Real-World comparison test: Optilube

[air1mtt]

Thank you for taking the time with your experiment and posting the results. Much appreciated.

 

[marc_brown98]

Interesting reading and thanks for putting the time to share your information. Short of lab conditions and many devices, it would be very difficult for the average consumer to track this other than by observational tracking and logging. Dyno's are 1 tool for observing performance, they also can be very easily manipulated too.
Too many variables can affect performance that a dyno can't always measure or compensate for.

 

[steve05ram360]

a dyno would be perfect for testing like this. Calibrate it, run a duration test with a load, make the change, then rerun the test and finally check the dyno calibration. Enclose that in a temp controlled room and thats about all the average joe could ask for. Measure the fuel used each time, verify the load ramps & duration on the dyno and you'd have a pretty good idea of whats what.

The only time you'd want to manipulate the dyno would be before the test to get repeatability out of it. Once you have that, no reason to mess with it.

 

[DubFamily]

Last tank completed; here are the full results:

Round 1:

• Optilube Summer Tank 1: (1oz added 4/24/13) 616.9 miles; 14.310 gallons added; 43.110 mpg
• Optilube Summer Tank 2: (1oz added 4/29/13) 613.1 miles; 14.164 gallons added; 43.286 mpg
• Optilube Summer+ Tank 1: (2oz added 5/03/13) 604.1 miles; 14.044 gallons added; 43.015 mpg
• Optilube Summer+ Tank 2: (2oz added 5/09/13) 606.0 miles; 13.902 gallons added; 43.591 mpg
• Un-additized Diesel Tank 1: (Pure D2 added 5/15/13) 573.7 miles; 13.806 gallons added; 41.554 mpg
  [*]Un-additized Diesel Tank (Outlier): (Pure D2 added 5/21/13) 605.2 miles; 13.638 gallons added; 44.361 mpg
• Un-additized Diesel Tank 2: (Pure D2 added 5/24/13) 567.2 miles; 13.990 gallons added; 40.543 mpg
• Optilube XPD Tank 1: (4oz added 5/30/13) 621.9 miles; 13.918 gallons added; 44.683 mpg
• Optilube XPD Tank 2: (4oz added 6/05/13) 609.7 miles; 13.723 gallons added; 44.429 mpg

Round 2:

• Optilube Summer Tank 3: (1oz added 7/10/13) 656.1 miles; 14.726 gallons added; 44.554 mpg
• Optilube Summer Tank 4: (1oz added 7/15/13) 618.3 miles; 14.264 gallons added; 43.347 mpg
• Optilube Summer Tank 5: (1oz added 7/19/13) 603.0 miles; 13.516 gallons added; 44.614 mpg
• Optilube Summer+ Tank 3: (2oz added 7/26/13) 650.0 miles; 14.677 gallons added; 44.287 mpg
• Optilube Summer+ Tank 4: (2oz added 8/02/13) 643.8 miles; 14.257 gallons added; 45.157 mpg
• Optilube Summer+ Tank 5: (2oz added 8/09/13) 600.2 miles; 12.095 gallons added; 49.624 mpg
• Un-additized Diesel Tank 3: (Pure D2 added 8/15/13) 524.0 miles; 13.792 gallons added; 37.993 mpg
• Un-additized Diesel Tank 4: (Pure D2 added 8/27/13) 569.5 miles; 13.796 gallons added; 41.280 mpg
• Un-additized Diesel Tank 5: (Pure D2 added 9/03/13) 586.6 miles; 14.307 gallons added; 41.001 mpg
• Optilube XPD Tank 3: (4oz added 9/08/13) 609.2 miles; 14.173 gallons added; 42.983 mpg
• Optilube XPD Tank 4: (4oz added 9/13/13) 651.4 miles; 14.251 gallons added; 45.709 mpg
• Optilube XPD Tank 5: (4oz added 9/18/13) 679.4 miles; 14.241 gallons added; 47.707 mpg

Round 3 (Double Dose):

• Optilube Summer Tank 1: (2oz added 9/23/13) 628.3 miles; 14.216 gallons added; 44.197 mpg
• Optilube Summer Tank 2: (2oz added 9/30/13) 638.0 miles; 14.438 gallons added; 44.189 mpg
• Optilube Summer+ Tank 1: (4oz added 10/05/13) 618.9 miles; 13.695 gallons added; 45.192 mpg
• Optilube Summer+ Tank 2: (4oz added 10/11/13) 605.8 miles; 13.657 gallons added; 44.358 mpg
• Optilube XPD Tank 1: (8oz added 10/17/13) 624.7 miles; 14.253 gallons added; 43.829 mpg
• Optilube XPD Tank 2: (8oz added 10/24/13) 579.5.7 miles; 14.176 gallons added; 40.879 mpg

I am running 1 last tank of un-additized diesel to compare to these last two tanks, as I believe temperature has had a strong effect on results for the end of testing. I'll post that final tank up in a few days.

I plan to do some winter testing as well, if anyone has any ideas or requests send them to me and I'll start a new thread soon.

 

[steve05ram360]

No doubt the cooler temps are causing the mpg to dip, the test I ran in the post below was back to back, same night with & without grille blocks.

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/5896337-post168.html

I say if your going to continue testing you should re-establish a baseline w/o additives then start over with the XPD tests...

 

[tdiatlast]

Also, post your total miles on the car. TDIs take longer to fully break in, or at least, earlier TDIs. Some here think "break-in" is an antiquated reality, with tighter engineering tolerances.
Still, I'd like to see your total miles in the posts.
Thanks for doing this.

 

[ISurvivedNMU]

Also, post your total miles on the car. TDIs take longer to fully break in, or at least, earlier TDIs. Some here think "break-in" is an antiquated reality, with tighter engineering tolerances.
Still, I'd like to see your total miles in the posts.
Thanks for doing this.

Per Fuelly he should be over 56K

 

[DubFamily]

Also, post your total miles on the car. TDIs take longer to fully break in, or at least, earlier TDIs.

Per Fuelly he should be over 56K

Just about; I am currently at ~55,900 +/- about 10 miles (I don't remember offhand exactly where it was when I parked it, but it's close to that).

tdiatlast; I firmly believe break-in is still important to the newer cars as well. If you take a look at my fuelly numbers through last winter you'll see that I never really lost any economy. I believe this is in large part due to the car still continuing to break in throughout the winter; so as temps got colder, the car still averaged the same.

Once warmer weather started to hit I steadily increased overall averages until ~July/August; so that tends to confirm my belief, though I can't prove it of course.

 

[DubFamily]

No doubt the cooler temps are causing the mpg to dip, the test I ran in the post below was back to back, same night with & without grille blocks.

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/5896337-post168.html

I say if your going to continue testing you should re-establish a baseline w/o additives then start over with the XPD tests...

That was basically my thinking as well; though I figured on testing XPD, Winter formula, and a blend (1/2 winter dose of each, or 4 oz XPD and 2 oz winter). I was also thinking of adding in Power Service white bottle to the testing to see how it compares

Thoughts/ideas?

 

[kjclow]

If you look at the data averages without consideration for temperature and break in flucations, summer blend give a 3.4 mpg boost, summer + and XPD give a 4.7 mpg boost. Doubling the amount added another 0.5 mpg for the summer blend but decreased the gain for the summer+ and the XPD.

MPG Averages: (includes the outliers) Second number is calculated miles per 14 gallon fill
D2 40.48 567
Summer 43.78 613
2X Summer 44.2 619
Summer+ 45.14 632
2X Summer + 44.80 627
XPD 45.10 631
2X XPD 42.35 592

Thanks Dub. Only question I have is what is the added price per tank for the additive?

 

[DubFamily]

My guess is Cetane only helps up to a certain upper limit; once you reach/breach that it starts to become a detriment. There is no way to confirm this, however, unless we could test the fuel to find it's original cetane rating.

I bought all of them on the group buy, so I would have to figure out the per ounce cost but I can post that if you like.

 

[kjclow]

Additives in general will only give a benefit up to a certain level and then you start to get what's referred to as interaction interference. Some times the additives can give a response that looks like a wave. level 1 is the top, double that it you hit the bottom but add a 3x amount and you back at the top. As a chemist, I have to balance the good and bad factors of additives. Sometimes, you have to add a second additive because your first one brings with it unavoidable negaitve side effects.

 

[steve05ram360]

That was basically my thinking as well; though I figured on testing XPD, Winter formula, and a blend (1/2 winter dose of each, or 4 oz XPD and 2 oz winter). I was also thinking of adding in Power Service white bottle to the testing to see how it compares

Thoughts/ideas?

On the ram I used to see about a 1 mpg bump during the summer. IIRC 16 oz to 34 gallons of diesel. No real testing of any kind back then, just tank to tank averages.

 

[jay_fyp]

That was basically my thinking as well; though I figured on testing XPD, Winter formula, and a blend (1/2 winter dose of each, or 4 oz XPD and 2 oz winter). I was also thinking of adding in Power Service white bottle to the testing to see how it compares
Thoughts/ideas?

Been following this thread since the beginning, very cool and thanks for sharing the experiment. I wouldn't mind seeing what your findings are with the Power Service white bottle added to your test, actually would be very interested.

 

[JeffDes4]

New to this thread. Great comparison, thanks for sharing the details of the tests. I have often wondered whether or not to try their winter blend or just go with the original and stick with it all year long. Seems easier to go with one.

 

[pdt165]

Time to add the new BOOST to the test.

 

[Kansas Slim]

Just ran across this thread. Thanks for the work, Dub. Just one question...on 10 and 26 Jul you pumped more than 14.5 gal. Did you have to add a bit somewhere to ensure you made it to your usual Shell station?

Optilube Summer Tank 3: (1oz added 7/10/13) 656.1 miles; 14.726 gallons added; 44.554 mpg

Optilube Summer+ Tank 3: (2oz added 7/26/13) 650.0 miles; 14.677 gallons added; 44.287 mpg

 

[DubFamily]

No, nothing added. I just know my car has plenty of room left even when it gets to "0 miles to empty" so I didn't worry about it and drove to my station.

 

[TxTDINerd]

My Opti-Lube Cocktail Recipe

My testing Opti-Lube cocktail recipe is:

7.5 ounces XL
7.5 ounces XPD
3.0 ounces Boost!

I put the portions in the 8 ounce bottles that I ordered with each one along with the pump head for the gallons of each product I ordered.

I pour the three components in then fill up with diesel.

 

[DubFamily]

Question 1: Why? You are "creating" almost nothing more than a blended version of XPD for approximately triple the cost...

Question 2: How much of that blend are you putting in each tank? 1oz of XL and 1oz of Boost! are plenty to provide solid results based on testing. If you are putting all of that in each tank then I only have one word for you...



STOP

 

[ISurvivedNMU]

Question 1: Why? You are "creating" almost nothing more than a blended version of XPD for approximately triple the cost...

Question 2: How much of that blend are you putting in each tank? 1oz of XL and 1oz of Boost! are plenty to provide solid results based on testing. If you are putting all of that in each tank then I only have one word for you...



STOP

Someone has to keep Opti-Lube in business.......

 

[tomo366]

Someone has to keep Opti-Lube in business.......

LOLOL....