Hi folks 

 

Every so often I see an advert in my social media feed for stuff called Dipthane, which is a fuel additive and you get 4 doses per bottle. (I often use Millers EcoMax to boost the range a bit)

 

Have any of you heard of it and used it? Is it any good? Any advantages in mpg or power?

 

Your thoughts please 

Edited 7 December, 20232 yr by TheWanderer

There are comments on Honest John for Dipethane (presume same stuff) dating back to 2013 - most seem to consider it 'oil of snake variety' Main use would seem to be eliminating water in fuel - if that was an issue, Iso Alcohol would be cheaper. 

6 minutes ago, Warrior193 said:

There are comments on Honest John for Dipethane (presume same stuff) dating back to 2013 - most seem to consider it 'oil of snake variety' Main use would seem to be eliminating water in fuel - if that was an issue, Iso Alcohol would be cheaper. 

 

Thanks, but I would now consider those results obsolete as they're 10 years old now and fuels & technology have moved on since then, and TBQH I don't rate HJ as I've followed its advice a couple of times and found it wanting.

@Warrior193

Where does the H20 / condensation that gets in a tank then disappear to?

 

The E10 & E5 sold in the UK between November & April is winter spec & a less hygroscopic formulation than summer petrol

 

The E5 97 or 99 ron minimum might well be a higher octane than minimum and it is in parts of the UK. 

 

Lots of people have no idea what the petrol they buy is and then go put additives in.

 

Edited 7 December, 20232 yr by Rooted

@TheWanderer @Warrior193 I've been unable to find a hydrocarbon called "dip(e)thane" in searches. My conclusion is "snake oil" trying to pretend it's a hydrocarbon.

Yeah OK misspelt it. It's Diptane! 🤭

 

 

 

!00% IRISH   

"Unique Worldwide"

 

Are you allowed to say things like that about the Irish?

5 hours ago, TheWanderer said:

Every so often I see an advert in my social media feed for stuff called Dipthane

 

Fessbook?

 

The algorithm has you down as vulnerable.

 

I have to begrudgingly use it, the local buying and selling groups have been of great benefit but I dont click on anything else, I have no Fessbook Friends, I follow nobody and dont award "likes" or make any comments.

 

I did initially look at a couple of things then it became clear that my feed was getting full of similar stuff, I then started deleting or pausing or whatever it would let me do with any adverts that did come up and they reduced to nothing, after a couple of resumptions where I did exactly the same I have not seen anything in my feed that is not a posting from one of the selling groups that I joined, no adverts, "no recommended for you" no scammers no political influencers nothing at all in the last 4 months.

There was an amusing (in hindsight) period where I kept getting stupid postings for some bl00dy kitten rescue centre in the USA, nothing I did would stop them, eventually I found that in my first attempt at blocking them my fat fingers had actually followed them 😄

I would give it a modest thumbs up* when used with the 20+ year old ASV TDI variant on short / medium lenght runs ( no need for it just doing long runs ) .

 

 

"Main use would seem to be eliminating water in fuel"  - Dont think so....at least not on old TDI units. It greatly reduced the smoke output     ( enabled many units to pass the annual car test )

Edited 7 December, 20232 yr by olddog

A great engine, so simple yet gave economy equal to anything I have driven since that has been dripping with electronic wizardry, mine ran really well when dosed with a small amount of petrol, I had recovered a tankfull of petrol with some diesel from when a friend misfuelled his diesel van, it made my neighbours lawmower as sick as a dog but 5 litres added to a full tank of diesel (after it had consumed enough to make space) made it run very smoothly and gave better MPG.

I dont see how something can "eliminate" water content unless it goes through some kind of seperation equipment, otherwise the water remains in the system perhaps in a different form.

It has a certain following over here in Ireland as a means of getting a car through emissions testing.  The general approach is to add to fuel and then give the engine an 'Italian tuneup' and people tend to report back that the car then passed the emissions test that it previously failed.  Of course, in most cases, the Italian tuneup provides the fix.

 

Dipetane used to claim that it was used by Coca Cola (in its fleet's fuel, not as a secret ingredient..), by the Irish army and by a school bus company in the USA.  It also had lab test results showing test bed emission improvements (on older style PD VAG engines).  There was also a letter of approval from a university lecturer in Trinity College Dublin.  All of those claims have now been removed and there is nothing to prove that it actually works.  They even say on their website:

"What to look for when assessing a product such as Dipetane

Does the product have:

1. Chassis Dynonometer tests?
2. Carbon Balance tests
3. Brake Horse Power tests, from an independent and accredited laboratory?

Dipetane has all three of these tests showing significant improvements under laboratory conditions by Independent Internationally Accredited testing houses."

 

If anyone can find the above test results on their website, I'd be very grateful if you could point me to it as I've looked and can't see anything other than vague claims.

 

Maybe it works.  I remain unconvinced.  I tried it a few years ago out of curiousity and didn't see any fuel economy improvement.

The MSDS for it is at https://www.partinfo.co.uk/files/COSHH-MSDS Information/Dipetane/Irish MSDS for Dipetane.pdf

 

Unfortunately it's not very helpful in identifying composition (sometimes the MSDS will list key ingredients).

 

The thing that's always made me suspicious of this stuff is their claim that it works with petrol and diesel. Given how different the fuels and their respective combustion cycles are, I doubt it's any use since optimising for one severely limits its functionality in the other.

The Irish Army never went far by road other than on Peace Keeping Missions abroad did they with it being a neutral country? 

18 hours ago, J.R. said:

I dont see how something can "eliminate" water content unless it goes through some kind of seperation equipment, otherwise the water remains in the system perhaps in a different form.

Alcohol has an affinity to water. Dosing fuel with alcohol makes any excess moisture it contains miscible and is then burnt.   

I was never good at science but ethanol is alcohol and alcohol is very hygroscopic as it absorbs H20.

 

Is that how the h20 gets burnt then?     The winter formulation petrol for the UK contains less ethanol does it not, so why add more with this additive?