Swiss Clock Car - Sub-section 7.3

How to Make Your Car Run Like a Swiss Clock to Save Time & Save Money

7.3 Fuel system

Red = What to Do or Not to Do to Avoid Damage to the Vehicle or Danger to Yourself

Blue = What to Do or Not to Do to Avoid Wear and Tear on the Vehicle or to Enhance the Performance and Reliability of the Vehicle

Green = Helpful Tip to Save Time or Save Money

After filling up the fuel tank with fuel at the service station and putting the fuel cap back on the filler pipe to the fuel tank, it is important to wash the area right around the fuel cap down with water from the plastic watering can, which is normally on-hand, to remove any traces of fuel which may have spilled onto the vehicle’s paintwork or onto any other parts of the vehicle while filling the fuel tank. Fuel spilled on the paintwork or other parts of the vehicle can cause permanent staining if it is not washed off. It doesn’t take very long at all to permanently stain the paintwork and the result is very unsightly. It is best to wash the area right around the fuel cap down in this way as a precaution even if you are not aware of having spilled any fuel onto the paintwork or other parts of the vehicle.

If you spill fuel on the paintwork or other parts of the vehicle in the course of filling the fuel tank, don’t wait until you are finished filling the fuel tank to wash the fuel off with water like I did once. After continuing to pump the fuel until the tank was full, replacing the fuel cap on the filler pipe and then washing the spilled fuel off of the paintwork, polyurethane bumper, tyre and wheel, I discovered to my horror that I had barely stopped the fuel from staining the paintwork. It literally takes less than two minutes for the fuel to stain the paintwork in this way. So if you spill fuel while pumping fuel, hang the fuel nozzle up, even if you haven’t finished filling the tank, put the fuel cap back on the filler pipe to the fuel tank and wash the fuel off with water immediately. After washing it off, you can finish filling the fuel tank with fuel. Next time, I’ll take my own advice.

Use Blue Sky Clean Air fuel additive every time you fill up the vehicle with fuel to keep the fuel system free of carbon deposits, varnish and gummy deposits from the fuel. This includes the fuel injection system and extends to the combustion chambers in the cylinders which are also kept free of carbon deposits through the use of this fuel additive. The net result of all of this is more efficient operation of the fuel injection system, smoother engine performance and better fuel economy.

It is important to keep the combustion chambers free of carbon deposits because they interfere with the correct combustion of the fuel according to the preset ignition timing. Hot, glowing carbon deposits in the combustion chambers tend to ignite the fuel/air mixture earlier than it otherwise would be by the spark plug which impedes fuel economy. This is also known as pre-ignition. What ends up happening is that the force generated by the early combustion of the fuel opposes the movement of the piston which is still on the up-stroke rather than driving it downwards on the down-stroke as it should. This opposition between the piston moving upwards and the early combustion of the fuel generating force downwards can lead to serious engine damage.

Blue Sky Clean Air fuel additive also improves upper cylinder lubrication and thereby reduces wear in the cylinders where the piston rings meet the cylinder walls.

It makes a lot more sense to use a high-quality fuel additive like Blue Sky Clean Air every time you fill up the vehicle with fuel to keep the fuel injection system perpetually clean than it does to pay a mechanic so many hundreds of dollars to pull the fuel injection system apart and clean the fuel injectors from carbon deposits, varnish and gummy deposits from the fuel. It’s a lot cheaper also, costing less than 1 cent per kilometre. The fuel injection system contains precision-engineered components which are much better off being cleaned internally by a high-quality fuel additive than being disassembled, cleaned and reassembled. A sure sign of a vehicle that is maintained properly and correctly is that there’s seldom a need to pull anything on the vehicle apart, aside from expected routine maintenance. I personally use Blue Sky Clean Air fuel additive every time I fill up with fuel so that, among other things, I never have to disassemble the fuel injection system. The website for this fuel additive is www.blueskycleanair.com .

The easiest way to dispense Blue Sky Clean Air fuel additive is to keep the following items in a plastic carton in the boot of your vehicle:
- Two 360mL (12 ounce) containers of Blue Sky Clean Air fuel additive which will last about 20 tanks of fuel based on fills of 45L (12 gallons) and an application rate of 30mL (1 ounce) of Blue Sky Clean Air fuel additive per 38 litres (10 gallons) of fuel which equates to about 32mL of additive per 40L of fuel. (One ounce is approximately 30mL and 1 gallon is 3.8L.)
- A small, air-tight, plastic container with a lid that locks closed for holding approximately 50-100mL (2-3 ounces) of Blue Sky Clean Air fuel additive.
- Two 25mL (1 ounce) plastic syringes in a labelled, snap-lock bag for filling up with the correct volume of fuel additive out of the above, opened, plastic container holding approximately 50-100mL (2-3 ounces) of fuel additive and dispensing the fuel additive into the fuel tank. (You can also keep several other plastic syringes as spares in a separate labelled, snap-lock bag because after about four uses, the fuel additive will dissolve the volume scale marked on the outside of the plastic syringes so that it can’t be read, rendering them useless for measuring out the correct amount of fuel additive to be used.)
After dispensing the fuel additive into the fuel tank from the plastic syringes and screwing the fuel cap back on, it’s good practice to wash the area around the fuel tank opening down with water to wash away any fuel additive that may have dripped onto it and could possibly dissolve the paintwork in a manner similar to the way it removes carbon build-up inside the fuel injectors and combustion chambers.

Change the fuel filter every 12 months or 20,000 kilometres (12,000 miles), whichever comes first. (It’s best to change the fuel filter every twelve months even if as little as 10,000 kilometres (6,000 miles) has been driven.) A blocked fuel filter can cause the electric fuel pump to fail. This pump is often located inside the fuel tank itself and is therefore often hard to get to. So replacing it is an expensive job. It’s good insurance and a small price to pay to simply change the fuel filter every 12 months or 20,000 kilometres (12,000 miles), whichever comes first, to prevent the electric fuel pump from ever failing.

If your vehicle’s engine has electronic fuel injection (EFI), be sure to relieve the high fuel pressure in the fuel lines connected to the fuel filter, according to the instructions in the workshop manual for your specific vehicle, before disconnecting these lines from the filter. An engine with EFI operates with a much higher fuel pressure in the fuel lines than an engine with a carburettor. Failure to relieve the pressure in the fuel lines will result in fuel spraying out everywhere (including into your face and over your clothes) at high pressure from the hose fittings connected to the filter as they are unfastened. This is very unpleasant and is best avoided. Even after the pressure in the fuel lines has been relieved, it is still worth placing a rag over the hose fittings at the filter when disconnecting them to capture any fuel that might spray out.

Change the air filter at the interval specified in the owner’s manual or workshop manual for your vehicle or even sooner. A clogged air filter will have a detrimental effect on fuel economy because insufficient air will flow to the combustion chambers to enable the fuel to burn, resulting in wasted, unburnt fuel and less power being supplied to the wheels.

Better still, purchase a high-quality K&N air filter for your vehicle. A K&N air filter captures smaller particles of dirt and also, amazingly, increases the air flow to the engine, enabling more efficient combustion of the fuel, which leads to better fuel economy and more power when needed. One outstanding benefit of this brand of filter is that it is guaranteed to last for ten years from the date of purchase and requires very little maintenance. Cleaning and re-oiling it once a year is more than adequate to keep it in peak condition. This sure beats purchasing a new air filter every year and results in much better engine performance and fuel economy.

Check the engine idle speed once every 12 months or 20,000 kilometres (12,000 miles), whichever comes first, and set it correctly according to specifications if it is found to be out of adjustment. An excessively high engine idle speed causes excessive fuel consumption and poor engine performance.

The correct idle speed for a vehicle’s engine can be found on the Vehicle Emission Control Information label on the underside of the front of the bonnet, provided that the engine in the vehicle is the original, factory-fitted engine or one identical to it (such as a reconditioned engine of the same type). Refer to a workshop manual for your specific vehicle for the correct procedure and equipment required for setting the engine idle speed.