Real-World Testing: Round 2

DubFamily

Veteran Member
Joined
May 30, 2012
Location
Swan Point, MD
TDI
2014 BMW 328D xDrive
Do keep in mind, though: Other than testing like this; I use optilube in every tank and I enjoy driving my car daily :D
 

Sigforty

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2013
Location
Prairieville, LA
TDI
2012 Passat w/DSG
I am surprised the XL did not do better than the XPD. I guess the Summer + with the centane boost makes a difference for you.
 

tdiatlast

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
TDI
2009 Sportwagen (boughtback); 2014 Passat TDI SEL (boughtback)
Sigforty: The XL has 1/3 the cetane boost additive that XPD does, IIRC. It's primary purpose is lubricity, not cetane boost, which may/ may not be why the MPG increase was less than the XPD.
 

tikal

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
Ok, so I will do my attempt on a cost per mile basis with the results on this test with the following assumptions:
* Minimum treat ratios for a 15 gallon tank per Opti-Lube (1:400 for Power Service)
* Average cost of D2 = $3.75/gallon
* Opti-lube costs based on group buy (without accessories) + 7% tax + $4.75 shipping. XPD/XL bought separately
* Power Service cost: from Walmart = $21 + 7% tax for 80 oz

My initial thought is that for areas that have D2 cetane in the high 40's such as parts of central/SE Texas and California the extra cost of XPD might not pay off. Of course there are many other factors but this effort (and other similar tests) cannot be ignored. Another very important factor is how to you value the added value of increased lubricity that Opti-Lube and Power Service additives provide (which is probably the main reason they are used).
(edited, hopefully my chart is more readable)
 
Last edited:

loudspl

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2005
Location
Osakis, Minnesota
TDI
02 ASV w/ 02J
* Power Service cost: from Walmart = $21 + 7% tax for 80 oz
Power Service DK 80oz 6pk from Amazon ships free w/Prime:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B008YFHCV8/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

$12.48/ea. + tax if Amazon collects tax in your state

Power Service white bottle 80oz 6pk from Amazon ships free w/Prime:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HZGXAQ/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

$12.46/ea. + tax if Amazon collects tax in your state

So per oz calculations comparison based on "group buy" club pricing of larger 5gal pails "a la carte" vs. Amazon rates seen above:

XL: $0.26/oz

XPD: $0.36/oz

PS Gray or White: $0.16/oz

It would be interesting to see how the Power Service stuff would perform vs. the other guys at the same cost per dose level. It might paint a different picture given that you could use ~double the amount used in the study for the same cost as XPD :)
 

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
From dubfamily's earlier, he did not see that going over the recommended dosage for any of the additives gave much better mileage.
 
Last edited:

tikal

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
I guess my intend with the cost of Power Service was to reflect the reality of people buying it from the store as opposed to mail order. Here is the summary of my results:

Additive____________Cost per mile
None (D2)__________$0.093
XPD_______________$0.087
Power Service_______$0.091
XL________________$0.087
 

loudspl

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2005
Location
Osakis, Minnesota
TDI
02 ASV w/ 02J
From dubfamily's earlier, he did not that going over the recommended dosage for any of the additives gave much better mileage.
Maybe so. If that's the case, it will save unnecessary wasting of product...if the goal is strictly mileage.
Would be interesting to see effects on timing advance in VCDS and power increases on dyno.. even if they are subtle.


I guess my intend with the cost of Power Service was to reflect the reality of people buying it from the store as opposed to mail order. Here is the summary of my results:

Additive____________Cost per mile
None (D2)__________$0.093
XPD_______________$0.087
Power Service_______$0.091
XL________________$0.087
For walk-in store or free ship w/ $99+ order..

PS white bottle 80 oz. on sale @ Rural King for $9.99:

http://www.ruralking.com/power-service-diesel-fuel-supplement-treatment-80oz-01080-06.html

FWIW PS can be found much cheaper than what was input in calculation. Any of the sources I mentioned would make a big difference in cost per mile... :)
 

ISurvivedNMU

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Location
Michigan
TDI
2012 Passat SEL
So now we justify a poor performance by Power Service with "it costs less"?

If this were just about mileage to me, I would go grab some cetane boost for 1/3 of the cost of all of this.

To me, its about lubricity, deposit control and water control. The mileage just pays for the product and is a side benefit to me.
 

DubFamily

Veteran Member
Joined
May 30, 2012
Location
Swan Point, MD
TDI
2014 BMW 328D xDrive
Loudspl: You are comparing prices non-equal products... You have to add in the $99 Amazon Prime price, and normalize the cost (IE you gotta buy 5 gallons of PS if you are buying 5 gallons of Optilube...) to get a true comparison. I can go to the store and buy an ounce of saffron for ~$14 or 10 Lbs of sugar for $15; that doesn't mean the saffron is less expensive...

I don't think anyone has ever stated that Optilube is less expensive than PS; but at a price difference of less than a couple cents/mile...
 
Last edited:

Sigforty

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2013
Location
Prairieville, LA
TDI
2012 Passat w/DSG
Sigforty: The XL has 1/3 the cetane boost additive that XPD does, IIRC. It's primary purpose is lubricity, not cetane boost, which may/ may not be why the MPG increase was less than the XPD.
That was what I was trying to get at. If you remember his last test the Summer plus did better than the XPD. Now the XPD did better than XL. So the cetane booster must be making a difference for him, since XL has such a low cetane boost.
 

nicklockard

Torque Dorque
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Location
Arizona
TDI
SOLD 2010 Touareg Tdi w/factory Tow PCKG
Regardless of limitations, I think you did a great job controlling what you could, Dub. Even if you take your 41.5 +/- 1.5 as baseline, it seems the XPD broke out of that range. I do believe you controlled your driving to be as consistent as possible.

Thank you for a great approach and write up.
 

loudspl

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2005
Location
Osakis, Minnesota
TDI
02 ASV w/ 02J
Loudspl: You are comparing prices non-equal products... You have to add in the $99 Amazon Prime price, and normalize the cost (IE you gotta buy 5 gallons of PS if you are buying 5 gallons of Optilube...) to get a true comparison. I can go to the store and buy an ounce of saffron for ~$14 or 10 Lbs of sugar for $15; that doesn't mean the saffron is less expensive...

I don't think anyone has ever stated that Optilube is less expensive than PS; but at a price difference of less than a couple cents/mile...
Yes, I'm a fan of PS products but I have no problem switching over to a better product.
My concern is more power oriented but reasoning says if you have a more efficient combustion process to begin with (indicated by improved mpg) you are also going to make more power.

I wonder if the reason the OptiLube stuff performed better than the PS DK was because of higher cetane additive? Or is there some other component used to give it the edge? As mentioned earlier, does anyone know the 2-Ethylhexyl Nitrate concentration in the PS DK?

Would be interesting to do a study with strictly cetane boost products like the new OptiLube Boost, Amsoil's diesel cetane boost, Redline's Fuel Catalyst/85 Plus, DPP's F-Bomb Hellfire, RP's MaxTane, and others.. :)
 

Sigforty

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2013
Location
Prairieville, LA
TDI
2012 Passat w/DSG
Yes, I'm a fan of PS products but I have no problem switching over to a better product.
My concern is more power oriented but reasoning says if you have a more efficient combustion process to begin with (indicated by improved mpg) you are also going to make more power.

I wonder if the reason the OptiLube stuff performed better than the PS DK was because of higher cetane additive? Or is there some other component used to give it the edge? As mentioned earlier, does anyone know the 2-Ethylhexyl Nitrate concentration in the PS DK?

Would be interesting to do a study with strictly cetane boost products like the new OptiLube Boost, Amsoil's diesel cetane boost, Redline's Fuel Catalyst/85 Plus, DPP's F-Bomb Hellfire, RP's MaxTane, and others.. :)
Could be more power produced due to a reduction in friction in the HPFP. Something similar to what is seen when a thin synthetic oil is used in an engine.
 

14tdipassat

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Location
SE La
TDI
'14 Passat SE 6M
All of the cost calculations above, I am 99% sure, are off by a magnitude of 10. I think they ALL cost less than a penny per mile. Follow my very round numbers:

$50 per gallon = 5000 cents/gallon
Divide by 128 oz = 39 cents/ounce, say 40 cents

If you pour in 8 ounces/tank = 320 cents. Again, keeping numbers round.

If you drive 640 miles per tank, that 0.5 pennies per mile = $.005/mile


Thanks to DubFamily for all his work/tracking.
 

tikal

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
14tdipassat, my calculations include the cost of D2 per mile (and shipping taxes for Opti-Lube additives used).

I think most people would agree that a typical Power Service user would buy the product in a local store that is convenient as opposed to mail order. So I stand by my costs being realistic/average. At this time there is not an option to buy Opti-Lube products from your local store and for some folks that is not convenient so they prefer to buy Power Service and other diesel additives at their local Autozone, Walmart, etc.
 

tikal

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
Could be more power produced due to a reduction in friction in the HPFP. Something similar to what is seen when a thin synthetic oil is used in an engine.
I was thinking on a similar line: more lubricity/less friction in the fuel system makes the engine system more efficient as it has also been shown by some folks in pre-CR cars using ashless two stroke oil mixed with D2 (not worth it in my view due to other potential issues with modern TDI engines).

However based on my observations the lubricity factor alone would help maybe at most 1% to 3% of the MPG gain. The remaining percent increase are, in my view, due to the presence of cetane improvers (if you fuel is in the low 40's cetane index).
 
Last edited:

joeelmex

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2012
Location
Atlanta GA
TDI
2012 Jetta Premium
Great work on this. I been an XPD user since both of the 2012 Jetta Tsi had 1,000 miles on them. Still going strong and no issues to report.

Great work
 

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
Great work on this. I been an XPD user since both of the 2012 Jetta Tsi had 1,000 miles on them. Still going strong and no issues to report.

Great work
We will assume tha t you meant a 2012 Jetta TDI, or you're on the wrong site.
 

loudspl

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2005
Location
Osakis, Minnesota
TDI
02 ASV w/ 02J
Echoing all the previous accolades...Thanks for all your testing efforts thus far DubFamily!

Hope to see another round of testing comparing various cetane boost products :)
 

DubFamily

Veteran Member
Joined
May 30, 2012
Location
Swan Point, MD
TDI
2014 BMW 328D xDrive
^I can do that; though summer is better than winter. Put together a list of 3 or 4 you'd like to see tested and I'll work it for next spring/summer timeframe.
 

badufay

Veteran Member
Joined
May 16, 2014
Location
Olympia, WA
TDI
2017 GTI S, 6 spd man; 2017 Jetta SE TSI, 5 spd man
One of the better reads... Thanks for the good work. Perhaps a B5, B5+XLD, B5+PS. That would solve the lube issue IMHO...

Ben
 
Top