Redex fuel system cleaner - worth it??

[bmwhaz]

Morning,

I have a 2018 Civic 1.5 Turbo with 20k on the clock. I do around 40 miles a day and the car lives off Sainsbury’s Fuel (I’m a sucker for nectar points as I love money off my biscuits).

As I’m rather obsessed with fuel economy and smooth performance, would a regular top up of Redex return any benefits?

[anonymous-user]

Probably not, fuels contain detergents these days anyway.

Frankly any comments(including mine) are just fingers in the air absent some form of controlled testing.

[MC Bodge]

Who knows?

It might or might not. I wouldn't use it very often, it will cost too much.

I'd be inclined to use a tank of posh/super and give it an Italian tune up.

My old Mondeo ran brilliantly and efficiently after a pedal to the metal blast to Austria and back through Germany, including a few passes.

Edited by MC Bodge on Saturday 7th March 12:00

[MayOrMayNotHaveACooperSStill]

Probably get the same if not more benefit sticking vpower in every other week.

[WJNB]

Ask your grandparents or anybody who was driving in the 1950's/60's & they will tell you that petrol station attendants would ask 'shot of Redex with the petrol?" & if the answer was in the affirmative a little triangular pot of the red stuff would be picked up & the requisite shot added either before or after the petrol. Their was a price per shot but my memory fails me as to what it was. The belief was that the red stuff would keep plugs clean & reduce the build up of carbon on the cylinder head, this at a time when engines rarely lasted more than 60k miles & would need de-carbonising at least once in that time.
A good DIY wheeze was to remove the spark plugs send a few 'shot's down the cylinders, loosely re-fit plugs & fire up the engine. The result was a mass of white smoke & the belief that engine had had a thorough clean out. At lot of bullst I suspect but an earner for Redex & for the likes of me who worked as a part-time petrol attendant & sold the stuff as hard as I could.
The world has moved on so I suspect that Redex is as much of a con trick as ever.

[Dont Panic]

The only benefits I ever saw from redex was a ford sierra that wouldnt start.
The garage monkeys decided to empty a bottle of it down the carb and then proceeded to tow it via transit van up and down the estate road, liberating enormous quantities of white smoke plumes, blanking out everything and adding to global warming...

The never did get the thing running after that anyway....

[Don Roque]

Redex had a sponsored thread running here a few months ago and after getting thoroughly buried, they cried to PH staff to delete the thread. They were well and truly showed up as snake oil salesmen. Your car is almost brand new, it doesn't need any treatment even if you are a cheapskate feeding it crap fuel.

[Who me ?]

Possibly worth it lots of years ago, but last time I had a head off, I found that after 150k ,the valves were as clean as the day it left the factory. That was 20 + years ago. I'd say "read the manual", and mine say no additives and there's no qualification for whether it's a petrol or diesel model. Spend your money on more frequent oil changes/better tyres etc. Forget the snake oil.

[vikingaero]

Redex has the following proven benefits if use according to the dosage instructions:

- the bank balance of the retailer
- the bank balance of HoltsAuto

[rxe]

Utter snake oil.

Here’s a simple experiment - take a carboned up valve, and stick it a jar of redex overnight. What happens? Nothing. Take the valve out and torch it with a blow torch. What happens? Nothing. Stick it back in the redex. What happens? Nothing.

Redex does not dissolve carbon.

Stuff that dissolves carbon is not sold in plastic (carbon polymer...) bottles in Halfords. Stuff that dissolves carbon would be lethal to humans (made of carbon). Redex does not dissolve carbon.

[Grrbang]

Don Roque said:

Redex had a sponsored thread running here a few months ago and after getting thoroughly buried, they cried to PH staff to delete the thread. They were well and truly showed up as snake oil salesmen. Your car is almost brand new, it doesn't need any treatment even if you are a cheapskate feeding it crap fuel.

That thread went south when it became clear they had no data they were willing to share.

Just use the recommended fuel, and take it to the redline like once per commute. Heat helps. Here’s a thread about your engine: https://www.civicx.com/threads/1-5l-turbo-direct-i...

[Justin S]

Many moons ago, my old man decided his mgb roadster needed a Redex overnight soak. So, he took the plugs out and poured some in each cylinder. Next day, he asked me ( as a ten yr old (ish) , to hold some rag over the plug holes while he turned it over. Cue me crapping myself as compression hit and Redex over his shiny engine. He put the plugs back in and we took it for a drive. It looked like something out of the back on Bonds Aston, which was enormous plumes of white smoke , which took about 30 miles of 95bhp of BL's finest B series , to be able to utilise the rear view mirror again for rear traffic, which had taken a gapped stance from said MGB for being able to breath and see freely.
Did it work ? Who knows. It wasnt an issue before he started and wasnt any different afterwards, if I remember. It still had 95 bhp and was dog slow, even for a 10 year old.

[MC Bodge]

Justin S said:

It still had 95 bhp and was dog slow, even for a 10 year old.

I bet it didn't.

[MC Bodge]

Grrbang said:

That thread went south when it became clear they had no data they were willing to share.

Just use the recommended fuel, and take it to the redline like once per commute. Heat helps. Here’s a thread about your engine: https://www.civicx.com/threads/1-5l-turbo-direct-i...

I suspect that the vast majority of engines never get near the redline or limiter.

[SouthHamsGaz]

Have a look at BG44K, comes in a metal tin and supposedly contains the necessary chemicals to dissolve carbon deposits.

I found some very positive reviews online for this stuff so gave it a go.

Car (127thou Golf R32) seemed smoother and perkier after running a can of this through. The smell of exhaust fumes in the cab, which I had put down to a pin hole in the 'Y' pipe, completely disappeared afterwards too but this could have been a coincidence.

Edited by SouthHamsGaz on Saturday 7th March 17:51

[Olivergt]

Don Roque said:

Redex had a sponsored thread running here a few months ago and after getting thoroughly buried, they cried to PH staff to delete the thread. They were well and truly showed up as snake oil salesmen. Your car is almost brand new, it doesn't need any treatment even if you are a cheapskate feeding it crap fuel.

This.

Total con, but Holt's/Redex, you are more than welcome to come back on to PH and show everyone the results of your testing.

I'm normally quite relaxed and laid back, but do get out of my box when companies lie to customers to make money.

[sonnenschein3000]

Personally, if e.g. I bought a used car with a few thousand miles on the clock, I'd fill it up with V-Power or a similar premium fuel for the first 3 or 4 tanks, and most importantly make sure to give it a good run on the motorway - that usually clears it all up.

I know yours is only an 18-plate with 20k on the clock, so I'd probably just use premium fuel now and then, and a trip to somewhere using the motorway for an hour or two wouldn't do it any harm.


Have you experienced any issues with the car?

[lee_erm]

5th Gear reckon so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03nL8Z0dRkI

[Pan Pan Pan]

sonnenschein3000 said:

Personally, if e.g. I bought a used car with a few thousand miles on the clock, I'd fill it up with V-Power or a similar premium fuel for the first 3 or 4 tanks, and most importantly make sure to give it a good run on the motorway - that usually clears it all up.

I know yours is only an 18-plate with 20k on the clock, so I'd probably just use premium fuel now and then, and a trip to somewhere using the motorway for an hour or two wouldn't do it any harm.


Have you experienced any issues with the car?

Possibly a bit more than a year ago EVO did a test on mainstream fuels available in the UK, and came to the broad conclusion that fuels from different fuel companies did not make that much difference to performance, or range, but they did state one discernible difference where V Power was used, was in the way it kept the internals of an engine clean. (Apparently part of the test was to strip down the engines in the cars they used following the tests for examination). So it seems as the recommendation, for a tankful of V Power followed by a good run is about right.

[Pica-Pica]

Pan Pan Pan said:

sonnenschein3000 said:

Personally, if e.g. I bought a used car with a few thousand miles on the clock, I'd fill it up with V-Power or a similar premium fuel for the first 3 or 4 tanks, and most importantly make sure to give it a good run on the motorway - that usually clears it all up.

I know yours is only an 18-plate with 20k on the clock, so I'd probably just use premium fuel now and then, and a trip to somewhere using the motorway for an hour or two wouldn't do it any harm.


Have you experienced any issues with the car?

Possibly a bit more than a year ago EVO did a test on mainstream fuels available in the UK, and came to the broad conclusion that fuels from different fuel companies did not make that much difference to performance, or range, but they did state one discernible difference where V Power was used, was in the way it kept the internals of an engine clean. (Apparently part of the test was to strip down the engines in the cars they used following the tests for examination). So it seems as the recommendation, for a tankful of V Power followed by a good run is about right.

In my work an international automotive company, Shell was the recommendation of our fuel chemist.