Home » Some On The Internet Claim Metal Pellets In Your Gas Tank Will Improve Performance. But Let’s Look At The Science

Some On The Internet Claim Metal Pellets In Your Gas Tank Will Improve Performance. But Let’s Look At The Science

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I found myself browsing automotive forums last week on my regular hunt for stories, and I happened upon a curious thing. Over on Corvette Forum, back in 2014 there was a guy working on a classic ’66 Corvette. He’d found a bunch of weird metal pellets in the gas tank and wondered what the heck they were doing in there. Ah! A mystery, and one I had to unravel. What I discovered was weirder, and in some ways sadder, than I could possibly have imagined.

The story at first seemed straightforward. Forum users stated these were lead pellets intended to be added to unleaded fuel to protect older engines. The oil companies started taking the lead out in the 1970s, so people put it back in in the form of pellets. The general idea was that this was an example of good old automotive snake oil. Simple enough, right?

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Vidframe Min Bottom

That seemed to make sense, but I wanted the full story. As it turns out, these metal pellets are still on the market today, even for modern vehicles, and apparently they’re God’s own gift to motoring. We’re going to start by looking at their link to lead and leaded gas, then explore what’s actually going on with these mystery metal pellets turning up in gas tanks.

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What would you say if you found these in your gas tank? via Corvette Forum

Why Did We Ever Use Lead In Gas?

Leaded gasoline didn’t just have elemental lead particles dissolved or floating around in it, or anything like that. Instead, it was dosed with a compound called tetraethyl lead, known as TEL for short. That compound has the chemical formula Pb(C2H5)4—a combination of lead with four ethyl groups, hence the name. It exists as a viscous transparent liquid at room temperature and is highly soluble in gasoline.

Tetraethyllead 3d Balls2
Tetraethyllead consist of a single lead atom surrounded by four ethyl groups, hence the name. Credit: Jynto, CC0 license

The compound was discovered to be an effective anti-knock agent to improve engine performance in 1921 by one Thomas Midgley Jr.— an American chemical engineer working at GM. At the high temperatures found in the engine, TEL quickly decomposes, splitting into lead and multiple combustible ethyl “radicals.” Radicals are highly reactive and can kick off or sustain a combustion reaction; indeed, many end up floating around in the fuel-air charge during the compression phase as heat and pressure ramps up.

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However, lead and lead oxide in the combustion charge tends to react with any radicals in the fuel-air mix, stopping them from kicking off or sustaining early combustion (known as “knock”) before the proper ignition by the spark plug. It’s the lead that actually acts as the anti-knock agent — the ethyl groups simply serve as a way to mix the lead effectively with the fuel. TEL had a side benefit,  too—it helped cool intake valves and lead deposits stopped microwelds between valves and valve seats.

Those involved in the additive’s development were aware of its toxicity, but must have deemed the profit opportunities to outweigh the risks. As noted by The Conversation, despite the well-known hazards of lead and alarms raised by public health officials about TEL specifically, development went ahead. It was advertised under the simple name “ETHYL” to avoid the negative connotations around lead. Midgely suffered a serious case of lead poisoning due to his work, taking a long leave of absence to recover. Per this paper by a Radford University professor, seventeen workers would also die in the early efforts to produce industrial quantities of the additive in the 1920s. Meanwhile, Midgley and GM continued to promote the use of TEL in fuel until it became an effective industry standard. All the while, cars were spewing lead directly into the environment.

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Leaded petrol is one of those old-timey super-toxic things that was marketed with great excitement back in the day. via Leaded petrol is one of those old-timey super-toxic things that was marketed with great excitement back in the day. via eBay

Phaseouts only seriously began once catalytic converters became necessary to meet air quality standards in the 1970s; lead in gasoline would poison the catalyst material, making it useless. It took until 2021 for the world to abandon leaded gasoline completely. That is, except for aviation—where 100LL “low lead” fuel continues to be used in piston-engined aircraft. A phaseout is targeted for 2030 at this stage.

For his pioneering work, Midgley has been referred to as a “one-man environmental disaster”—not only did he put lead in gasoline, but he also developed CFC refrigerants, which are remarkably effective at tearing holes in the ozone layer. Unlike leaded gasoline, though, the negative effects of CFCs weren’t well understood until decades after his death in 1944.

Lead Pellets To The Rescue! (Right?)

To a lot of people, “leaded gasoline” doesn’t mean gasoline with a special TEL compound in it. It just means gas with lead in it. Thus, if you wanted to run your car on the good old leaded gas, despite the phaseout, surely you could just put the lead back in yourself! That makes sense, right? And thus, these metal pellets are just bits of lead?

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The thing is, this doesn’t actually work. If you drop chunks of lead in your gas tank, you’ve just got gasoline with a lump of lead in it. The lead doesn’t dissolve in the fuel in any way, it just sits there. It does precisely nothing to boost the fuel’s knock resistance or octane rating, and it does nothing to preserve the valves or valve seats, either. It just sits in the tank. This is why companies like DuPont spent great sums creating plants to make tetraethyllead, because that’s how you actually get the lead into the fuel.

Millers Gas Pellets Copy
British company Millers Oils released a report on lead and lead additives some years ago. The company noted that metal pellets were touted as a solution for VSR—valve seat recession—caused by the lack of TEL in fuel. Millers stated that there was no evidence that this would do anything to help, as these metals are not really soluble in gasoline at all.

There’s a perception in some sectors that old leaded gasoline is better, particularly for vehicles designed to run on the stuff. Sometimes that’s down to misty eyed nostalgia from those who grew up with elevated blood lead levels for some mysterious, unknowable reason. Sometimes it’s rooted in some fragments of fact. The truth is that early leaded fuels did have higher effective octane ratings, allowing engines to run at higher compression ratios without knock. The lead also offered a protective effect to valves and valve seats. Thus, simply switching to an unleaded petrol without considering the implications could cause problems.

However, these issues have since been solved. Modern unleaded gasoline is available in lovely high-octane grades that help avoid knock. There are also additives available to reduce valve seat wear in older engines. If your valves or valve seats wear out, you can replace them with hardened parts that don’t need any lead to reach their proper useful life.

In any case, this all seemed to line up — I figured the forum story was just about lead pellets showing up in old gas tanks because people wanted to put the lead back in. Only, then things got more complicated.

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Between modern high-octane fuels and valve seat protection additives, there’s no need for any car to run leaded petrol these days. via Penrite

‘Fuel Catalysts’

I initially believed that the metal pellets from the Corvette forum were being sold as supplementary lead to add to fuel. However, thus far, I haven’t been able to find any period advertisements indicating that. That’s not to say they don’t exist—there certainly could be such a product. But, as alluded to in the Miller Oils paper above, it turns out these pellets may actually be made of something else. Does that mean they’re legit? I’m not convinced—but I’ve gone to great lengths to collate the evidence so you can assess for yourself.

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Fitch Gas Pellets
via Amazon
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Fitch also makes an inline device. I’d love to look inside one.
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via fitchfuelcatalyst.com
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via fitchfuelcatalyst.com

In the case of the forum post I mentioned at the start of this article? Those appear to be Fitch Fuel Catalysts. They’re sold in two primary formats—the first being a set of metal pellets in a plastic housing. They’re intended to be dropped into a fuel tank of an older pre-1980 vehicle without an anti-siphon device in the filler neck. If you’ve got a newer vehicle, the company will sell you an in-line catalyst device instead for splicing into your fuel lines.

For context, the idea of a catalyst in chemistry is something that aids or supports a chemical reaction, without actually taking part of it. So, these devices are supposedly acting to help the fuel go under a chemical change, without being used up or absorbed into it.

Annoyingly, most “How It Works” videos or documents from these companies fail to explains anything at all.

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Fitch’s website (fitchfuelcatalyst.com) will tell you that its device “reformulates gasoline and diesel resulting in a more complete burn and allowing you to extract more energy/gallon from your engine.” The product will apparently let you run a vehicle that needs premium gas on lower grade fuel, and that you’ll get more complete combustion, too. Oh, and more horsepower and torque. As a bonus, the catalysts supposedly “permanently” stabilize your fuel and protect against bacterial growth. The device is warranted for 250,000 miles, long enough to be a lifetime application for most vehicles. It’s good for everything from lawnmowers to motorcycles and automobiles, too.

There is a document on the Fitch website that explains in more detail what the catalyst does. It says the catalyst helps attach more oxygen molecules to the hydrocarbon molecules in the fuel, thus allowing it to burn better. What isn’t clear is where this oxygen comes from. For an in-tank catalyst, one could imagine the oxygen coming from some limited quantity of air in the tank. However, in the case of an inline device, there’s no obvious supply of extra oxygen to enter the fuel.

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However, Fitch’s website does include a document that goes into greater detail. It seems to suggest that the pellets work as a catalyst to further oxygenate the fuel. The thing is, this oxygen has to come from somewhere.

You can find these things all over the place. It appears even Summit Racing used to carry them at one point, though they’re now “not available.” But you’ll find them on sale all over the place on eBay, on Amazon, and beyond.

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It costs around $40 USD for the Formula Power fuel catalyst on eBay, and it’ll supposedly “allow any engine designed to run on leaded petrol to run safely on normal pump unleaded 95 octane fuel.” We’re told this one is good for 100,000 miles! via eBay

Sadly, though, the company is cagey about what they’re actually made of—not mentioning lead or any other material. Frustratingly, while a ton of other companies make very similar looking products, they’re all equally vague too. Not only do they not talk about composition, they don’t talk in any real detail about how these products actually work. They just allude to vague chemical changes in the fuel without specifying what those are. They all also tend to highlight that this occurs via catalytic action—with their material acting only as a catalyst to support reactions within the fuel, rather than being absorbed into it like an additive.

You can find plenty of these devices if you simply search for “fuel catalysts.” Many seem to be sold with reference to classic vehicles, again seemingly leaning on some kind of angle related to leaded gasoline.  You can get a particularly janky version off eBay that has a few metal pebbles wrapped up in a bit of steel mesh, presumably so they don’t get sucked into the tank’s fuel outlet and block it. This is often marketed as the “Formula Power Fuel Catalyst” citing that it was developed in 1941 by the Royal Air Force.

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Fotostudio Beerling
via Broquet.nl

Indeed, as I researched further, I eventually found myself querying that tale. Supposedly, during Operation Benedict in World War II, British planes were struggling to operate on low-octane Russian fuel, if you believe Wikipedia. The lone citation for this is a random PDF on the “Broquet Fuel catalyst.” Would you believe it, Broquet is another brand selling these magic beans! According to the story, a special tin catalyst was able to spice up the Russian fuel to help boost the British fighters to their proper performance.

Other sellers seem to lean on varying retellings of this story. I found a defunct brand called Carbonflo which included a similar tale on its now-deceased website.

Did Anyone Do Science?

Indeed, there are a lot of commonalities between the sellers of these products. Most stack their websites with testimonials, and some even have example tests to prove their value. Fitch has a curious dyno test video from 2009 that suggests its product provides a hilariously minor boost to horsepower, well within the margins of error on a dyno, while also claiming a boost to economy. The company also cited chemist Steven Suib from the University of Connecticut.  Meanwhile, Carbonflo quoted one Professor G.E. Andrews, a combustion expert from the University of Leeds in the UK. Naturally, I have reached out to these individuals for their comment on these matters—given these companies are quoting them as experts in their fields.

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Carbonflo quotes a combustion expert on its website; The Autopian has reached out for more information.

Supposedly increases fuel efficiency. See description.
byu/Sadangler inMechanicAdvice

This Reddit post mentions spotting these devices at the University of Connecticut. I’m hoping chemist Steven Suib is able to get back to me with his comments on the matter.

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Looking down this road led to one small hint of legitimacy. Dive into the research website of the Suib Group, and you’ll find a 2005 paper entitled “Effect of a metal alloy fuel catalyst on bacterial growth” with Steven Suib as one of the authors. It covers the case of a “fuel reformulation” catalyst made of tin, antimony, lead, and mercury, and its affect on bacterial growth in fuel. The paper directly mentions Advanced Power Systems International, Inc., a company apparently linked to Fitch. It suggests the alloy was able to reduce bacterial growth in fuel, but doesn’t touch on the other supposed benefits of the catalyst. Looking through Suib’s other publications, I was unable to find a paper that more directly covered the chemistry at play with these metal alloy pellets. Having reached out to Suib for comment, I’m dearly hoping to hear back, because it’s clear he was once investigating these in some sort of scientific capacity.

The U.S. Government Mentions These ‘Magical Beans’!

There’s also a curious mention of this technology by the US government itself. As cited by FTC, there is a vague mention of fuel catalyst technology in the 107th Congress 2nd Session House of Representatives Report. It was tabled by the Committee on Armed Services, and you can find it here on page 292 and 293. It seems to suggest these catalysts have some grand capabilities. The document states that the Marine Corps tested a system for diesel engines that improved fuel economy by 38.7 percent and reduced emissions by 44.8 percent. Wild numbers! Similarly, the Navy apparently saw “exhaust pollution” cut by 39 to 50 percent, and a 21 percent reduction in fuel consumption.

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The report from Congress.

Those numbers are what we’d call insane. Imagine bolting on one component to an engine and improving your fuel economy by over 20%! “Given the magnitude of potential fuel savings and emissions reductions, the committee does not understand why the Department has not taken advantage of this technology,” reads the report. The Secretary of Defense is then urged to adopt the technology post haste.

So wait, did the US military miss a trick? Are they that stupid to ignore such epic savings? Well, let’s actually examine, here. I looked at the “More Capable Warfighting Through Reduced Fuel Burden” report, found on a US military server, and found no mention of fuel catalyst technology whatsoever. Furthermore, I was unable to find any record of such a test run by the Marine Corps. However, I did find an unverified PDF on a website called “voja.nl” that appears to allude to testing done by the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center using an unidentified “RENTAR” fuel catalyst. Results were mixed in truck testing, with questionable sensor readings and many vehicles dropping out. Meanwhile, in a shipborne test, it apparently achieved negligible fuel economy increase and no noticeable improvements to carbon build up. In any case, the report doesn’t look quite right, and it’s hosted on the site of a company that sells fuel catalysts. I’ve contacted the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center to comment on whether this report is legitimate.

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This unverified PDF claims to be a military report on fuel catalysts. It’s hosted on the webiste of Voja.nl, a company which sells Rentar fuel catalysts.
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Meanwhile, this genuine US military report on fuel efficiency mentions a great many technologies—but it doesn’t mention fuel catalysts at all.

Real talk? There doesn’t appear to be a genuine source for those exceptional performance figures in the Congress report. It appears somehow, a committee member may have ended up with misleading information with little basis in truth. After all, if those numbers were legit, the US military would be rushing to adopt the technology—and just about every other military on Earth would be, too. Fundamentally, I don’t believe there is science behind those wild figures quoted in the Committee’s report.

The University Of Aukland Dug Into This

Don’t give up hope, though, because I found something epic. A test regime run by engineers at the University of Auckland from 2002. They investigated a “Fuelstar” tin alloy additive to see if it had any notable performance benefit. This felt like striking a gold mine—just good old fashioned scientific testing done right. This isn’t some one-page outline of vague benefits or effects—it’s a full report on all the testing done and the results found! This is real science, people!

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The test investigated a fuel catalyst of the “Fuelstar” brand. via report
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The device was designed to fit inline with the fuel line. via report
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The tests involved both running the device in the fuel line, and testing the performance of the so-called active material when applied directly to the fuel in a granulated form.

The author of the study ran a wide battery of tests with good scientific rigor, aiming to determine whether these pellets had any real value. They found no noticeable improvement from the use of the tin alloy pellets, either in benchtop test engines or in road tests of actual vehicles.

The full test is well worth reading and is full of scientific rigor beyond that of marketing materials and YouTube videos. I’ll just leave you with the study conclusions and some nice fuel economy graphs below. The pre-installation figures are in blue, the post-install figures are in pink—you’ll note the additive did nothing in this case.

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Testing Sbs
This is how you did real engine science back in 2002.

 

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Conclusions from the University of Auckland study.
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Fuel economy figures didn’t appear to improve during the University of Auckland testing with the Fuelstar treated fuel.

A Curious Modern Example

It was late in the day when a particularly interesting example of this “technology” caught my eye. It was Mike Brewer, of Wheeler Dealers fame, and he was smiling in a video on fuel catalysts produced by a company called FTC. Published in December 2023, we see Mike sat down with a man called Simon, presumably from FTC, to talk about “miracle little pellets you put in your fuel tank.”

Simon actually gives us more information than the vast majority of fuel catalyst sellers. “All they are is tin and antimony,” says Simon. “Sometimes they’re made with a bit of bismuth in, sometimes a little bit of inorganic lead, but generally, they’re just tin and antimony.” If you’re unfamiliar, tin is a metal, while antimony is classified as a semi-metal element. Antimony is often mixed with tin or lead to make various useful alloys for soldering or bearing uses.

It’s here that FTC’s angle differs from the rest of the market. Simon talks down previous sellers of these products. He says that wild claims of boosted horsepower or fuel economy aren’t really legitimate. Instead, he says the primary role of these tin-antimony pellets is to help clean carbon deposits out of engines.

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“These make cars run with completely clean engines, that’s what they do, and the fuel becomes the hero,” says Simon. “These will make that fuel clean your engine out.” He cites one example of a vehicle gaining a 1.4% fuel economy improvement due to the removal of carbon deposits which restored it to original factory performance specs, as well as a wild 28% reduction to carbon monoxide output. “Within an engine, there are deposits everywhere…These eliminate all deposits?” ” asks Mike Brewer. “All deposits, absolutely,” says Simon. “These will prevent deposits forming, but they’ll also remove them from engines where they’ve built up.”

Mike Brewer Talks About Ftc Dfdfcatalysts 00 00 12
Mike gives us a close-up look at the tin-antimony pellets sold by FTC.

There’s also a weird anecdote—the story of a Mini Cooper tested on a “rolling road” that got “116 brake [horsepower],” but that improved—”I think it was eight hundred thousand miles with the pellets in, she’s getting 119 brake [horsepower],” says Simon. Outside of the odd mileage claim—presumably a slip of the tongue to say she drove 800,000 miles—a three horsepower difference is well within margins of error across two dyno readings on two different days. Still, apparently the pellets cleaned out carbon deposits, improving performance and economy, and apparently the shifting of the automatic gearbox. Just magic. Oh, and the pellets? “These never wear out!” says Simon. “With these, you put ’em in, they work forever!”

Still, we don’t get any insight into the chemistry. “The fuel reacts against the surface of the pellet, the pellet never wears out,” says Simon. That’s about all we get. No information on how this makes fuel burn more completely or how it clears out carbon deposits at all. As one of the more active companies online right now in this space, I’ve reached out to FTC Direct for more information on their product.

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I was surprised to see Mike Brewer in a video like this, but he seemed to really believe in the product.

A Professional Opinion

We wanted to get a professional to chime in on this topic. We reached out to Dr Andy Randolph, technical director of ECR engines. With 13 years experience at General Motors, and many more beyond that working on NASCAR engines, he knows a thing or two about internal combustion.

When we showed him the video above from FTC? He was not exactly impressed. Here’s what he had to say:

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There were several comments in the video that caused it to lose all credibility.  Here are a few of them:

  1. “Lead was put in fuel to mitigate the octane requirement increase due to deposit formation.”  Nope.  Lead was put in fuel to increase octane, period.  This octane increase allowed manufacturers to build engines with much higher compression ratio, hence increasing thermal efficiency (increased power output from burning a given volume of fuel).  It is true that carbon deposits were higher back then, but that is because engines were calibrated to run fuel rich (more fuel than oxygen) to increase power output.  We do the same in our race cars.  However, the advent of catalytic converters around the time lead was banned mandated engines run with the exact of ratio of fuel and oxygen to fully consume both.  This stoichiometry change also reduced carbon deposits because there was no longer excess carbon relative to the amount of oxygen.
  2. “Premium fuel burns better than regular fuel and has more detergents to reduce carbon deposits.”  I am not aware of any fuel manufacture who uses an inferior detergent package in regular grades of gasoline.  If anything, premium fuel is more prone to deposits because the increased octane is achieved by increased quantities of carbon-dense aromatic hydrocarbons.  That said, the difference in deposit propensity is extremely small.
  3. “Adding these pellets reduced emissions by 70% and fuel economy by 24%.”  Qualitative statements like that from extremely unscientific tests are red flags for me.  There were some other statements of more reasonable effects, but never an explanation of the mechanism.  I am a big believer in comprehending mechanisms to explain observations.  The mechanism of having a tin-antimony catalyst in the fuel tank that produces molecular changes in fuel composition to reduce deposit propensity totally escapes me.  The function of a catalyst is to encourage chemical reactions that would otherwise not occur.  It is quite easy to quantify the impact though species analysis with and without the pellets.  I cannot find any such analysis.
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Our expert was skeptical as to the value of these so-called “fuel catalyst” devices. via report

As you might expect from someone with a doctorate, Andy didn’t leave it there. “I did a quick Google search and found zero examples substantiating catalytic reactions in fuel from metal additives,” says Andy. “I did see several examples of metal additives in the combustion chamber, and of course metal additives are key to catalytic converter function, but I cannot find any studies quantifying catalytic effects sitting in a fuel tank.”

Beyond that, he points towards the value of common sense. “Another simple question to ask is ‘does it pass the sniff test?'” Andy asks. “The Clean Air Act states that vehicle manufacturers are responsible for ensuring their vehicles meet emissions standards throughout their useful life.” Indeed, used vehicles are tested on a regular basis to ensure manufacturers are compliant with EPA standards. “Are we to believe that auto manufacturers are unaware that a tin-antimony catalyst in their fuel tanks prevents carbon deposits and thereby reduces long-term emissions? ” says Andy. “Nope, doesn’t pass the sniff test!”

His ultimate verdict? “My two cents are to find better ways to waste your money than buying fuel tank pellets,” he says.

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“I watched the video at your link below and didn’t run to place my order for Tin/Antimony pellets!” said Andy. Sorry, Mike.

What Is The Truth?

I’ll be straight up. I’ve been asked to not get The Autopian sued, and I mostly try to stick to that. So I’m not goin to directly call out any particular product or company here. What I will say is that extraordinary claims always require extraordinary evidence. Where companies have made specific claims, or cited actual scientists, I’ve reached out to the scientists involved, and I look forward to their comment. I can’t say anything for certain, but on the surface—there are some big claims being made here without a lot of rock hard evidence.

At this point in time, it’s difficult to point to a straightforward chemical method by which these materials could improve fuel. Does tossing tin-antimony or lead pellets into fuel do anything? I’m not seeing any scientific literature that covers this sort of reaction. Maybe I’ve missed something, but it’s not obviously out there. If it does work, there should be a clear explanation out there of what chemical changes this metal makes to the fuel.

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In any case, there’s a simple sanity check you can do with any product like this. If a few bucks worth of lead or tin or other “catalyst” pellets were enough to make a serious impact on performance, every automaker would be throwing these in the tank of every vehicle. Imagine if these did stop carbon deposits, for example—nobody would have to worry about cleaning intake ports on direct injection cars anymore! You could just throw some pellets in and be done with it. Automakers would prefer that to having to do more servicing and more warranty work.

Bennetts BikeSocial ran a test on a similar product called Tank Chip, made of tin, antimony, and lead. No consequential performance benefits were found. 

And yet, we don’t see a whole lot of metal pellets shipping in fuel tanks from major automakers. Similarly, if a tiny amount of catalyst could easily increase the octane rating of fuel at minimal cost, fuel companies would be doing so at the refinery level instead of messing about with other expensive octane-boosting additives. Particularly if the metal was barely or not-at-all consumed.

In any case, putting lead pellets in your gas tank will do nothing positive for performance. As for these fancy fuel catalyst pellets? Well, I’ll not say anything direct, but you’ll note I’m not spending my own money on these. Dollars for donuts, putting metal in your gas tank just makes your car heavier and will probably make a clanking sound during hard cornering. Save your money for maintenance and real performance upgrades, and avoid the heavy metal snake oil.

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Image credits: FTC Direct via YouTube screenshot, FTC direct via website screenshot, Summit Racing, Fitch, Carbonflo, Penrite, Ethyl Corp, Jynto, CC0 license, Zodiac.nl, eBay, Amazon, Department of Mechanical Engineering – University of Auckland

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Frank Wrench
Frank Wrench
1 month ago

My first job out of college was working for a major oil company (at the time) in R&D for fuel and lube additives. Worked with brilliant chemists (I’m not one) who developed new additives to make better performing fuels and lubes. All of our competitors were similarly staffed.

Slick 50 was the snake oil du jour back then and folks always asked about it when I gave tours of the engine lab. My answer: if it makes you feel good using it, by all means keep doing it. It’s a small price to pay for happiness.

Squirrelmaster
Squirrelmaster
1 month ago
Reply to  Frank Wrench

I had a similar experience working with absolutely brilliant people at an oil refining and specialty chemical company. At no point in time have I ever felt dumber than I did around these people, and I’m generally regarded as a pretty smart engineer, and it was always fun to listen to those chemists and PhD chemical engineers tear into snake oil and “As Seen On TV” things by explaining all the ways they don’t do what people claim but (often) did things nobody realized that were damaging.

The #1 thing I learned from my time there was that there is absolutely nothing on the market of magical chemicals that hasn’t already been tried by both automakers and oil companies – if it isn’t already coming with the car or out of a fuel pump, there’s a very real, tangible reason for its omission.

DialMforMiata
DialMforMiata
1 month ago

I am shocked, shocked, that Mike Brewer would ever associate himself with any product that was less than 100% on the up-and-up.

Turbotictac
Turbotictac
1 month ago
Reply to  DialMforMiata

Well, not that shocked

TheDrunkenWrench
TheDrunkenWrench
1 month ago

Thomas Midgley Jr. is considered to be one of, if not the single most harmful individual to the environment through his discoveries. You get to blame him for the wonderful CFCs that created the hole in the ozone layer! Thankfully we figured out how to largely correct that one.

Ah, here’s a quote:

Environmental historian J. R. McNeill opined that Midgley “had more adverse impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth’s history”

Thomas Midgley Jr. – Wikipedia

Car Guy - RHM
Car Guy - RHM
1 month ago

And he was also killed by one of his own devices.

TheDrunkenWrench
TheDrunkenWrench
1 month ago
Reply to  Car Guy - RHM

They figure it was suicide.

Ecsta C3PO
Ecsta C3PO
1 month ago

Fritz Haber would like a word.
One wonders what our world would be like with a more linear population growth

Rod Millington
Rod Millington
1 month ago

He also made the entire world dumber as there is a direct correlation between lead exposure and intelligence.

DadBod
DadBod
1 month ago

Are these sold next to the EMF blocking devices?

ChefCJ
ChefCJ
1 month ago
Reply to  DadBod

Right behind the devices you plug into your cigarette lighter to get better gas mileage I think

Mechjaz
Mechjaz
1 month ago
Reply to  ChefCJ

No no no, you’ve got to put the fuelshark *in* the gas tank! That’s why they call it a fuel shark, it likes to swim in gas.

Along with Martin, Dutch Gunderson, Lana and Sally Decker
Along with Martin, Dutch Gunderson, Lana and Sally Decker
1 month ago
Reply to  DadBod

Why block EMF? It’s a three-minute song and kind of catchy. Just let it play and move on with your life. Unbelievable…

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
1 month ago

The early eighties Malibu I was assigned back in the day as a company car had been upgraded at the factory with some empty beer cans in the door cavities. Unfortunately the car never ran reliably enough to get a real world evaluation of the benefits out of the additive.

Uncle Cholmondeley
Uncle Cholmondeley
1 month ago

I remember reading back in the 80s about a college football player who claimed to have pulled stunts like that while working on a GM assembly line. It took me a while but I finally remembered his name: Brian Bosworth. That episode actually makes it into the “College controversies” section of his Wikipedia article. I guess being an asshole was kind of his brand.

Angry Bob
Angry Bob
1 month ago

In other news, the earth is flat.

Mike Harrell
Mike Harrell
1 month ago
Reply to  Angry Bob

As a geologist I am outraged by this shocking display of outmoded thought! Please note that the current preferred usage is Earth, capitalized and with no definite article.

Dead Elvis, Inc.
Dead Elvis, Inc.
1 month ago
Reply to  Mike Harrell

Wait, so are you saying that you’re a fan of proto-Black Sabbath, or of Bruce Springsteen’s first band?

Mike Harrell
Mike Harrell
1 month ago

The fact that I’m so insistent about changing the definite article suggests that I’m really more about the British psychedelic scene:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_(British_band)

Dead Elvis, Inc.
Dead Elvis, Inc.
1 month ago
Reply to  Mike Harrell

I assume they provide the soundtrack whenever you drive the KV!

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
1 month ago

Indeed, as I researched further, I eventually found myself querying that tale. Supposedly, during Operation Benedict in World War II, British planes were struggling to operate on low-octane Russian fuel, if you believe Wikipedia. The lone citation for this is a random PDF on the “Broquet Fuel catalyst.” Would you believe it, Broquet is another brand selling these magic beans! According to the story, a special tin catalyst was able to spice up the Russian fuel to help boost the British fighters to their proper performance.

The British were not above spreading disinformation to screw with the Germans:

“During the 1940 Blitzkrieg, the Luftwaffe often struck under the cover of darkness. In order to make it more difficult for the German planes to hit targets, the British government issued citywide blackouts. The Royal Air Force were able to repel the German fighters in part because of the development of a new, secret radar technology. The on-board Airborne Interception Radar (AI), first used by the RAF in 1939, had the ability to pinpoint enemy bombers before they reached the English Channel. But to keep that under wraps, according to Stolarczyk’s research pulled from the files of the Imperial War Museum, the Mass Observation Archive, and the UK National Archives, the Ministry provided another reason for their success: carrots.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-wwii-propaganda-campaign-popularized-the-myth-that-carrots-help-you-see-in-the-dark-28812484/

Given how desperate the German fuel situation was I could see this Operation Benedict being a similar disinformation campaign to tie up German fuel research.

MATTinMKE
MATTinMKE
1 month ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

Who knew carrots were so effective! And tasty too!

Mechjaz
Mechjaz
1 month ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

Ha! I have that third propaganda poster as a postcard on my fridge, and just last week how blew a friend’s mind telling the story of how it was made up to feed the Germans bullshit.

James Hathaway
James Hathaway
1 month ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

That nugget was used by my parents (who grew up in the wreckage of the blitz) to convince me to eat my carrots at dinner!!

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
1 month ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

The German chemical industry was highly developed. Thanks to them we have things like synthetic dies and an opioid epidemic.

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
1 month ago
Arch Duke Maxyenko
Arch Duke Maxyenko
1 month ago

So, you’re telling people to, “stop making Fitch happen, it’s not going to happen.”

Rad Barchetta
Rad Barchetta
1 month ago

COTD

Hugh Crawford
Hugh Crawford
1 month ago

Well lead pellets in the tank worked for the Tyrrell F1 team!

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, google it, it’s a funny story.

Turbeaux
Turbeaux
1 month ago
Reply to  Hugh Crawford

Copied from reddit:

The water tank for that injection system was allowed to be filled in pit stops (refuelling was banned). As it turns out, Tyrrell was running the car 130-150 pounds underweight in the race, and during their final pit stop, the “water” used to top up the injector tank was mostly lead shot.

If you ain’t cheatin, you ain’t tryin’

Last edited 1 month ago by Turbeaux
LTDScott
LTDScott
1 month ago

Perfect compliment to my Peter Brock Energy Polarizer.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Energy_Polarizer

LTDScott
LTDScott
1 month ago
Reply to  LTDScott
David Tracy
David Tracy
1 month ago
Reply to  LTDScott

I own an Energy Polarizer! (Thanks to Laurence).

LTDScott
LTDScott
1 month ago
Reply to  David Tracy

I am genuinely jealous

Michael Beranek
Michael Beranek
1 month ago

Interesting that Brewer was the advocate for this junk, but no sign of Edd China, Ant Anstead, or Marc Priestley, who would actually know something about how engines work.

Rad Barchetta
Rad Barchetta
1 month ago

Right? This may have been exactly what drove Edd and Mike apart.

Luxx
Luxx
1 month ago

Everything I’ve ever heard of about Mike is that he’s in it for the attention and money. So if this company greased his wheels well enough, I’m not surprised he agreed to promote this product.

ChefCJ
ChefCJ
1 month ago
Reply to  Luxx

I have to say in his defense that I met him years ago in Austin while he was making Trading Up, and he was wonderfully sweet to both me and my daughter. He laughed and joked around with, and he was exactly who I hoped he would be. She still talks about meeting ‘the guy from the car show Dad watches’. He may well be in it for the moeny, but at the end of the day, the guy gave me a memory with my daughter that’s worth more money than he could ever make hawking BS products, and I just couldn’t ever hate him because of that.

DialMforMiata
DialMforMiata
1 month ago
Reply to  ChefCJ

I think Mike is probably an absolutely lovely person. I really do. I’d love to have a pint with him and talk cars all day long. That being said, once a used car salesman, always a used car salesman.

Turbotictac
Turbotictac
1 month ago
Reply to  DialMforMiata

He gives me “cool to hang out with, but never to do business with” vibes

Michael Beranek
Michael Beranek
1 month ago
Reply to  Turbotictac

ding ding ding

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 month ago
Reply to  ChefCJ

I’m sure he’s a nice dude, but it also feels like a paycheck is a paycheck, tell me what to say sort of deal

Luxx
Luxx
1 month ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

Bingo. He may very well be a nice guy, but he’s still a shill. And he’s not shilling anything reputable here either.

Chronometric
Chronometric
1 month ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

Stick yer hand out, let’s do a deal.

Luxx
Luxx
1 month ago
Reply to  ChefCJ

All of that is lovely. I’m sure Mike is a nice guy. But he’s still shilling snake oil. And people who might not know any better can watch that and believe what he’s saying and get duped.

ChefCJ
ChefCJ
1 month ago
Reply to  Luxx

Oh I don’t disagree with that at all. You can tell even from early days he’s a guy working to make that buck and doesn’t seem to care much about what he’s selling or whether or not it’s something that’s actually worth buy. As DialM said, once a car salesman and all that, and I would say that’s right. I’m just sating that on a personal level I like the guy he was when I met him and because it was such a joy for my daughter and I.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 month ago

There are a host of anti-science representatives and senators in the US Congress and I have no doubt one (or more) of these credulous buffoons, in exchange for a generous campaign contribution, has tried to push this garbage with the military, which is too often captive to congressional caprice.

IRegertNothing, Esq.
IRegertNothing, Esq.
1 month ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

Like when Congress forced the Army to keep building tanks that they didn’t need because the defense contractor bribed the correct lawmakers.

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 month ago

Or the littoral combat ships the Navy doesn’t want

And the enormous trapezoidal destroyers they don’t really want, either

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 month ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

Or the B-1 bomber, or the dozens of declining, redundant bases the services no longer want, but the BRAC forced them to keep open because they’re all in someone’s district.

Peter d
Peter d
1 month ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

Some much of our arsenal should be outdated. A well designed drone swarm should be more effective than most of our tactical fighter aircraft. Hollywood has the imagination we need – Angel Has Fallen has a (partially effective) drone swarm that imagines where we should be starting. The Ukrainians have further shown effectiveness with low-cost drones. We are always fighting the last war.

DONALD FOLEY
DONALD FOLEY
29 days ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

107th Congress 2nd Session Republican House of Representatives Report.

Spikersaurusrex
Spikersaurusrex
1 month ago

Can you imagine what would happen if you combined these and a Fuel Shark?

Michael Beranek
Michael Beranek
1 month ago

Warp 11 all day

Col Lingus
Col Lingus
1 month ago

Was waiting to see your excellent take.

A guy on Facebook recommends just shoving a fishing weight up it’s ass.

The fuel shark, not your own ass…

Lotsofchops
Lotsofchops
1 month ago

I just tried this and my fuel tank overflowed because I was over 100% efficiency and had NEGATIVE fuel consumption.

My Goat Ate My Homework
My Goat Ate My Homework
1 month ago

A tear in the space/time continuum.

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 month ago

Oh no, I heard somebody’s car exploded from combining a Fuel Shark with magic gas tank beans. Maybe just put only two pellets in the tank to be safe

V10omous
V10omous
1 month ago

Think about it, if these things worked, and automakers could raise their fuel economy appreciably by installing them, we’d have been deprived of compliance cars.

Thank god they are scams or we might never have been blessed with the Fiat 500E.

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
1 month ago

“Given the magnitude of potential fuel savings and emissions reductions, the committee does not understand why the Department has not taken advantage of this technology,” reads the report. The Secretary of Defense is then urged to adopt the technology post haste.

Brought to you by the makers of Fuel Shark.

Hey if you military types like that you’re going to LOVE staring at goats!

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
1 month ago

The reboot/continuing of Cosmos on PBS had a memorable segment on the guy who first figured out and publicized the dangers of TEL, Clare Patterson.

It’s a riveting story of scientific detective work and a cautionary tale about the lengths some interests will go to keep people finding out about the truth.

Peter d
Peter d
1 month ago
Reply to  Jack Trade

The worst part of this is the dangers were known by the developers before the lead was introduced. I say this as someone who is currently detoxing for lead and mercury – and my doctors cannot agree on if I should remove my amalgam fillings.

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
1 month ago
Reply to  Peter d

Sorry to hear that, hope you’re on the mend. It’s amazing to me how lead poisoning is both long lasting and has fairly fast deleterious effects, and yet it was once around much of the population in one form (like cars here) or another, like paint.

TOSSABL
TOSSABL
1 month ago

Yeah, we know this is complete bullshit because, had it worked, Stellantis wouldn’t be cutting V8 production.
Full stop.

IRegertNothing, Esq.
IRegertNothing, Esq.
1 month ago

I imagine that whatever minuscule benefit these products are supposed to offer are more than outweighed by the risk of damaging your car. You can toss the Fuel Shark in the trash where it belongs after you realize it does jack shit for your fuel economy. These things are either stuck in your tank or spliced into the fuel lines.

The best case scenario is that you’ve wasted however much you spent on it. The worst case scenarios are hefty repair bills and possibly a fire.

Last edited 1 month ago by IRegertNothing, Esq.
10001010
10001010
1 month ago

Lewin keeps taking us to school

Michael Beranek
Michael Beranek
1 month ago
Reply to  10001010

I know, right? Love it.

Wuffles Cookie
Wuffles Cookie
1 month ago

Thanks for the detailed article on these chunks of pure, unmitigated bullshit. Dr. Rudolph is the only one who is actually using any of the scientific terminology properly.

“Acts as a catalyst” means “does not chemically interact”, it just helps existing reactions happen faster. Guess what- gasoline sitting in your gas tank does indeed undergo chemical reactions! It oxidizes slowly into various gums, esters, and varnishes that clog the shit out of your fuel system and engine (which is why you should always replace the gas in a car that’s been sitting for a long time before firing up the engine). This does not seem like something you would want to catalyze, rather the reverse. And, as is correctly noted in the article, the only way to “catalyze” the combustion process is to provide oxygen in greater quantities (okay, you could substitute something like fluorine instead, which will make for a very interesting day), and we have forced induction for that.

PlugInPA
PlugInPA
1 month ago
Reply to  Wuffles Cookie

Forget K&N, use O&F!

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
1 month ago
Reply to  Wuffles Cookie

A catalyst can indeed react. What makes them catalysts is they reform in the end so there is no overall NET consumption of the catalyst in the reaction.

Wuffles Cookie
Wuffles Cookie
1 month ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

I am aware, which is why I said “interact” and not “react”, though admittedly that is also imprecise language.

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
1 month ago

Those involved in the additive’s development were aware of its toxicity, but must have deemed the profit opportunities to outweigh the risks.

Privatized gains with socialized risks, what not to love?

Wuffles Cookie
Wuffles Cookie
1 month ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

In all fairness, this is also true of the Haber process, but despite being toxic and a significant environmental hazard, ammonia is absolutely critical to modern agriculture and feeding ~8 billion people. Given how critical combustion engines were to the development of the modern world, I would hesitate to assume a net loss here.

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
1 month ago
Reply to  Wuffles Cookie

In that case the gains are also socialized.

Synthetic ammonia! it’s better than guano!

Wuffles Cookie
Wuffles Cookie
1 month ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

Except American citizens can’t annex unclaimed islands and extend criminal jurisdiction over them in the name of ammonia, has to be guano!

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
1 month ago
Reply to  Wuffles Cookie

Sure we can! After all what is a planet or moon if not an unclaimed island in space?

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens/Saturn_s_moon_shows_evidence_of_ammonia

Wuffles Cookie
Wuffles Cookie
1 month ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

I can’t wait for a bunch of kooky 17th and 18th century maritime laws to be used for justifying spaaaaaace pirates.

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
1 month ago
Reply to  Wuffles Cookie

If you think that’s fun just wait till they start pirating space methane.

The jokes will write themselves!

Freelivin2713
Freelivin2713
1 month ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

They’re home base is Uranus

J Hyman
J Hyman
1 month ago
Reply to  Wuffles Cookie

Except that engines could run fine without the lead if octane rating was adequate; it’s just that it was a tad cheaper to boost octane w TEL than with, y’know, real octane. Not sure making the entire planet dumber for generations was a reasonable tradeoff.

Last edited 1 month ago by J Hyman
Cerberus
Cerberus
1 month ago
Reply to  J Hyman

And more violent, though people have never really needed any additives for that.

Trenton Abernathy
Trenton Abernathy
1 month ago

Here at Fitch, We put the Peddle to the Metal*

*be aware that these products may not perform as advertised

Rippstik
Rippstik
1 month ago

I don’t know what I expected before clicking this article, but I didn’t expect it to be this in-depth. Well done!

Lokki
Lokki
1 month ago
Reply to  BunkyTheMelon

Seriously: is this doxing?

Rad Barchetta
Rad Barchetta
1 month ago
Reply to  Lokki

It’s right there on their “contact us” page, so no.

Lokki
Lokki
1 month ago
Reply to  Rad Barchetta

Okay. I don’t know the rules of the internet very well. Rule 34, sure, but that’s about it.

Rad Barchetta
Rad Barchetta
1 month ago
Reply to  Lokki

<Googles “fuel catalyst porn”>

Huh. how about that.

Last edited 1 month ago by Rad Barchetta
Rad Barchetta
Rad Barchetta
1 month ago
Reply to  BunkyTheMelon

You don’t need an office building or factory if everything is built in China and distributed by Amazon.

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 month ago
Reply to  Rad Barchetta

And everything else is outsourced to an accounting firm, a marketing & sales rep company, and a logistics company

BunkyTheMelon
BunkyTheMelon
1 month ago
Reply to  Rad Barchetta

Bingo

Col Lingus
Col Lingus
1 month ago
Reply to  BunkyTheMelon

So is he gonna give them out as Halloween treats?

Nick Fortes
Nick Fortes
1 month ago
Reply to  BunkyTheMelon

New Hartford, CT, its like 30-40 miles to Lime Rock Park to test their fantastical products, then back home in time for some night skiing at Ski Sundown

Sklooner
Sklooner
1 month ago

All I need to know if if they are compatible with my Fuel Shark

David Tracy
David Tracy
1 month ago
Reply to  Sklooner

haha!

Vic Vinegar
Vic Vinegar
1 month ago
Reply to  Sklooner

Woah, don’t think about combining the two. Big Oil is going to come take you out for destroying demand for gasoline!

Richard O
Richard O
1 month ago
Reply to  Sklooner

It’ll give the Fuel Shark lead poisoning.

3WiperB
3WiperB
1 month ago
Reply to  Sklooner

Be careful. With ideas like this, Big Oil will be coming for you to make you disappear.

Brandon Forbes
Brandon Forbes
1 month ago
Reply to  Sklooner

Funny story. My dad used to do outside sales for a large dealership chain. He sold and delivered auto parts around Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho and drove a lot. The company fully bought into the hype on these and had them installed on every single truck in the fleet. Any guesses as to the impact? Yeah it was none. As expected.

But then they decided that a less restrictive exhaust would do the trick, and put a catback exhaust on every truck. That actually netted a small but measurable improvement in MPG, and did end up saving the company money. My dad quite enjoyed that one because man they sounded good!

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