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Product Test – CRC 1Tank Fuel System Restore

CRC 1Tank fuel system cleaner

As your vehicle ages, buildup inside your engine’s fuel system increases. Over time, this buildup can seriously reduce the power and efficiency of the engine. This is mainly due to the varying quality of the fuel. Name-brand gasoline brands such as Texaco, Conoco, etc, use different additives and formulations to reduce the contaminants, but generic gas, the kind you find at any non-branded gas station, is just the most basic fuel possible, often without any special additives to reduce contamination.

Inside the box is the bottle and a small funnel.
Inside the box is the bottle and a small funnel.

Low-quality fuels leave carbon deposits on the engine internals, specifically the intake and exhaust valves, pistons, fuel injectors and in the combustion chamber. Even micro-deposits can cause issues, so maintaining a clean engine is important. The symptoms of a dirty fuel system include the following:

Hesitation- This could be a substantial or it could be minute, but when you hit the gas, the engine should react immediately and consistently. If the engine bogs (reduction in engine RPM), lurches, or is slow to rev and or accelerate, you have hesitation. This is most often evident when accelerating from a stop or when trying pass.

Stalling- When the engine dies for no apparent reason, particularly when you are trying to accelerate, this is called stalling. If the engine is not getting the fuel it needs, stalling will occur.

Pre-ignition- Also referred to as detonation, pre-ignition occurs when the combustion gases ignite before it is supposed to. How does this happen? Hot spots in the combustion chamber surfaces get red hot, and as the combustion gases are compressed, those hot spots can ignite the gas. Carbon build up is the main reason for pre-ignition in an otherwise healthy engine. Poor fuel quality can also cause detonation. Maintaining a clean combustion changer is critical for engine health.

Loss of power- This one is harder to determine. Over time, your engine’s performance will decline, but these reductions come slow and small, so they are not really noticeable until you have significant loss of power.

Increased emissions- You don’t know you have this issue until you go to the local emissions sniffer to have your vehicle certified. If you don’t pass or have significant emissions over the spec for your model, then you will need to make some changes. Running CRC 1Tank may make the difference.

To test out the performance of CRC 1Tank Power Renew, we put it to work in a 2002 Chevy Silverado 2500HD with a 6.0 liter engine with 175,000 miles on the odometer. The truck runs good with no significant issues, but fuel economy is on the low side of the scale, getting 11 in town and 12.5 on the highway unloaded. When this truck is hooked up to the 24-foot enclosed cargo trailer it regular pulls, fuel economy is reduced to 6.5 mpgs at 65 mph.

We won't bore you with the process of getting the gas cap off, hopefully, you are fluent in that process. Use the supplied funnel and pour the entire bottle into the tank with at least a 1/2 tank of gas.
We won’t bore you with the process of getting the gas cap off, hopefully, you are fluent in that process. Use the supplied funnel and pour the entire bottle into the tank with at least a 1/2 tank of gas.

We tested the truck with CRC 1Tank while on a 1200-mile trek hauling the trailer through both flat land and mountains. We filled the tank with 87 octane fuel and 1 can of CRC 1Tank and set off. Initially, the fuel economy was on spec of a typical trip with this vehicle, 6.5 mpg at an average speed of 65 mph. After the first fill up, we noticed that the truck accelerated faster and had more top-end speed. We could maintain 70 miles per hour without the engine downshifting as often. By the time we entered the mountains (550 miles from home), the truck was getting 8 to 8.5 miles per gallon and could keep up with traffic at 75 MPH, even when climbing up the mountain grades.

 

While 1.5 to 2 miles per gallon is not a drastic change, it certainly saved us a couple hundred bucks over the course of the 1200-mile round trip. The unexpected benefit of increased power was the real surprise, as 10 miles per hour shortened the one-way travel time by over an hour, and when you are on a schedule, that extra hour makes a difference.

CRC 1Tank

If you have more than 50k miles on your engine, it is a good idea to treat it with CRC 1Tank, it really does work wonders for cleaning out the fuel system and rejuvenating the performance and efficiency of your engine. A semi-annual treatment, about every 6 months, should keep your engine running in top form for many miles to come.

Check out all the chemical & lubricant products available on NAPA Online or trust one of our 17,000 NAPA AutoCare locations for routine maintenance and repairs. For more information on CRC 1Tank, chat with a knowledgeable expert at your local NAPA AUTO PARTS store.

Jefferson Bryant View All

A life-long gearhead, Jefferson Bryant spends more time in the shop than anywhere else. His career began in the car audio industry as a shop manager, eventually working his way into a position at Rockford Fosgate as a product designer. In 2003, he began writing tech articles for magazines, and has been working as an automotive journalist ever since. His work has been featured in Car Craft, Hot Rod, Rod & Custom, Truckin’, Mopar Muscle, and many more. Jefferson has also written 4 books and produced countless videos. Jefferson operates Red Dirt Rodz, his personal garage studio, where all of his magazine articles and tech videos are produced.

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