Fuel magnets......

Some of you may remember the post a couple of months back about an ebay seller advertising some magnets that you fit to your fuel lines which supposedly reorganises the fuel molecules from being random to more of an organised pattern thus making the fuel burn more efficiently etc....

This was hit with a sceptical eye from most and quite rightly so too. It sounds daft and I firmly believed the same.

However, I was having a conversation with the workshop manager at my establishment of employment and he dropped into the conversation about these fuel magnets. He used to sell the things and swears by them! He was also involved in some trials that took place in conjunction with some car manufacturer and environmental chappies. The results were a little patchy in places as the tests weren't run properly (the guy running the whole operation wasn't even a qualified mechanic!) and the results were inconclusive with some gains in fuel efficiency and some not really proving anything.

But this guy did say that he used them on him Landrover discovery tdi and went from getting 390 miles from a tank to approx 430 with the magnets fitted and his discovery V8 went from 19 mpg average to 22 mpg and that was over the course of a few years not just a one off test. Since then I have also spoke to a guy who has a volvo 850 T5 and he also has them fitted. He reckons his car feels quicker (may just be in his mind) but he gets better MPG too even on V-Power.

I have gone from sceptic to curious and may find myself trying them. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to monitor my MPG (the proper way not using my OBC) and then I may invest in these 'magical' magnets and see what happens.

When/if it takes place, I will inform one and all of a new found motorists friend!

Mike

540 V8 wrote: ....When/if it takes place, I will inform one and all of a new found motorists friend!

....or your attempts to get your money back....

James Sohl had a similar device on the fuel line of his 635CSi. The device gradually clogged up the fuel feed......

Edited by Horsetan

There was an article in the club magazine a couple of months back about these including a review. Their results were (IIRC) that the only increase in mpg you get from these is that they make you more concerned about your mpg and therefore little less heavy on the loud pedal etc.

The article was in the March BMWCC magazine on page 27 (its in my boot and I had a quick swatch at lunchtime) - the unit being reviewed was a Posivlow, a quick google finds a thread at Honest John about it and loads of other debunking threads at different car forums. 

540 V8 wrote: He used to sell the things and swears by them!

does that not tell you something?

... exhaust pipes you can fit your head in!

Where do these magnets go?

I'd not feel happy about anything magnetic near the fuel lines. Moving something metal around a magnetic field causes a small current to flow in the metal object.

Electric current + fuel = ?!

I Have one on my e28 525 it makes cluck all diffrence I onley put them on because I found them on a scrap car. In theroy thay wont make any diffrence as the fuel is squesed throung the injecters undoing all what thay may have dun, It has been on the car for six munths and it's not runing to well at the mo me thinks it has cloged up the injecters I used the car doing round trips on the m25 300 miles a week and it made no diffreence at all. I have a fuel cat on the e23 and that duse seem to work?

Does that mean if i strap a cpl of big magnets round my neck, will my beer go down smoother and quicker

 LMAO nice one chaps!

ok, ok, you have convinced me, rubbish idea, what was I thinking. I can totally dig the placebo effect. My wife thought this was the reason V-power seemed to be saving us fuel, because I was driving more carefully! Infact, in some cases, it was costing more because I was using the performance more! But when she used the car a few times and managed to get quite a lot of motoring from £20 she conceded I was right. Used with a light right foot, V-power is worth the extra few pence and not only that, when you want to have some fun, the power really is there too!

Didn't I hear somewhere they use magnets to condition V-power?

No?

Mike