Motortec Magazine -
www.motortecmag.com - January, 2001
TK 7 Fuel Additive - Page 3
Cylinder Bore Wear
The time each of the 850 test motors was run for was the equivalent of some 13,000 miles. Each was used with quality synthetic oil (Mobil 1) which was changed 50 hours. All cylinders of the un-additized fuel test motor showed a typical wear pattern. This was the formation of a step were the top ring comes to a stop at the top of the stroke. This step is caused by two distinct events taking place. First as the piston slows the ring is less able to "hydroplane" over the oil film and has more time to push through the what ever film there may be this far up the bore above the oil control ring.
The negative effect of reduced ring face to cylinder wall interface lubrication is compounded when combustion takes place. The pressure in the combustion chamber rises and as this pressure builds behind the top ring it forces the ring harder onto the bore. This brings about an even greater tendency to squeeze the oil from between the ring and the cylinder wall. As the piston gains speed down the bore so hydrodynamic lubrication once more comes into effect.
The forgoing then explains why we see most of the bore wear at the top of the bore. If this area can be effectively lubricated then it is reasonable to suppose ring and bore life could be significantly extended. Because the combustion process causes part of the TK7 formula to turn into a lubricant a process along the following lines is envisaged to be a mechanism by which positive results could be achieved.
As combustion takes place so a layer of TK7 lubricant, probably only a few hundred molecules thick, is deposited on the cylinder walls. This process continues during virtually the entire power stroke length. As the piston returns up the bore so the ring rides on either the oil film from the crank case oil or, as the top of the stroke is reached, the oil film deposited by the TK7. If this film can last just 2 revolutions of the motor it will be replaced at the next combustion cycle. If this successfully happens we have a mechanism that could prevent the ring from ever experiencing any real metal to metal contact with the cylinder wall.
Well, like a lot of things this all sounds good in theory but let's see if it works out in the real world. Bearing in mind that a race motor losses more HP from ring and bore wear than from any other single factor other than a breakage or blow up I was anxious to see the state of the bores and rings of the TK7 additized fuel motor.
Bore Measurements
Normally now would be a good time to do a chart but in this instance there would be little point because a few words will sum up the situation. The bore wear on the TK7 fueled motor was so small that on three of the four cylinders my 40 millionths resolving dial gauge could not measure it. Only on one cylinder was I able to measure any wear. So as to be conservative and less than fair to the TK7's ability to combat wear I took the least worn cylinder of the "before" test and compared it with the most worn cylinder of the 'after' test thus showing TK7 in it's worst light. The result was that the TK7 treated fuel cut bore wear by no less than 600% ! Similar measurements comparing the before and after change in ring gaps revealed a similarly large trend toward reduced wear. In this instance it was more practical to take an average as ring gaps change at a rate equal to the surface wear x Pi. These measurements showed ring wear to be reduced by 350%.
Test results as positive as the those seen from the bore and ring wear tests can be a little worrying. With such a vast difference involved I had to ask if there might not be other factors involved such as one block being of better cast iron then the other. If such was the case then maybe as much as half the wear reduction shown by the use of TK7 could have been from this source. Obviously TK7 did reduce wear but 600% seemed like a quantum step and then some. Without some corroborating evidence I was reluctant confirm the 600% as a realistic number. This continued to be the case until Caterpillar, well respected in the industry for the standard of their testing, had even more positive results with big diesel's subjected to high load 252 hour durability test. Their tests showed an improvement from near total piston failure at the end of 252 hours to long term survival with minimal wear.
Fuel System Cleaner Test
This group of tests was the least informal of all our tests. This was primarily the case because I got hold of some comprehensive tests done by one of the industries top test facilities, namely Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio Texas. All of their lab test results showed TK7 to be an effective deposit remover and system cleaner. Based on this I made the decision to do both short and long term field tests on vehicles in use.
The long term test essentially involved my 350 injected Chevy truck. Short term tests were done on a couple of acquired cars known to have dirty injectors.
First the truck, this was run with TK7 from the day I collected it from the dealer. Although I might miss pouring TK7 into the tank at every fill up, the TK7, in much greater dilutions than recommended, was still there. So it is unlikely that until the day I sold it this motor was ever run without at least some of the wear inhibiting properties of TK7. As for crank case oil 98% of the time this motor had Mobil 1 or Castrol Syntec. At 2400 miles the truck was tested for output on a chassis dyno. It made a peak of 172 HP at the rear wheels. Also the compression pressures and the cylinder leak-down was tested. At 98,000 miles the truck was re-dynoed on the same dyno and returned 177 HP. The compression pressures and the leak-down, when tested showed virtually the same average figures as the test at 2400 miles. For all practical purposes this motor was still as new. An injector inspection showed these to be about as clean as the day they were installed.
I picked up a Pontiac 6000 LE V6 that had been used almost exclusively for freeway miles only. It had seen regular oil changes at 3000 miles during it's 114,000 mile life and the motor was a gem. However the idle was far from being as smooth as one would expect from an injected V6. Before adding any TK7 to see if it would straighten out the idle problem it was emission tested and a drive from Riverside, California to Tucson Arizona and back was made. The car failed the emission test with an out of spec idle and on it's 900-mile trip netted a little over 21 mpg.
At this point I thought I would get the injectors clean quicker than waiting for a whole tank of fuel to go through the system so I poured two bottles of TK7 Super Power Booster (rather than the Injector and Carburetor Cleaner) into a full tank of fuel. In this instance this proved to be a case of over kill. About 10 miles and five stop lights later the car was idling as smooth as it should. A few weeks later a second round trip from Riverside to Tucson and back showed mileage up to 24.9 mpg. This car, with substantially lower figures, also passed it's emission tests second time around. Similar results were seen on the other test vehicle.
Conclusions
A point I need to make clear here is that I was for the most part, testing the Injector & Carburetor Cleaner which is intended primarily to clean fuel systems and provide top notch upper cylinder lubrication. This it did but I feel I should mention, for the benefit of those who's priority is power output, that TK7 has a Race Gas Formula, their RGF additive. I did not test that because that was not what the FTC were into TAL Technologies for. After not only my tests but also our Mopar editor Chrysler Steve's separate ( on a different dyno and Chrysler motor) tests with the Super Power Booster I am anxious to test the RGF. For most of MotorTec readers I would assume that either the Super Power Booster (for street use) or the RGF (for competition use) would fit requirements best.
I am pleased to say that I am not the only one to have found TK7 beneficial. Some major fuel company's servicing large, less developed areas outside of the US, are finding it cheaper to meet road octane and emission requirements by using TK7 concentrate in the bulk fuel instead of brewing a higher quality fuel. The findings of these other users and big company's goes a long way toward helping me feel more comfortable with my own test results.
Since the subject of cost has been broached it is worth pointing out that at about $7.95 a bottle it is cheaper to use this stuff than not by a big margin. If you work out the numbers the savings in fuel costs due to increase mileage plus the savings from considerably extended motor wear life make it an extremely cost effective product to use. If it's just the improved wear and clean fuel systems that your are after I have found that the amount of TK7 can be reduced to about one bottle for 80 gallons of fuel and this makes it really cheap.
For what it's worth, since I use it in all my dyno motors (which are inevitably costly units) and street vehicles I get it by the 24 bottle case as this is more convenient. Although the situation may change, most speed shops do not have TK7 yet so you will need to order from a dealer or the factory. The contact source is at the end of the feature text.
For a race vehicle the fact that the motor will maintain it's power because ring and valve seal will not degrade is important. For sure TK7 has the potential to double the life of a race motor as well as make the vehicle a little faster. If your $10,000 race motor lasts twice as long between rebuilds a considerable sum of money has been saved and can be spent elsewhere (tires?). If you check out the cost of treating the fuel in terms of cents per gallon you will also find TK7 to be about the least expensive additive on the market assuming the ones used as a comparison actually work (big assumption!.
And Finally -----
At one time I really wanted to get onto the FTC's case concerning their seemingly aggressive action against TAL Technologies that produces TK7. Apparently, without running a single test of their own, they decided to take this company to court over what they saw as outlandishly exaggerated claims. I don't think they picked on the TAL Technologies alone so there seems at least, to be no malice involved. However, the irony here is that after almost bankrupting this then small company, they did not even offer an apology after the product was shown to work.
Now lets be fair about this, the FTC does a lot of great work weeding out charlatans that they rarely get due credit for but I thought that weeding out one of the few good guys was a counter productive step. However it is all too easy to be critical of others and that became clear to me when I put myself in the position of an FTC official. Bearing in mind my own very negative experiences with additives would I have done any different - probably not! Even after all these tests I'm still a little gun shy when it comes to additives so I'm not making a single claim as to what TK7 will do for your vehicle. I use it as a matter of course in all my dyno test motors but you have the results I got - so decide for yourself.
P.S.
I want to thank Arias for making my special pistons, FelPro for gaskets and Comp Cams for grinding my one off spec cam. When I ordered this cam Scooter Brothers (Comp's technical director) said he was sure it's use would lead to detonation - how right he was!
Sources for purchasing TK-7 products:
BND Automotive LLC
Rushwood Lane
PO Box 670016
Sagamore Hills, Ohio 44067
440-821-9040 phone
413-521-7173 fax
www.bndautomotive.com
TK7 Quick Check
Type of Additive - Fuel
Claimed Functions: primary
Injector and fuel system cleaner
Claimed Functions: secondary
Boosts power and "apparent" octane. Reduces cylinder bore, piston and ring wear and reduces valve seat recessions.
Did TK7 clean the fuel system ?
YES
Did TK7 increase mileage ?
YES
Did TK7 boost power ?
YES - By an average of 1.6% based on test results from 8 street type low compression motors. Significantly greater increases seen in high compression motors.
Did TK7 increase octane effect ?
YES - In our 14/1 cooled manifold test motor, the apparent octane test referenced to spark advance increased by 3 octane and referenced to power increased 9.7 octane.
Did TK7 cut ring and bore wear ?
YES - Our 500 hour tests showed bore wear was reduced by 600% minimum.
Did TK7 cut exhaust seat recession ?
YES - Exhaust seat recession was reduced by 362%.
Did this product generally meet the manufacturers claims ?
YES
MotorTec Magazine Product Rating - 5 stars