost mode. The combination of limiting the boost and the fluid allowed use of a high compression engine.

    I think the fluid was basically a water/alcohol mixture. One of the functions of the fuel mixture is to cool the burning temperature. This is commonly done with an extra rich mixture, but can also be done by injecting a cooling fluid, such as this alcohol/water mixture.

    "Turbo Rocket Fluid" sounds like snake oil, but in this case it had a General Motors part number.

    Cluster size is an important measure of the effectiveness of many fluids. Micro-cluster water is "wetter", and the claims for this stuff seem similar.

    The formulation of gasoline is constantly evolving. Just like there will be next year's car, there will be next years gasoline. Maybe this ester stuff will be part of next year's gasoline. New things take a while to be adopted, even when they're clearly superior.

    So I don't dismiss the stuff. But I'll let someone else check it out...
     
  9. Rest

    Rest Active Member

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    Ethos only cleans an engine, it can't make an engine more fuel efficient than it was brand new.
     
  10. Bob64

    Bob64 Sapphire of the Blue Sky

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    It's a piece of shit in a bottle.
     
  11. Presto

    Presto Has his homepage set to PC

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    Not sure what the deal is, but the Ethos office is about 15 min away from where I live, and another similar product, Biomeer, is another 30 min away. It's like I'm at ground zero for the snake oils. LOL.
     
  12. Sheepdog

    Sheepdog C'Mere Sheepie!

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    I dislike oily snakes. Infact I dislike snakes even if they are not oily.

    I cannot imagine why anyone would want poo in a bottle....
     
  13. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    I was so pleased to find snake oil for sale in China that I bought 3 little packets. I guess it is sold as a skin moisturizer, but not doubt it has all the other beneficial properties of...snake oil.

    If anybody wants to give it a go, I am happy to send some. But you are going to have to pay the shipping and I think that will be costly.