Your fuel system is how the car gets gas from the tank to the engine. It has parts that pump and deliver the fuel so the engine can run. If that system has a problem, the car can stall or leave you stranded.
The Dodge Charger is a classic muscle car. The host is talking about a 1971 Charger he had, and how fuel problems—especially heat-related ones—could leave it running poorly or stranded. It’s an example of how the fuel system can be the real culprit.
Vapor locking is when the gasoline in the fuel line gets so hot that it turns into gas vapor instead of staying liquid. Since vapor doesn’t feed the engine the same way, the car can run badly or stall. Letting it cool often fixes it temporarily.
Fuel delivery is how well the car gets gas to the engine when you need it. If the car can’t deliver enough fuel (or delivers it inconsistently), it can run rough or die. It’s often caused by problems in the pump, lines, or related parts.
An electronic fuel pump is the electric part that pushes gas from the tank to the engine. It helps keep the right fuel pressure so the engine can run smoothly. If it starts failing, the car may hesitate, stall, or not start.
A supercharger forces extra air into the engine. When you add more air, the engine also needs more fuel to run correctly. If the fuel system can’t supply enough, the car can feel weak or run into trouble.
Boost is extra pressure that a supercharger or turbo adds to push more air into the engine. More air usually means you need more fuel too. If the fuel system can’t keep up, the engine won’t run right.
Jets are tiny fuel passages inside a carburetor that control how much fuel the engine gets. If they get clogged, the engine may not get the right amount of fuel.
O-rings are rubber sealing rings used to prevent fuel leaks at connections. If they harden or fail, they can leak fuel, causing drivability issues and creating a fire risk.
Holley is a company that makes carburetors and other fuel parts. The hosts are saying some older Holley carb setups had a reputation for leaking or wearing out seals over time.
A diaphragm is a flexible rubber/plastic membrane inside the carburetor that helps control fuel flow. If it gets stiff or worn out, the carb can’t regulate fuel properly.
Fuel injection is how modern cars put fuel into the engine. Instead of a carburetor mixing fuel, small nozzles (injectors) spray fuel in a controlled way so the engine gets the right mixture.
Fuel injectors are supposed to spray fuel in a consistent shape. When they get dirty, the spray can become uneven, and the engine may not burn fuel as well.
Air-fuel control is how the engine keeps the right balance between air and fuel. If the fuel system gets dirty, that balance can go off and the engine won’t run as smoothly.
Air-fuel ratio is the balance of air and gas your engine uses to burn. If that balance is off, the car can feel weak and can also use more fuel and pollute more.
In this context, degradation means gradual loss of fuel-system effectiveness over time—like injectors becoming less consistent or filters restricting flow. Because it happens slowly, drivers often don’t notice until performance and economy drop noticeably.
Fuel injectors are like precision spray nozzles for gasoline. If they get dirty or damaged, they don’t spray the fuel correctly, and the car can run rough or feel weak.
Atomization is how finely the injector mists the gasoline. If it makes big droplets instead of a mist, the engine can’t burn it as well.
Term
plunger issues
The injector has internal moving parts that control how fuel flows. If those parts don’t move right, the injector can spray incorrectly and cause running problems.
The piston is the engine’s moving part inside the cylinder. The idea here is that the fuel spray has to hit the right spot on the piston to burn efficiently.
Engines need the right balance of air and gasoline to burn efficiently. Too much fuel or too little fuel can cause rough running and more soot/carbon buildup.
Term
O2
The O2 sensor checks the exhaust to see if the engine is burning too much fuel or not enough. The car uses that info to adjust the fuel so the engine runs correctly.
The computer controls how long the injector stays open. If the injector is dirty, that same “open time” can still end up delivering the wrong amount of fuel.
That “screen” is like a tiny filter inside the injector. If it gets clogged, the injector can’t spray fuel properly, and the engine may burn fuel less cleanly.
Ultrasonic cleaning uses vibrations in a cleaning fluid to shake loose dirt from tiny parts. It’s commonly used to clean injector screens and restore better spray.
A fuel injector is a valve that sprays fuel into the engine. If it doesn’t seal right, fuel can leak or dribble instead of spraying correctly, which can hurt how the car runs.
Sediment is dirt or particles that settle at the bottom of a fuel tank. If it gets into your fuel system, it can clog or damage fuel system components.
When your tank is very low, you’re more likely to suck up dirt that has settled at the bottom. Refilling earlier helps reduce the chance of that contamination reaching the engine.
Direct injection sprays fuel straight into the engine’s burning chamber. Since the injector tip is in the hot area, it can get dirty with carbon deposits, so keeping the fuel system healthy matters.
PFI means the fuel is sprayed into the intake area before it reaches the combustion chamber. Even though it’s not “direct,” deposits can still build up—like on the intake valves.
PSI is a measure of pressure. The point here is that diesel fuel systems can run at extremely high pressure, so tiny problems can become big problems because the system has to be very precise.
Fuel economy standards are rules that require cars to use less fuel. To meet them, manufacturers use more advanced fuel injection, so the fuel system has to stay in good shape.
They’re saying fuel-system care is important for keeping the car running well for years. With modern injection systems, dirt and deposits can build up faster, so it’s worth treating fuel maintenance as a real upkeep item.
Carbon cleanup is about removing sticky black buildup that forms as fuel burns. Over time it can hurt how the engine runs, so people use additives or treatments to reduce it.
This is the idea of preventive maintenance for the fuel system: cleaning and maintaining it early to avoid problems that build slowly. Once deposits and wear issues progress, repairs tend to be more difficult and costly than routine upkeep.
E85 is a type of fuel made from mostly ethanol mixed with some gasoline. Because it’s different from regular gas, it can affect how well the fuel protects engine parts from wear.
Flex fuel refers to vehicles designed to run on more than one fuel blend, typically including ethanol blends. These systems often require calibration and component materials that can tolerate ethanol’s different effects on wear and corrosion.
Lubricity just means how well the fuel can “lubricate” moving parts inside the engine. If the fuel doesn’t lubricate well enough, parts can wear out faster—so some engines need tougher materials when using certain fuels.
Valve seats are the contact surfaces in the engine head where the valves close and seal. If the fuel doesn’t lubricate well, that contact can wear out sooner, so some engines use tougher seat material.
This means lubrication that helps protect the parts near the top of the engine where they move a lot and see high heat. The claim here is that better lubricity can reduce wear and help the engine run more efficiently.
Cetane is a diesel fuel property that affects how easily the fuel ignites in the engine. If cetane drops, the engine can run less smoothly. They’re saying their additive raises lubricity but tries not to lower cetane.
Carbon buildup is gunk that forms inside the engine over time. It can make the engine run less smoothly and can contribute to parts wearing out. The hosts say this deposit problem is a major cause of failures.
Polyetheramine (PEA) is a cleaning chemical added to gasoline. Its job is to break up and remove carbon deposits that build up in the engine. The hosts say it’s one of the strongest cleaners they use on the gasoline side.
EPA is a U.S. government agency that sets rules for things like fuel additives. The hosts are saying there’s a legal limit on how much of the cleaning chemical they can put in. Their product uses the maximum allowed amount.
The fuel tank is the container that holds your gas or diesel before the engine uses it. The hosts are warning that some additives can clean aggressively and may affect how well the fuel lubricates parts during that process. Their product is meant to clean while keeping lubrication up.
PEA is a chemical added to gasoline that helps keep the fuel system clean. Cleaner fuel flow can help the engine run better because it reduces gunk that can build up over time.
Term
gasoline cleaning market
The “gasoline cleaning market” refers to the aftermarket products sold to improve fuel-system cleanliness—typically by using detergent additives that reduce deposits. This segment frames it as a competitive space where different formulations and dosing schedules are marketed to consumers.
LX4 is a product ingredient they claim helps lubricate the fuel system. They’re saying it’s used together with their main cleaner so the treatment both cleans and protects.
“Deep cleaning” here means a stronger fuel-system treatment meant to scrub out buildup. They’re claiming it works for a long stretch (about 10,000 miles) before you need another dose.
They’re talking about the business of products you pour into your gas or diesel. Some are legit, but others are mostly marketing, and the hosts are saying the bar should be higher.
A placebo is a fake version of the product used in testing. In a blind study, people don’t know whether they got the real thing or the fake one, so results are less likely to be influenced by expectations.
They’re talking about how efficiently the car uses fuel—basically how many miles you can drive per gallon. It’s the main number they’re claiming the additive improves.
The Ford Mustang is a sports car made by Ford, usually as a coupe or convertible. It’s designed to feel fast and exciting, and it’s been around for many years. People talk about it a lot because it’s a recognizable, performance-oriented car.
“Rack to rack” means turning the steering wheel all the way from one side to the other. That forces the power steering system to move fluid through the steering parts. They use it as a simple way to see if the problem goes away.
A money-back guarantee means if you try the product and don’t like it, you can get your money back. They’re using it to make it easier for people to take a chance on a product they might be skeptical about. It’s about trust and risk reduction for the buyer.
Term
FR three
“FR three” sounds like a specific fuel additive or product the speaker is talking about. They’re basically saying: remove that stuff and see what happens. The transcript doesn’t make the exact name totally clear, but it’s part of their “prove it” challenge.
“Gasoline Extreme” is the name of the fuel additive they’re selling. They’re saying it helps with problems related to gasoline, and they back it with a money-back guarantee. It’s the product they want you to try.
Hot Shot’s Secret is the brand selling the gasoline additive they’re talking about. They say you can order it from their website and use a tool to find nearby stores that carry it. It’s basically where you’d buy the product they recommend.
LIVE
It is two guys around podcast. He's Kevin Byrd. I will be one of Kevin five today, man.
I always love when we have our boy on because everybody's gonna learn something. We're talking,
you know, it's funny because when you think about it, it truly is the forgotten maintenance
item, right? When you think about the fuel system, you think about everything that the
fuel system endures the environment. These, you know, these parts and pieces got to live
in. And what the fuel system is bringing, man, it's bringing everything. That's good.
You know, everything good. It's the vital component. And it's so oftentimes overlooked.
All that other stuff going on in the car is just to convert that fuel into power, right?
For motion. And, you know, it's easy to think I put the fuel in the tank. What else is there
to do? I fired up and I go and it kind of works, you know, for a while. You think about all the
times you've been left on the side of the road or you had, you know, issues with cars, how many
times has it been something related to the fuel system? You know, you'll find oftentimes that's
sort of the culprit of something, you know, going wrong. You left stranded, you know,
I remember back in the days, bro, I used to have in town, it's to run around Winchester,
Kentucky in the 71 Dodge Charger had a stroke 440. And I was a kid that had a total ramming
two forwards, bro. And I didn't have, I didn't have two 750s. I had two. They were like 395s
that I flowed. So pretty smart. And it was a pretty wicked little setup. But, you know,
I got to tell you, man, fuel and fuel delivery. I always, I always fought like vapor locking,
right? Some of the stupid things you fight as a kid when you're first exploring hot rods,
you know, vapor locking, what's wrong with this, you know, and then a couple of little issues.
That's how I went through, you know, electronic fuel pump, then you fight, you know, getting the
fuel, you know, delivered right. And, you know, obviously as fuel injection progresses, we went
through the years, supercharged stuff, boost, all that technology is added to it with fuel systems.
Man, they can make or break you. Oftentimes, you know, I see so many components that fail.
It's one of those things that is so overlooked and so forgot about because I think it's just
turnkey. You see the other stuff when you, when you watch your car, you, you look at it when you
open the hood and it's there, you know, you don't see the fuel system really. It's, it's in a tank
and it goes under the car somewhere and comes out and then magic happens. That's right. And you go.
All you see is that little hole you put the nozzle in to fill it. That's it. Yeah. You know, for the
most part. That's it. What's that? And, you know, anybody that lived to, you know, a whole carburetor
era, right? A lot more prevalent issues. Like you said, whether it's, you know, your little seat
stock or your jets clogged or whatever, right? Like you, you are way more aware of all the issues
of bad fuel, dirt in your fuel, you name it, right? Sludge buildups, you know, the, the waxy stuff.
And feel, remember the, remember the Holley's that had that little shatty, had the little O-rings
when you build it and they would constantly leak, you know, and, and, you know, how the,
all the diaphragms on the power bars would get all hard, you know, and plungers would get really
hard on the carburetor. Yeah, man, we kind of ached and painfully made our way through that,
but we learned, you know, a lot about what that fuel system do if you don't keep up with maintenance,
you know? And yeah, what you can't do, right? Like you have between repairing hardware and
cleaning stuff out, right? How many times have you rebuilt a carburetor? Like, why would you
need to rebuild a carburetor? It doesn't necessarily break. It just stuff gets clogged in there and
build up and junk in and you, and you, I think what's happened with fuel injection is such leap
and bound improvement. Absolutely. That it's really kind of hidden a lot of sins. And so
even if you're not broken down on the side of the road with your tunnel ram and your dual
three nineties, there's this slow evolution of build up and right. And you see it in your
cars for Christmas when you have these older cars that now, right? All the injectors are all
gummed up and goofed in, right? You, you can physically put it on your bench and you can see
the injectors like completely uneven and the spray patterns and all that stuff and everything
that fuel injection is supposed to do, give you these really precise find, miss, really good
atomization, great air fuel control, all that stuff just slowly goes away and, and you almost
acclimate to it and you don't even realize how much you're losing in performance and fuel economy,
your emissions, all that stuff because it's just hidden. Yeah. Yeah. It's the same man. It truly is
one of those things that, you know, we're going to get reminded of today because there's a lot
of things in there that we could do to improve it, to save it, to help it. More on that in just
a minute. It's the Two Guys Grounds podcast. He's Kevin Byrd. I'm Willie B. We're back after the break.
It is the Two Guys Grounds podcast. He's Kevin Byrd. I am Willie B. And we have our boy Kyle on
and I got to tell you, man, from the get, from the moment we met Kyle years and years ago,
he's just been a wealth and knowledge, great resource. And when it comes to, you know,
when it comes to lubricity, dude, I'm telling you, man, this cat knows everything. So many years
has been elbows deep in the diesel world, holding many, I mean, numerous world records. And it's
wild to see this, this great transition to what we now know to be, you know, all kinds of great
things over in the gas world, because man, it is overdue, much needed. And I got to tell you, man,
we're Kevin and we're talking about just how many problems derived from fuel system issues.
It's amazing how common these problems get, right? It's amazing how many of them there are.
Yeah. And like I said before, a lot of them just sneak up on you and you don't even realize it. Your
car just feels like it's so old. And a lot of the reason is the fuel system, right? If a good
cleaning and everything comes out, like fine mist and atomized and air fuel ratio, your car will
run probably a lot more like it was new again. But we just accept that it's worn out. It's not
worn out. A lot of times it's just dirty, right? Yeah. You find that to be true, Kyle, that it
happens so gradually that people just, they become unaware of the degradation and their performance
and the loss of, you know, just performance and how that car should feel and should drive.
100%. You guys, it's that slow buildup. So, you know, we just kind of get used to what we get used
to. And it's in the fuel system is one of those things that compounds over time. And we kind of
get used to what it feels like. And sometimes it's when your buddy jumps in your car to take it,
and he's like, man, this doesn't run like mine does. And he's like, really? You know, so it's
certainly the hidden maintenance item that, you know, people really need to be focusing on. And
I always like to look at it, you know, it's spring cleaning time. So it's time to clean out that fuel
system too, as you wash the car off and change the tires and do all the other maintenance.
Hey, and let me tell you, man, Kevin mentioned my Cars for Christmas program. There's been so many
cars. It was about four or five years ago, I decided to get a fuel injection like machine,
so I could clean fuel injectors and I could run certain tests on them. You can do ramp-ups,
you can do performance, heavy loads on them. And you're not going to believe over the
last several years, the increase of cars that have just faulty fuel injectors, where you got
bad atomization, where there's, you know, plunger issues, the screens are messed up,
the actual valve body, you know, is so gunked up. And you can see droplets instead of atomization,
you can see them down on efficiency. You run efficiency tests, one will be at, you know,
30, the other will be at five, you know, and it's crazy how many of these components fail,
because what is something going on in our gas that we're unaware of? Why are so many things
failing? Because it's built for that environment, no? Well, yes, but there's a lot of bad stuff in
the gasoline too, you know, so there's a lot going on and the end result, you'll see it on
your bench test there on the injectors. If it's coming out the injectors bad, imagine what the
rest of the fuel systems looking like. And the biggest problem we generally see are carbon
deposits, the carbon deposits that are left over, they tend to build up in the system over time.
And they make their way to the injectors, just like you had said, and Kevin, you kind of touched
on as well, that way these fuel systems are built now, especially right at the piston where the
injector level is, they want that pure atomization, they want a direct hit on that sweet spot of the
piston to get the ultimate, you know, full, you know, energy and power out of it. And when that
spray pattern starts to get, you know, angled at all, as you've seen on your bench testing,
you're losing a lot of economy, you lose a lot of power sluggish, tough idols, bad starts, all of
that. And I bet you, Kevin, something that's probably up your alley that you know quite a bit
when these systems now are so run by computers, right? So they're adjusting all the timing,
the air fuel on the fly. And imagine that computer seeing the system run a little off,
so it's deciding to change the air fuel mix, and it's trying to change it while the plungers
sitting there making the spray wrong. So it thinks it's trying to fix it, and it can even
overcorrect itself and try to balance out something when you're limiting that really
advanced modern fuel system from taking advantage of the technology it has by an old problem of
gunking it up with some carbon deposits. Well, that computer has ranges and it knows what a new
system operates under, right? The various pressures and, you know, duty cycles and etc. of the
injectors. And, and now you've changed it. Now it's a different, right? The characteristic of
each of those injectors is now changed. And the computer has no idea it can't read any of that
stuff, right? It only has a few sensors like what's going down stream and the O2, right? How
how long did I turn the injector on for? Really simple type stuff. So once you're out of the
normal operating parameters, the computer is just kind of guessing, right? And it's doing
correction factors on a gross level. That then compounds the issue too, because where the most
of the carbon deposits are coming from is the unspent fuel. So as soon as you start to have
a little bit of a gum up in a buildup, now you're not spraying properly, now you're having less fuel
burn, which leaves more carbon behind, which is a to vicious cycle that compounds the issue.
Hey, you know what are the parts when I take fuel injectors apart? They have this little kind of a
bucket screen in there. And when you pull this thing out, it's amazing to put, I got a ultrasonic
tray that that that you put this cleaner in and you clean injectors and a few other components
parts. And it's amazing to see how much just sediment comes off one of these these screens
from a single injector, like it will totally like corrode an entire like, like, you know, dish
about, you know, three inches by three inches, it will make it go from from a clean solution
to a completely cloudy dark rusty color with one screen, one. And it's amazing that, you know,
you go through every one of these injectors and they're all having that issue of problem. You
see it on efficiency test, performance test, numbers, how it seals up is something because
we'll put a load on it won't open it and you'll see some of them drip through because it it can't
seal up correct. You know, all these issues going on with modern injectors. It's one of the big
problems and things we fix on these cars that I get for cars of Christmas. Absolutely. Like a
surprising number. I'd say I'd say 30 28 30 32% of cars that we have come through the shop
have an injector issue on one of the injectors. I mean, they're older cars, but that's that's
fairly common and some some is to blame from the from the fuel too. Now, obviously, you guys know
where where came up on the diesel side that probably know our our diesel extreme and our
everyday diesel treatment. These is we know on the diesel side how poor diesel fuel is.
Fortunately, gasoline is more highly refined products. So we don't see all the problems
that we do on the diesel side. And you can generally feel more confident that what you're
getting out of the gasoline pump is a quality product. That said, we always recommend people
before you even get to these products where you need to clean out, let's focus on getting some
good fuel. So I always recommend people make sure you're getting a top tier fuel provider.
That's not your little corner store on the back road somewhere that turns their fuel over
once every three months. And they got some old fuel with a rusted tank. And a lot of that
sediment that you see in these injectors is actually coming from the bottom of the fuel
tanks at the fuel pump itself. So let's, you know, I like to recommend people go to high
turnover gas stations, so they're getting fresh fuel. We know that these fuel jobbers work in a
world of fractions of pennies. So they just don't put as much detergents as needed in there. They
don't put as much stabilizers in there, especially for fuel has been sitting around. So top tier
fuel stations that turn over fuel best is a start to keeping the system good. At least you're
getting the fresh. And what about not running your car so, so empty, you know, running your car
like when it gets down to quarter tank, if you drive your car a lot, you should put some fuel in it,
you know, or eighth of a tank, don't let it get down to that bottom gallon or two, because I feel
like that's a, you know, higher proprietary, you know, sort of mix of the rest of the sediment,
the, the crap that's coming from the, you know, the gas stations, that's going to cause more
problems if you're sucking from the bottom, you know, you're right. There's sediment in the tank
already. It's already there. When you've got 20 gallons in it is diluted over 20 gallons. When you
got one gallon in it, all that sediment's highly concentrated. So you're exactly right. Keeping,
keeping as full as possible is always a good, good way to protect the fuel system.
Now, Kyle, you mentioned carbon deposits. Do you see that on the PFI side or mostly on the direct
injection side? Because the direct injection, you know, tip is sitting in that combustion chamber
in the heat. Do you see it on normally on the PFI side too?
Yeah, on like port inject stuff in the intake valves, you'll see it. We certainly see it everywhere
from injectors, rings, upper cylinders. It's, it's pretty much everywhere. Now we're seeing more
injected now. And so there's, there's, you got to almost, you know, count on a better fuel,
tough to clean on that side, of course, but it is an ongoing problem. And the tire of these
systems are coming, they're coming under more pressure too, kind of like as we know on the diesel
side, you know, those systems can be 30,000 PSI. So the smallest issue gets compounded. And
with all the fuel economy standards that they're bringing in now, these are getting really advanced
on these fuel injections, but they also means it's more important. It's kind of like in the diesel
side, people know that they got to care for the fuel system. The gasoline world needs to take note
of what's going on in these new injected systems and know that it's a, it needs to be a point of
maintenance for the longevity of the vehicle. What do you think maintenance of a fuel system?
A lot of people kind of go, okay, I know if I'm, you know, doing maintenance on, you know, the
transmission, I'm going to drop the, drop the filter and, you know, maybe flush the fluid,
check a couple of things like that. And, you know, you think fuel system, okay, maybe I'll change the
fuel filter outside of changing the fuel filter. What in your book would you consider maintenance?
And then we're almost up against the brakes. So I don't want to dive too much into some of these
cool products you're going to have for us, you know, us gassers, but we'll get to that in a second,
Bart. But what is maintenance for a fuel system for you? Well, it first starts off with trying to get
the best fuel in the tank that we can, and everybody can control that, you know, so, so you
start there with, with good fuel. After that, let's make sure that we're doing two things. We
really want to make sure that the fuel system stays lubricated, and that you're cleaning it out on a
regular interval. There's a lot of products out there that do carbon cleanup. There's a lot of
lubricant products out there. I bet you if you've surveyed most people, it's just something they
don't think about. And until it becomes a problem, and like we started off with, it's a slow buildup.
So the best thing I tell people is put that into your maintenance plan from the very beginning.
And if you maintain that system and clean it regularly, you don't see these problems down
the road. And once they've developed into larger problems, they're much more hard to tackle. So
be preventative about it, be on the front end about it, put good fuel in, clean your system
regularly like you do the rest of your system. You know, we're going to go to break, but you
mentioned the word that most people probably haven't associated with the fuel system,
lubricity. And that's lubrication, basically. You think, man, that's just, you know, water. It
smells bad, you know, and it burns, but it's just kind of water. So what does lubricity have to do
with anything after the break? Because that's a really hidden kind of gym as a piece of knowledge.
Yeah, man. It's so funny. We just spin that word out like everybody knows it, but it's going to
be awesome. All right, more on that just a minute, two guys drive podcast. He's Kyle,
he's Kevin Byrd. I'm Willie B. We're back after the break.
It is two guys run podcast. He is Kevin Byrd. I am Willie B. We got our boy Kyle on
Hot Shots Secret. It's amazing when you think about all the crazy things these guys have
tacked over the years. Lubricity has been a word that is often times used every time we have
money. We talk about lubricity, but when we left, we were going to break that down for us a little
bit more than just the word. What's the magic behind it, man? The lubricity part of fuel is
very simple. What some people just overlook is the only thing that is lubricating that fuel system
is the fuel itself. You know, in the OEs kind of marched down that whole E85 route, you know,
whether it was flex fuel and even down in the E15, there was a whole lot of challenges. And
most people are familiar with, you know, the rubber hoses kind of breaking down and some
corrosion and things, but not everybody's fully understanding, you know, some of the other hidden
challenges in lubricity. E85 doesn't naturally have the same lubricity as gasoline, which you
think doesn't have much, which it doesn't, but it shows you that it's doing something
and you need it. So they had to upgrade things like valve seats, right? To harder valve seats,
harder, uh, harder valves. So that contact where the valve closes and starts banging,
will wear the seats out, wear the valves out. So lubricity is the key thing that,
that you need in any type of fuel. Uh, and you could always use more of it. And you guys do
a whole nother layer beyond the, just the cleaning process is just making sure all that stuff
lasts for 50, 100, 150,000 miles, 200,000 miles, right? That it's working, let alone
clean and functioning properly. And another great part of it about that,
lubricity is that the lubricity can also bring some efficiency and power as well
as an upper cylinder lubricant. We've talked a lot of before on the oil side on the lower end
and letting that ring and package, you know, ride that cylinder wall and we want to reduce
where as much as possible, but you get them enough for lubricating on the top side,
it becomes a top cylinder lubricant that also can produce power and efficiency as well.
Hey, Kyle, question for you. You guys mentioned lubricity a lot. It helped you a lot in the
diesel world for sure. And you've just several world records because of it. Uh, is this something
that everybody has and it's not oftentimes talked about it, or is it something that you guys have
found like a path to, um, performance in this, that not a lot of people are adding this
lubricity components and it's just something you guys have found that really works.
The lubricant world knows and we try to educate more people about it. Uh, we, we are very fortunate
our, our LX4, which is our lubricity extreme standalone product. This is just lubricity.
So you can add this to diesel, gasoline, E85, methanol, nitromethane, you name it. You can
put LX4 in there and bring the lubricity up a fuel. We have a very unique lubricity fuel,
lubricity out of that does not necessarily impact, uh, the, you know, countering the dryness of,
of the fuel. So it, it, on the diesel side, as we raise C-tane, it wants to drop lubricity,
you bring lubricity up, but it wants to drop the C-tane. We have a formula that allows you to
still play on the other side like we do on gasoline, but not drop the lubricity. So, uh,
we just have a unique formula that we have patented on that we use for that.
And second, knowing what these fuel injectors that I see and how much, how oftentimes there's a bad
one, um, what are you bringing over to the gas side to help with that? Lubricity is one thing,
but all this carbon buildup, all these, you know, components are failing because of this
buildup of all this junk and gunk. So how are you guys fighting that? Which seems to be the killer.
So, and I, and I like to be straight with you guys, right? So the, the, the secret on that side is,
here's your word for the day, polyetheramine, which is PEA. That is not dated her in college.
Yeah. So that's not a secret ingredient that we have. That's a, that's a known, uh, it's the best
carbon cleaner out there. It's the most advanced technology we have on the gasoline side to clean
out these carbon deposits. The main difference that we do is that we max out literally where the
EPA can stop us on how much of this PEA we put into the product. So there's a lot of gasoline
fuel side cleaners out there that, um, well, you know, you'll see it on the bottle, just like our
bottles, they say PEA right here. Um, but what amount of PA is in there? And the other difference is
you'll also see in our gasoline extreme bottles, they have LX4. So we're adding the lubricity
while we're doing this deep cleaning. There's a lot of those products that you could pour in the
fuel tank that do a good job of cleaning, but they're the type of products that you have to dump
right away. This smokes everything out and you're robbing that engine of lubricity during that
cleaning process. We want to clean safely. So we add extra lubricity while we're doing a very heavy
dose of PEA. Cause I think the standard, you know, you talked about in gas stations, right? The,
they're running on pennies for margins. So if they try to add more detergents and things like that,
it's just, there goes their profits. But from my understanding in the, in the general, uh,
you know, lubricant space where there's motor oils and additives and all that stuff, right?
Cleaners, right? They're, they're all trying to sell you a brand with the minimum amount of
content in there. And you guys typically are siding on the, nope, we're going to give you the best
and the, you know, the best mix of, right? Key ingredients that maybe other people have,
but we're giving it to you in different quantities that's going to give you better
results kind of deal. That's a hundred percent right. And, and it goes back to, you guys know us
like we, we love to solve problems. And so as we entered the gasoline market being known as a diesel
focused company, um, when we entered this gasoline cleaning market and looking forward,
like we talked about earlier, these new innovations in the new, uh, injected systems and everything,
we didn't want to leave anything on the table. So we maxed out the amount of PEA that you can
put in there while also using our exclusive LX4 to lubricate at the same time. And, and, and it's
really that and it's not only the concentration level, but we also, there's a time period too. So,
you know, like our 12 ounce bottle treats 20 gallons of, of, of gasoline. Somebody might get
slick and think, well, I'm going to put it on 10 gallons of gasoline to give it an extra punch,
extra heavy. No, no, no, we've got to formulate it right where we wanted the tip of the gain curve.
We want that, that balance of product in there, but we also want it to run through that fuel
system injector for 20 full gallons of fuel. And that's why we recommend using this product
to just once every 10,000 miles. Um, you'll see a lot of other, you know, products in this space
that are using a fraction of the, the PEA and telling you to use it more and more. You need
it every 3000 miles or, or so we're putting so much in that we know that we can clean that
system fully and get you down the road for another 10,000 miles before you need to do another deep
cleaning. Because I feel like you got to be really pissed off at the other fuel additive
companies because they're a dime a dozen selling snake oil. I mean, outside of people that don't
comply with the kiss cam, I think these people ought to be like, I don't know, drug out man,
because there's about a billion of these things on the shelf and all of them are garbage. It's,
it's not like, I hope you guys dominate this, this particular sector and just because I've seen
the domination you guys brought through the diesel world, um, I hope you bring the same
standard, which is severe, you know, up a level up from, from where it's at right now in the fuel
additive game. Uh, so what do you recommend? You said this stuff last 10,000 miles. Explain
how something last 10,000 miles a that you're dumping in your, in your fuel. Well, the clean out,
let's remember we're not, there's no magic here. We can't improve your fuel economy.
We are restoring your fuel economy. So I'll give you a little side story. When we first launched
this product, we did a thousand car study, uh, with a placebo, uh, our product and then another
leading manufacturers product. And it was a blind study. And on average, the people that used the
gasoline extreme had an increase in fuel mileage of 7.9%. Now let's dive into those numbers a
little bit. When we started cross referencing those numbers, it was a pretty linear line between
the age of the fuel system or the last time it had been clean. So if you have a brand new vehicle
and put this in there, I ain't gonna do much because it's not much to clean. Now,
if you have a very old vehicle, you buy a used vehicle, some of the cars you work with, some of
the older ones, they got a really dirty system. Well, you're going to see a lot more return of
performance and improvement on that inefficiency. So one unique thing we did find, we found some
outliers in that study where we had some newer vehicles that were showing very
pretty impressive mile per gallon gains on something that the system technically wouldn't
see a lot of, uh, cleaning, let's say in it. And that's where we talked about earlier on the LX4
side that we add the lubricity, uh, it becomes the upper cylinder lubricant, which I'll leak out a
little thing of the future here. Uh, that's kind of guiding us towards maybe, uh, kind of like our
everyday diesel treatment might be working on something like an everyday gas treatment that
helps bring that lubricity up in every tank and, uh, keep it, uh, keep it clean so you don't have
to wait till that deposits build back up and then do a deep cleaning. Yes. You're, you're naturally
getting some degradation over time. You guys are coming in periodically to step it back up
and then you'll get some more degradation over time. You'll come in and clean it,
step it back up again. So you're consistently riding, let's say the high side of your fuel
economy, your performance, and of course it's bringing that, that lubricity in there. So
you're going to be riding the top edge from emissions and you name it, right? Through the life
of your car versus, because even like you say, and even if you take one of Willie's cars for
Christmas cars that are kind of old and tired, you're only going to get so much out, right?
You're only going to be able to clean so much cause it's just, right? When you, you know, in
the old days, when you used to get a lot more sludge in engines, there was no way to clean
that stuff up. You pretty much had to tear the engine down, right? So it's like, if you could
have cleaned that engine oil sooner and stripped out that sludge as it was building, that engine
probably could have lasted forever, but here you go, right? You waited too long to get the
maximum kind of clean. It dealt with the wearer. So you had some damage along that way, but,
but fortunately we can clean it out now. You know, and we've talked a lot on the oil side,
our stitch and eliminator. I love to get that side in the bottom side of the oil, clean those
old engines out. You put gasoline and extreme on the top side of the engine, you get the
upper cylinders all clean and the fuel system clean and you can make these old cars run great.
You just hope it wasn't too late that there's some long-term damage, but we certainly
get them running good again. And that's what we love doing is restoring old, old efficiency.
And I love telling this story because this is real life. I watched stitch and eliminator work
one time. We were in the studio doing a car. I believe it was a Mustang because it sounds like
something Mustang would do. But when you, when you had, when you had the power steering all the
way over, it was on an older box, it was an older car because it had a power steering pull and it
would go, it would bounce back, it would hit, you know, like that. It was making all kinds of noise.
And I remember our boy getting a Dixie cup of it and just pouring a little in the power steering
pump and just said, okay, run it rack to rack side to side. And you did that and it was totally gone.
Like totally gone. You could run it all the way to the bumps and no barking, no jitter back in
the wheel and no nothing. And that was just like this much out of a Dixie cup. And I was like,
you know what, that stuff works. I don't care what he, what he's saying it does. That stuff works.
That stuff's great. So been a fan of it ever since, man.
We hear those stories all the time. We love it because, you know, we love solving problems. So
when we hear that feedback from customers, it's awesome. And that's why one unique thing about
us being a lubricant company, we're the only one that offers a money back guarantee on every one
of our products. No questions asked. If you're not happy, we give you your money back. And the
reason for that is because people are skeptical and we want people to try the product. And,
and if you're, if you don't believe what Willie just said, I challenge you to go throw a little
bit of sticks, eliminate your FR three and your power steering pump and see how much it moves.
If we're lying, we give you your money back. So it's, it's, it's encourages people to try.
And it's great. You guys are tackling the gasoline world, man. It's much needed and long overdue.
I know Kevin and I've been, we've dealt with some of those, you know, on the shelf, off the shelf,
you know, pick up a 711 a Walmart crappy fuel additive companies that I don't know how they
still survive, man. So your, uh, your knowledge and wisdom is needed in that world. And I'm glad
you guys are bringing it. Well, and we're glad to finally get this out. And as you know, we've
really grown in the retail space, uh, retail stuff. It takes years to get these products in.
And I'm really proud to say if anybody wants to try this product, the gasoline extreme
is available on our website. You can go to hotshotsecret.com and order it. If you're on
our website, we have a where to buy function and you can punch your zip code in and find a local
dealer. We have a great network of independent dealers that carry this product. And it's been
such a big seller that now we're getting a lot of retail, uh, interest in the product,
which again, there's a very crowded product on that shelf there in the retail store.
But we've, we finally are getting some, uh, interest in retail and gasoline extreme is now
available. Uh, his first retailer had auto zones in Florida. So, uh, this is then, and now once one
picks it, they usually start all coming. So I think you'll start to see this product on your,
your retail shelves nationwide, uh, in the next year. Yeah, that'll make things easy.
And it's a great product. Yeah. Get it and use it, fellas. Get it and use it. You know what else
you should get? Our show. It airs weekends on a motor trend network. So what are you waiting on,
man? Check your local listings also available in Discovery Plus and Max. Thanks to our producer,
Scoop, a senior producer, Justin Carter, exact producer, Bob Eckert. He's our board, Kyle,
the company's hotshot secret. He's Kevin Bird. I'm really being this is the two guys garage podcast.
Yeah. And you know, there's another website you can go to ours, two guys garage.com.
And we're on social everywhere at two guys garage and the two guys garage podcast.
It is copyright 2025. Brenton productions incorporated. All rights reserved.
Nice, man. Thanks, Kyle. It's always great having you on, man. Hey, one, uh, one thing.
Your boy's still working on the LS tick additive thing. We are. And thanks to you guys. We got
some new, uh, testers and we're going back to Ellis fist this year. Uh, so, uh, be fun to see
what happens with that product. You let me know when that, that one comes out,
I'm a tester too. We'll see you. We'll see you on the next two guys garage podcast guys. Take care.
Two guys garage podcast is a production of Britain productions. For more episodes,
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About this episode
Fuel-system issues get overlooked, but they can strand cars and gradually make everything feel “old.” The hosts walk through how vapor locking, weak fuel delivery, and clogged carb jets or injectors reduce atomization and throw off the air-fuel ratio—often masked by modern fuel injection until it’s severe. They explain what they look for on injector bench tests, why low fuel concentrates sediment, and how lubricity and carbon deposits tie into drivability, emissions, and wear. They also discuss additive chemistry and dosing intervals.
Kevin and Willie explore the evolution and common issues of automotive fuel systems with Kyle Fischer from Hot Shot's Secret, who reveals why this "forgotten maintenance item" is often the culprit behind sluggish performance. The trio examine how poor fuel from your local pump effects the overall fuel system, and how the company’s advanced gasoline additive “Gasoline Extreme” combats carbon deposits and provides vital lubrication for modern engines, restoring that performance and lost fuel economy.
