Gas additives - cleaning fuel system, Comments on

[bcassedy]

Our Big M '88 Marquis has Crusader 454 cu in engines. I doubt seriously that the carbs have ever been "cleaned". In looking online I've run across a product, BG 44K, which purports to clean fuel systems with, potentially, 1 treatment (1 can / 20 gallons of gas). Not wanting to repeat an earlier mistake, I wanted to see if anyone here may have used the product and their results.

In order to effectively use the product, I'd have to put in a "T" in the fuel lines with a standard 6 gallon portable gas tank that would allow switching from the main 175 gal tank(s) to the treated 6 gal tank. It would be inconvenient to run through 5 gal, stop engine, transfer another 5 gal to the 6 gal portable tank, restart engine, run and repeat 2 more times (20 gal total), then repeat with the other engine. Having 2 portable setups would probably make more sense and not that much more money. To attain the correct the product's fuel/treatment ration using the main tanks would be unnecessarily expensive, hence the use of portable tanks.

Comments? Suggestions?

Bill

[jralbert]

why do you think the carbs need cleaning? and wouldn't some less cumbersome product added to fuel do the same job? (I've gotten skeptical about fuel additive cleaning/polishing/preservation claims)

[bcassedy]

Joel,

It's more a matter of not having accurate information on the maintenance of the engines. We've had the boat since 2023. it was owned by someone who assured us "all the boat's systems are working!" They were not! He really had no business owning a boat. I spent many hours fixing, repairing and replacing items and systems he didn't know how to fix, didn't feel inclined to fix or just turned a blind eye towards items and systems that needed attention. The fuel system isn't something I can afford to ignore, But, like you, I've dealt with too many "snake oil" products promising amazing results. And since an engine tear down would be costly and possibly not as necessary as it could be, using a bona fide product that has data to back its claims may be a way to see what performance improvisamente can be attained.

Bill