Soltron - the Magic elixir - an update?

[coliholic]

A couple of months ago there were a lot of posts re this supposedly magic eliexir that was a cross between viagra, domestos and peniccilin. Would supposedly cure the dreaded diesel bug, improve fuel economy and make a cup of tea as well.

If I rememebr rightly several contributors stated that they were going to try it in their cars, having finally tracked down a source in UK; Depsol, the Channel Islands agent pointed out that he had nothing to gain from us buying it but happened to have a spare gallon or so for sale at extortinate costs; and I tracked down the manufacturer in the US.

The sole distributor in the US has admirably demonstrated their skill and expertise in marketing this product in that I've made five phone calls and sent 20 e-mails to them for prices for bulk delivery etc., and so far all I've got is "we'll get back to you tomorrow". So looks like they're well in tune with selling to the marine market.

And finally I hear on "the grapevine" that some of the testers are less than impressed. So anyone got any real info?

Of course I just hope it does turn out to be a lemon, 'cos you can't actually buy it anyway, but we'll see.

 

[hlb]

Colin I think you've got your wires crossed again.
The posts were about Viagra and after using, you could stir your tea up with"it". Also reach places others cant!

Heres one you can buy. I'll flog it you.

Millers Diesel Clean. My mechanic swears by it. Well he flogs a bottle with every service. I dont put it in the car though. That would be a waste. I saves it up and chucks it in the boat.
Gets rid of all the smoke. (eventualy) and suppost to make it go faster for less fuel. Maybe but I would'nt know to 5 or 10%
Except if no fuel needed all year, then it would start to register with me.
One thing it does do. It cleans pipes and injectors.
I had the injectors out earlier this year, for a service.
All came back. No service required. Not bad after 12 years.

So there you are Colin, if the Millers dont work, try the Viagra. ( Use it as a punt pole.) That should speed things up a bit and do away with the Soltron!

Haydn

 

[Geoffs]

I've been using the stuff for nearly three months now, and gave a summary on Oct 22nd. I've tried to cut & paste into here but having browser problems since updating to IE6 (stupid thing to do!)

Briefly diesel car (2litre BMW) shows distinct power boost, but I tend to put my boot down to use the power, so don't see much economy improvement. I did try a longish run driving economically and got 62mpg, as measured by car's trip computer.

The boat, 3 litre Mercruiser petrol, used Soltron for a couple of months until I wrapped it up for the winter. I saw an economy improvement of about 10%, difficult to measure very well though.

I'm still using the stuff in the car, might stop for a while soon and see what happens. I've brimmed the boat tank for the winter, and dosed with Soltron.

 

[Guest]

Re: daveS and jfm?

Last I heard DaveS said it was good stuff but hasn't got any. And jfm is hoping for a fab christmas present from Mrs M on account of her evidently siphoning diesel out of ML280 to sell it to the local cab firm and achieving only 20 mpg, bout the same as a 4-litre petrol.

 

[DepSol]

I don't recall actually offering to sell it??

 

[Guest]

that's true. erm, any chance that you *could* sell the stuff tho? Or gettit and sendit?

 

[DepSol]

Its best that anyone who wants it, buys it when they visit the Channel Islands as the price is de-vat and in line with our fuel costs.

It must come under dangerous goods so parcel post is out and that would mean an extra charge of around £50 for a handler/freight office to do it. Would be worth it if you all clubbed together and bought a 20 litre tub I spose?

Why hasn't JFM posted his results, I recall him saying he was going to do this back in November??

 

[coliholic]

Are you serious? do you really get 62mpg out of a 2litre Beamer at normal road speeds or was this at a constant 56 sort of like a "see how many miles we can do", rather than normal driving?


Ooh and see the piccie for what happens when you drink the stuff ;-)
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by coliholic on Sun Dec 16 22:29:21 2001 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

Re:Mrs M

Mrs M is either in detox, or possibly on test with the McLaren team?

 

[BarryH]

I thought soltron was a bug tratment, an enzyme that breaks down the microbe so the fuel burns easier and cleaner, easiest way to get round that, is install a petrol lump, then you get no fuel bug, it just goes off over time, if you can leave it in the tank long enough!!!

 

[Geoffs]

No, I have to admit it was a bit of a 'lets see what it'll do', all part of Soltron testing! Having said that the journey was over the downs back from Reading, so lots of up and downs and twisty. My journeys to and from Poole (A34, M3, M27 & A31) usually work out a bit over 50mpg.

Gawd, better not drink the stuff, mind you, not sure why anyone would want to, at about twice the price of decent Malt!

 

[Guest]

Re: feathery feet

you must be v delicate with the right foot, geoffS?

years ago I knew a chap who went on and on boringly about the mpg of his car. We bought petrol and put it in to make the figures go gently skywards. The 2litre vauxhall eventually did almost 80 miles a gallon.

 

[jfm]

Soltron - the Emperor\'s new fuel additive

Colin you have changed your name? Work time posts now I hope?

Anyway, results. Erm bottom line is I don't think solly saves any significant fuel. I ran leadfoot's (that's Mrs JFM's) merc ML270 with and without to compare. I measured mileage off the car's odo and fuel purchased by saving all the receipts. When adding solly we used a precise measuring thingy at each fillup and made sure to add the solly first so it mixed well. The car was 13,000-16,000 miles old during this test, 6 months old, so hopefully a stable test bed.

Results -
without Solly - 1129 miles, 251.35 litres diesel, 20.417mpg
with solly - 1965 miles, 444.04 litres diesel, 20.115mg

So solly made it actually 1.5% worse!

I'm going to keep using solly another 1000 miles then go back to straight diesel (after allowing a flush through period to eliminate solly dregs) for another 2000 miles to get better data. Problem is, you need long mileages to iron out errors caused by fluctuations in normal driving. I found that Mrs JFM's mpg across each tankful varied from about 19mpg to 23mpg, though usually was 20-21. (BTW, you have to check all this surreptitiously, else you get "why are you checking up on me, do you think I'm having an affair?"). For this reason, early on after 2 tankfuls of sollied-diesel I saw 4% improvement Basically there's a "noise" level around the 5-10% mark, and we're only looking for a solly claimed improvement of about 5%.

As regards "feel" of the car, Solly makes no difference at all IMHO. It still feels like sh!t whatever you put in it.

Overall, at this interim point, I think Solly is waste of time (and money) for mpg improvement. That's not to say it's not good for killing diesel bug etc. More in a couple of months when more mileage by Mrs JFM.

Local taxi firms all very happy matts, for some reason. Just got big F&M hamper delivered with card "best wishes from DeltaCabs". Can't understand it?......

 

[Geoffs]

Size 12\'s

Don't want to be boring, all in the interests of Soltron evaluation!!

 

[Guest]

Re: Soltron - the Emperor\'s new fuel additive

I'm still amazed at the utterly lousy fuel figures achieved by surely light and fluffy yet clearly manically leadfooted mrs M. Urban cycle rates the car at 22mpg. There's no chance whatsoever of her having any sort of naughty relationship for as long as she spends all day practising j-turns around sainsbury's car park, and any passengers in the car would throw up.

 

[oldgit]

And with petrol. the next time we get a petrol strike you have your own secret personal completely legal 100 gal supply of lead free for the car.

 

[jfm]

Re: Soltron - the Emperor\'s new fuel additive

light and fluffy yes, (well praps, I'll check tonite), but she's consistent in her leadfootedness and J turns, so my problem with her massive mpg problem is a separate prob. Doesn't change my conclusion that Soltron is erm crap. Depsol help, where have I gone wrong???

 

[BarryH]

You found me out, I made quiet a profit last petrol strike. Its amazing how much people hate not being able to use their cars, me I nicked my little brothers moped which does about 100 miles to the gallon

 

[DepSol]

Re: Soltron - the Emperor\'s new fuel additive

I think you should try it in your boat rather than the wifes car, I understand your reason for doing it but you cant get performance and economy and your boat is prob a better test than a car anyhow as the most changing factor is the weather rather than traffic at peak time and Sainsburys car park.

Geoffs seems to have done ok with it in both. But you cant satisfy all the people all of the time. As I said before I use it as a treatment for people who have fuel problems and as far as they are concerned it is worth the cost as long as they dont get that problem back.

Its up to you lot to decide where your priorities lie. You'd feel really silly if you broke down because of the bug for the sake of a couple of quids worth of treatment

 

[Guest]

Re: hmm

Are yiou saying that the soltron gives extr power or extra economy - but not both? Praps la Leadfoot is therefore taking advantage of the extra wellie and hoofing the kids down to piano practise even faster than normal? They are totally raving mad drivers around MK, all drive along at steady 50, so I overtakem....then they overtake me as they rip round roundabouts at same steady 50....

Anyway, the solution is obvious. A nice debadged E55 estate (when the new model turns up) see http://www.topmarques.net/news.asp?article=2 ...for Mrs M will still give 22mpg, andf jfm can have the old tank for driving over the poor homeless people living in estate cars around the aldwych...