This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of STP for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
I was recently sent a bottle of STP Ultra 5-in-1 Fuel System Cleaner to try out, and it couldn’t have been better timing with a Southern California heat wave hitting; our already pretty crummy 91 octane “summer blend” fuel is working extra hard to help fuel my turbocharged inline 5 cylinder Audi TTRS. STP has developed a 5-in-1 solution designed to deep clean the fuel system; it also contains friction modifiers that lubricate engine parts such as piston rings and cylinder walls, and keep on top of the negative impacts of the ethanol blended into the gas. Based on STP engineering tests, it’s been proven to remove an average of 60% of ethanol deposits from engine parts and restore 95% of original injector performance. While our friends in Canada have ethanol free gasoline, it’s pretty much impossible to find here in the States, so it’s a good idea to use this once every oil change.
One bottle is good for up to 35 gallons, so I was able to add half the bottle to my car (12 gallon tank) and half to my wife’s (13 gallon tank) and keep us both good. It’s recommended to top off a tank that is at least half full, so I just added the cleaner after filling up the tank. The new bottle is also compatible with cap-less systems, which my wife’s Ford Focus happens to be.
You may not notice a dramatic improvement right away, but for less than $15 it provides peace of mind that you’re doing what you can to keep your car running well on top of normal maintenance items like oil changes and etcetera. I also highly recommend using top tier gasoline with detergents to help keep your fuel system clean after Ultra cleans it up. If you find yourself putting low grade gasoline into your car on a regular basis, or worse yet skimping on premium when your car recommends it, you may want to pick up a bottle of STP Ultra 5-in-1 Fuel System Cleaner even more often and redeem yourself for your indiscretions!
How effective is your PVC system in removing the oil from the crankcase vapors before the are passed into the intake manifold? After several different after-market catch cans, I finally have a Provent 200 on my B7 2.0T which seems to be doing an effective job. Your thoughts?
Haven’t really looked into it for this car, but I’d imagine it would benefit much like yours. I remember a lot of B7 A4 guys running them, and the big turbo guys would get a ton in their catch cans.
Thanks for the write up Nick. I live in Canada so I’m wondering if there’s any reason I would want to use a product like this since you’ve mentioned that the main reason is to fight the effects of ethanol (which is not in our fuel here).
Probably less critical, although there are tons of other solvents in gas that can lead to clogged injectors, etc. besides just ethanol, so maybe not a bad idea every once in a blue moon.
Nick, thank you for taking the time out of your day to highlight these finer points of car ownership. I would like to know your opinion on what quality gas can do for performance. I wonder if Conoco, Shell, Mobil, 66 are really any different than Sinclair, Bradley or King Soopers. I don’t drive a lot of miles so testing is difficult. Thoughts?
The consensus on the internet seems to be that any top tier gas is just fine, and ideally go to a higher traffic area where the gas is going to be more fresh. I found this article (which I originally read in print!) to be really fascinating on how gas stations work: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a26860/gas-station-life/. The TL;DR is the independent gas stations can basically buy gas from wherever they want, so sometimes they might have good gas, sometimes it could be questionable, so you can’t really know for sure. Because I don’t want to risk it, I always fill up at the same Exxon.