Balls in your fuel tank?

MrFoxman360

Just saw an ad on donedeal for a small bag of metal balls that you put into your fuel tank.

They are supposed to act as not only a lead addative for your fuel, but also an octane booster AND they will stay doing all this for 6 years :pac:

Imagine all that for just €40, compared to a bottle of additve for each tank of fuel... :rolleyes:

Anyone here actualling using these?

Take a look for your self: http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/vintagecars/4920348

salysol

i bought a mini in from the uk years ago that had the balls or pellets,it actually looked like air rifle lead pellets, they were suspended by fishing line into the fuel tank.
not sure if they were of any benefit but then i did around 5k miles in it before i sold it and it never gave me any trouble,but as the stem seals were probably gone by their use by date its hard to know if they are any addition.

macplaxton

Snake oil. They do nothing.

Grab a copy of Practical Classics from Dec 1989 & Jan 1990 when they did a test of a product like this called "carbonflo". 5k miles on 95 RON U/L in an Austin 1800 with a B-series engine and the valve seats were shagged.

alpaca_man

.....Are you looking for a cheap and reliable way to run your classic car on the leaded fuel it was designed to run on.........
.............. and will not invalidate your warranty

FFS. Who wrote this?

Make no mistake, this is utter bullsh!te. Reminds me of the internet gimmick going a few years ago for "revolutionary hydrogen injection" gadget or something that would give you 100mpg+. They had a little pump and a nozzle to inject water into the intake. The "thinking" was that water was composed of hydrogen + oxygen and would release loads of energy in the engine.

As they say, fools and their money are soon parted.

It also reminds me of those idiotic internet ads that go along the lines of "this one weird tip oil companies hate".

Ugh. Do people actually get paid to make up this bollox?

Testacalda

Jees, some people will try and sell anything.

So a sack of metal balls will do the same job as dedicated liquid additive... and will work for 100,000 miles :rolleyes:

The laws of chemistry must not apply to the inventer of these.

Balls in your petrol tank? You might as well put your flute in it for all the good theyd do

gyppo

Testacalda wrote: »

Balls in your petrol tank? You might as well put your flute in it for all the good theyd do

Surely you'd have to put your flute in first?

biko

When I saw the title I thought "mothballs", never heard of these though.

101sean

I thought the charlatans that sold this sort of snake oil had given up years ago, there's obviously still enough gullible people out there :rolleyes:

May as well waste your money attaching magnets to your fuel lines instead.......

Dempo1

Mad nonsense, I could not believe such a product would work, as it happens, I've just had a fiat x19 engine completely rebuilt (1979). My mechanic spoke about lead additive requirements & whilst necessary, its a fraction of the perceived cost with a bottle lasting up to a year.

corktina

Balls is right....

what about that economy device you plug into the fag lighter? that's balls too

101sean

or expensive swirly yokes in your intake and extractor thingies on your exhaust.

Thinkingaboutit

They're a bit like those jobbies that supposedly electricify the fuel, and probably would do some harm. If anyone buys that, some entrepreneur should try sell them some magic beans.

kev1.3s

101sean wrote: »

or expensive swirly yokes in your intake and extractor thingies on your exhaust.

Swirly yokes, don't get me started on them balls!
Anybody remember a device where you run a small current around the perimeter of you're car via small pads placed at its corners, supposedly too stop the dreaded tin worm?

ianobrien

Dempo1 wrote: »

.. I've just had a fiat x19 engine completely rebuilt (1979). My mechanic spoke about lead additive requirements & whilst necessary, ...

Did you consider getting it converted to unleaded as you had it apart? That's what I did with mine and no more worry about additives, magic balls or snake oil...

swarlb

ianobrien wrote: »

Did you consider getting it converted to unleaded as you had it apart? That's what I did with mine and no more worry about additives, magic balls or snake oil...

For decades now Fiat cyl heads are alloy, and already have valve seats. There is no real need to fit replacement seats. An additive would be sufficiant.
The only real concern is iron cyl heads which have no valve seats.
The X1/9 was marketed in the USA, which used unleaded at the time. There was no difference between Euro spec or US spec heads.

mustang68

from the Ad...

Old engines need the soft lead for upper valvetrain pubrication.
[Later...]
Does not contain lead....

w124man

mustang68 wrote: »

from the Ad...

Yeah, I saw that as well ..... !

oceanman

more from the snake oil factory!http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/vintagecars/4634210

w124man

oceanman wrote: »

more from the snake oil factory!http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/vintagecars/4634210

Wonder would it unblock my drains?