Of all types of evidence, anecdotal evidence is at the bottom of the pile. Late night television is full of Medicine Show products that are sold by trotting out a few people who swear how great is and then show people who speak in believable tones while wearing a white lab coat. Sometimes Thy claim it’s been “studied” but never tell you where you can see the study for yourself or they’ll claim a study that’s not a study. But mostly they just trot out people to talk about how great it works from them. It’s Often not clear whether those people were paid to say it or not. But anecdotal evidence is the least valuable kind. But hey, it’s been a living for Medicine Show Barker’s in a tradition that’s hundreds of years old.
Someone misused the product causing a plane crash. But I think the greater truth was finding out just what’s in it. There is no mystery ingredient in it. Since it does no harm, unless misused, gear heads who’ve fallen for the marketing campaign credit it for CAUSING bad things not to happen.
Product is designed 2 be harmless. So it seems to be some weird part of human nature that when you don’t have a problem, you credit the additive for the fact that had no problem. The absence of evidence is not evidence.
If I were you, I wouldn’t try to outsmart the lycoming engineers.
I’d say Lycoming are Continental are really great engine builders. They make some really bulletproof stuff. You stick to the routine maintenance and the recommended overhaul In your Piper Seneca (which is a very cool airplane) you’d have to do something really stupid to break it .It’s trouble-free in spite of the additive, not because of it.
If you were lead fouling plugs, you should have called lycoming or talked to whoever does you’re overhauls. In engines in general, and most especially aircraft engines you don’t want to do something that might be masking a larger problem.
Here is what is in your additive.
Toluene
Petroleum Distillate
Tricresyl Phosphate
Isopropyl alcohol
Toluene is used to raise the octane level. Why do you need to raise the octane level 100 octane fuel above that on an engine with that has a 8.5 to 1 compression ration was made to run on 91/96 octane? You know running high octane fuel in a low compression engine give no power increase, right? (we can talk about octane if you like)
your lead scavenger.
Petroleum Distillate
Tricresyl Phosphate Is your lead scavenger. Not sure why you need one on a 180 HP engine wtih an 8.5 to 1 compression ration that will run on 91/96 fuel. Do you have an exhaust gas or cylinder head temp gauge? Again, you shouldn’t need a LED scavenger. LED fouled spark plugs are not a normal condition. I would worry that a scavenger intended to keep let off spark plugs but also keep it off of the valves negating the reason to have it in the fuel in the first place. If you are lead fouling plugs you need to find out why, not add something to the fuel. I shouldn’t have to remind you this is an airplane. The consequences of masking a symptom in your automobile until something fails is completely different then the consequence of an airplane engine Failing.
I had a friend killed when his Cessna cardinal dropped an exhaust valve while doing a Full Throttle spiraling climb out of Lake Tahoe Airport at night. He had added an AIR research turbo to that engine to make flying above the Sierra Nevada and other hight western mountains easier on the engine. But it ran hot at full throttle. I had noticed and pointed out to him how close to the red one cylinder was when I was on a different trip with him across the Sierra Nevada mountains, on a moonless night. I was lucky to have not been in the airplane that night he lost his life (and that of his daughter and his daughters fiancee) as flying from San Jose to Lake Tahoe, or Reno, or Carson City, so Harold could play Blackjack and we could have a good steak, was a fairly common occurrence and he always brought company with him.
I would go with what Lycoming says. What they say comes from their engineers. Don’t try to outsmart engineers that have been designing such great engines for so long. Call them up if you have to. Have the conversation. Remember, drop a valve in your car and you end up taking an uber home. Drop one in an aircraft and you are at best in deep do do.
Flying is easy. Landing is hard.
When I say oil is not a product it’s a marketing device I can extend that to oil and gas additives. The mentality that people take it on faith or the fact that their friend said it was good instead of finding out if there’s some neutral party that has data bothers me. But I try not to let it bother me too much because my conclusion is that used as directed those products are basically harmless. They’ve separated the user from their money but they generally aren’t going to hurt their car. Plus I’m a fan of anything that makes you look under the hood more often than you normally would good. So if using a marketing device that appeals to you helps you keep clean oil in the engine oh, that’s a good thing.
But airplane engines, man, be careful
