# Additives - Ring Free vs. StarTron or Other?



## DaleH (Aug 20, 2019)

What are you thoughts?


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## Brian121804 (Aug 20, 2019)

:wink: I think you're stirring the pot.

I use ringfree because Yamaha sez I should. 
I don't use very much, so what the heck. 

If I used a lot of fuel I might reconsider. I've never 
used any fuel additive in any other engine I've owned in the past 50 or so years, never had a fuel related issue. They generally strike me as snake oil / gimmicks.


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## DaleH (Aug 20, 2019)

kdgrills said:


> :wink: I think you're stirring the pot.


No, definitely not 'trolling', as I've used more than a few while taking care of a fleet of boats for my boat club. One additive I can save people 50% on, simply by buying the diesel formula that is twice as concentrated as the gasoline formula.

More later, after others opine ...


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## 1960 yellowboat (Aug 21, 2019)

I like the Star Tron enzyme stuff for keeping my non ethanol gas stabilized
And Berryman B12 for cleaning the carb [ when needed]


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## turbotodd (Aug 21, 2019)

As a yamaha dealer, we see TONS of solicitors come through trying to "dis" ring free. I mean at least one a week, more often in the summer months. The star-tron guy came by a while back trying to peddle his stuff. He had a glass jar, asked me to put about 1/2 qt of gas in it, then he put a few oz of water in it. Then he added his star-tron stuff, shook it up, and said "the water disappeared, that's how good star-tron is".

Well I ain't no idiot. I told the guy the water's still there, let it sit for an hour or so and you'll see it. Guy says no, it's gone, it's dispersed in the rest of the chemicals. I grabbed his jar, dumped the gas mix out and into one of my containers, and told the man to come see me tomorrow. Well he did, and guess what? Water's still there, just like I said. This was E10 fuel which tested 8% with the test strip.

I also attended the week long seminar about yamalube products. Ringfree plus is the only additive known that works exactly as it's advertised on the container it comes in. They went on to say that it is NOT a fix-all product. Gasoline is constantly changing and because of that, manufacturers of all brands tend to struggle to keep up with the different chemical changes. Part of the changes made to gasoline come from the [imo] epa overreach, part of the changes are due to private companies trying to get the competitive edge, and part of the changes are due to attempts to please everyone including the end users.

Winter blended gasoline can live a little longer without going stale. It's formulated that way at the supplier because cars sit more through the winter months since they aren't used as much. It also atomizes a lot easier. The downside is that it will boil at a real low temp, as low as 80°F--and I've seen this first hand. Boiling fuel can cause some issues in a carburetor-equipped fuel system. Summer blended fuel won't keep as long, because cars typically are more active in the summer and suppliers know this, but the boiling point is higher. Boiling used to be a big problem on some motorcycles and occasionally with outboards. Notice I spent some time talking about cars? Thats' because gas is formulated for cars specifically, with little to no attention to small engines. Remember....there are no cars now with carburetors, so gas works best in EFI engines. Also notice that not much attention was given to ethanol and that's due to the fact that most everything built within the last 15 years or so is designed such that it will work just fine on E10. Ethanol is blamed for a LOT of problems with fuel systems. In a lot of cases, it's not the ethanol's fault, it's the fuel's fault in that it doesn't like to sit for more than a couple weeks at a time and still be expected to run in a carbureted engine properly.


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## DaleH (Aug 21, 2019)

*Additives* -_ My view ..._ motors run on fuel, not additives, but there are occasions I will use them, either in a regular dosing, like recommended for some DFI motors, or in a ‘shock’ treatment to remove carbon, or as ‘decarboning’.

RingFree - Don’t use it myself, but many appear to have good success with it.

Marvel Mystery Oil - I think it was fine for old technology carb’d motors and lead or MTBE fuels, but if using as a decarb elixer there are better choices. FYI, Project Farm on YouTube has extensive tests comparing all decarb elixirs. 

OMC Carbon Guard - Works, but is strictly ‘motor specific’, for older DFI 2-stroke technology motors that aren’t running on a pure synthetic oil, e.g., Bombardier XD100. 

SeaFoam - *My personal ‘magic’ elixir of choice!* I use it, as ‘shock’ treatment only, in any carb’d or old tech DFI motor, or EFI 4-strokes, but would not use in a new latest generation DFI 2-stroke, e.g., Evinrude G2 motors. To date, I have had people GIVE me non-running lawnmowers, chain saws, weed whackers, OB motors, and a $500 pressure washer that were all cleaned out using SeaFoam.

On my OBs, I’ll do a shock treatment every 50-hours of run time. I even used it once in my old Ford Explorer, intaked through the vacuum hose, where I let it consume 1/4 the can until she smoked heavily, then shut it off for 15-minutes. Repeated same for next 1/4 can until gone. Post treatment the engine was smoother, didn’t stumble at lights, had better acceleration response and fuel economy went up. Again, Project Farm has some incredibly documented tests, with before & after compression and other values recorded, even photographic evidence ... where he proved to himself that SeaFoam was THE best ‘decarbon’ product out there.

StaBil - My only choice for off-season fuel storage or for fuel (gas home equipment) containers w/seasonal use.

StarTron - Don’t use it myself, but if you do ... buy the diesel formula and SAVE 50% on the purchase price! Just be sure to use half the dosage!



> This is the actual email to my friend Dave, as reported on my Parker boat website, Classic Parker:



_From: Peter Dorneau
To: Johnston, David
Sent: Mon Sep 04 13:24:46 2006
Subject: RE: Star*brite 'Contact Us' Form Submission

David,

*They are exactly the same product except the diesel formula is twice the concentration. So use the diesel at 1/2 the dosage and you have StarTron for Gas.* Do not worry about over dosing as you can not. Double is fine._

Thus if you use this and buy their diesel versus the gas formula ... you get twice as much product for your buck! FWIW, you can prove this for yourself here, as 16-ounces of the gas formula treats 256 gallons of gasoline while the same amount of the alleged 'diesel' formula treats 512 gallons of diesel fuel.

_... provided you use 1/2-as-much as stated on the container  that is !_


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## JL8Jeff (Aug 21, 2019)

I've been using the OMC Carbon Guard in my 94 Mercury jet and it seems to be running well. I've used SeaFoam in several cars, trucks and boats and you get a nice smoke show and they all seemed to run smoother afterwards. But I think any time we do anything to a vehicle or engine, we want to think it runs better.


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## Weldorthemagnificent (Aug 21, 2019)

Seafoam has worked well for me as a cleaner. I have "fixed" several small engines using a stout mix with seafoam. 

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk


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## thedude (Aug 21, 2019)

Seafoam for decarb and starTron for storage. 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk


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## jethro (Aug 23, 2019)

I use Star Tron all the time, that is good info! I use it more in the winter in my snowmobiles. I'll be buying the one for diesel fuel from now on!


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