If engines could talk

These days, it’s so easy to own a car or learn how to drive one. However, not all car owners understand how a car really works. From the most basic features and parts, to its most complex mechanisms, cars also need the same amount of care and maintenance as any other kind of machines.

At the brand-new Caltex service station on C5 Extension, as jumbo jets swooped for touchdown at the adjacent airport, a queue of vehicles were waiting for their turn at the service bay. These motorists weren’t there for the usual oil change but for a chance to check their cars’ health—specifically, their engines’.

Caltex experts from the regional headquarters flew in to conduct a borescope test. They and the car owners will peer inside the engine, the way a doctor would examine your gut. Indeed, the instrument they use, the borescope, is essentially the same as the medical-grade scope used for delicate procedures such as endoscopy and colonoscopy.

This look inside the engine begins with the removal of the intake manifold. This allows the business end of the borescope to be inserted into the engine. The view is displayed on a high resolution screen.

The results were revealing. The first car was a compact sedan with several thousand kilometers on the odometer. The engine intake valves, when new, are smooth and clean. This one had clearly visible black crusts on the stem and the round portion of the valve. These were carbon deposits.

The deposits are produced as the fuel degrades after being exposed to heat. Gasoline are hydrocarbons, so incomplete combustion allows these deposits to remain in the engine. Over time, these deposits accumulate in vital engine parts like the injectors, valves and the combustion chamber surfaces. Apart from looking unsightly, the deposits are harmful because they prevent the engine from functioning efficiently. Fuel economy drops, power is reduced and emissions shoot up.

Parts like these are normally inaccessible and can’t be cleaned by the usual maintenance procedures. Even high-quality fuel produce deposits if they don’t have deposit control additives so one solution is to include an additive to the fuel that will clean up the deposits. Techron is an additive formulated to clean and protect the engine and is available to all Caltex fuel products: gasoline and diesel. Techron is also available as a concentrate, used by pouring it into a tank of fuel periodically.

Caltex’ studies have shown that in as little as 7000km of driving using Caltex with Techron, the included additive can remove up to 50 percent of the carbon deposits.

When Caltex fuel with Techron removes these deposits, engine performance is restored. Since fuel is very expensive these days, it makes sense to maximize performance by choosing Caltex fuels.

Also, there’s a misconception that higher octane fuel always equals better-quality fuel. Choosing a high octane fuel when your engine doesn’t really need it is similar to picking a large size shirt when the best fit is a medium or small size,. Rather than choose fuel based on high octane rating alone, it makes better sense to use the appropriate octane level with an additive that cleans the engine, like Caltex with Techron.

The borescope test showed that it’s not just the age or the mileage of the car that matters but the choice of fuel. In this case, the engines really did talk. And they’re saying: use the better fuel; use Caltex with Techron.