Bubbajones_ya

Here's the background:

I was doing a project for my college statistics class to test MPG giving different driving situations.

The last comparison for the tests was to see if octane booster improved MPG like it claimed. I didn't really believe it would do much if anything, but I was planning on getting the measurements to see.

My car has been driving great this whole year (it's my daily driver) and I've had no issues with driving before this or using the WUD on the EBL, but immediately after adding octane booster to my car (about 1/2 bottle to a nearly full tank that said treats 25 gallons), I started the car. The gauge cluster immediately went out (it's digital, but the 10 amp fuse blew). I got 2 more fuses and they blow as soon as the ignition is turned on (the gauge lights up for a fraction of a second.)

I plugged in the EBL Flash program and was planning on using that and bypassing the gauge. However, the MPH reading on it is going crazy, from 0 to 250 and back randomly. It seems like the readings on most of the gauges are random. The engine is also running weird as well.

I get the assumption that octane booster is not going to improve my mileage now, and that it's probably not a great thing for the car. This seems like a coincidence though that the EBL is acting funny and the gauge fuses are blowing too...

Does anyone know what would cause the sporadic readings of the gauges on the EBL at idle? Also where should I start to look for the blowing fuse?

bigal55

iTrader: (1)

Forget about the octane booster, it did not cause this problem, completely coincidental.
Try unplugging the gauge cluster and see what the WUD shows. Still flakey readings? Check the ECM to see if the board(s) or connectors are loose and all your wiring is secure. New gauge fuse with cluster unplugged, does it still blow? Just a few quick checks, I'm sure others will chime in with more ideas. HTH!

Bubbajones_ya

I've been busy with school projects and finals this week so I haven't had a chance to do anything yet.

I can't see how octane boost could do anything to the computer like this either, the timing is just super coincidental.

Thursday is my last final of my undergraduate degree, so I'll have a bit more time to figure it out after that. I have to siphon the gas out of the tank somehow because the camaro doesn't really want to idle or drive with the octane booster in it (at least I believe that's it, unless somehow some computer settings are making it operate incorrectly.)

I couldn't find a way to get a hose into the gas tank through the fuel fill port, so I think I'll just take off the supply fuel line from the engine bay and have the pump do all the work to pump out most of the gas.

Then I'll add some normal gas to it and unplug the instrument cluster.

Six_Shooter

iTrader: (2)

Don't worry about siphoning the fuel the octagon booster is not causing the engine to idle rough.

Bubbajones_ya

I can say pretty confidently the octane booster is causing me some issues for sure.

I haven't been able to find much out recently with finals and graduation, but I just got around testing today (after getting my truck towed home since it's injector driver module failed...)

Anyways, I got about 1/2 gallon of gas out from the Camaro and decided to pour it into one of our 80s yamaha 4 stroke quads. The quad always runs great and I've been driving it around recently with no problems. It's carbureted as well so there are almost no electronics to it.

I tested the quad before filling up with gas, then let it idle while pouring in the gas I siphoned from the Camaro. Very shortly after pouring in the gas, the quad started to stumble and it died. Now it doesn't want to turn over and is running pretty rough.

I believe I do have electrical issues on the camaro, but the octane boost stuff I added is definitely causing issues. The gas I purchased in the camaro BEFORE adding octane boost was 89 from a reputable gas station and it was running great on that same tank of gas. It has only been in my tank about 4 weeks as well.

Bubbajones_ya

Just an update,

I finally got around to bypassing the fuel pump relay to pump out all the gas. Because my fuse was still blowing with the gauge, I couldn't tell how much fuel I had left so I pump out as much as I could until the flow decreased then stopped (because I didn't want to burn up the fuel pump.)

I then added some gas that I pulled form my Bronco's tank before swapping that to diesel.

At first, the camaro was running a little rough, but after a little while, it seemed to run normal. I then put in another fuse for the gauges and it didn't blow. I drove into town and filled up with gas and have had no issues.

I really can't think of anything reasonable that have the octane booster cause electrical issues, but for some weird reason, when it was out of my tank, my gauges worked again. It makes no sense to me, but that's exactly what happened. Thankfully there seems to be no damage, and I know I'm never going to use Lucas octane booster again (I typically stay away from all that stuff anyways besides seafoam)

RBob

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the update. Have to wonder if the octane boost actually made the fuel so conductive that the fuel level sensor was shorting out the gauges fuse.

RBob.

Bubbajones_ya

I didn't think of that. That sounds likes the most reasonable explanation for causing the issue.

I'm glad it was an easy fix though!

Bubbajones_ya

Hmmm...... maybe I spoke too soon.

I really should be buying lottery tickets if this issue I'm having isn't related to bad gas/bad octane booster or something that the bad octane booster potentially caused. I know the octane booster caused the fuel to be bad somehow (in that two different quads wouldn't run on that fuel and it caused the camaro to run bad initially.)

I was pretty low on fuel (about 1/4 tank), and my issue with the gauge fuse blowing happened again, and the car started to run rough as well. I limped it to the gas station and filled up, then it seemed great for about 20 miles of driving. I assumed that maybe there was residual bad fuel left that got sucked in through the bottom and caused the issue again.

However on the way back home, the car had a few violent jerks as in loss of power suddenly. With the first violent jerk, the fuse blew again. I really had trouble starting this time when I pulled over to check things out. The starter was struggling at one point to turn the engine over almost like the engine was about to be hydro-locked somehow.

I did manage to get home, but I'm still having some issues. The car isn't running as bad as when I first put the octane boost in, but it has some moments of cutting out (like it's losing spark very suddenly.) The fuses seem to be fine, but will blow when I get a loss of power and keep blowing them when the car is having it's moments of running rough.


Maybe it will take a few tanks to get all the bad stuff out of the system, or maybe it's something else.

If there is an electrical issue, it appears that it was first caused by the octane booster. Maybe like Rbob said, it was too conductive and was shorting the fuel sending unit out. Maybe this caused some damage somewhere that needs to be addressed?

It appears that my fuel is getting too hot as well. When city driving, I think I heard my fuel boiling. I have had cooling issues last year, and was believing my fuel was getting too hot. I don't know if this relates, or maybe enhances the problem I'm having.


For now, I think I'm just going to keep running it and see if I can get through a couple more tanks of gas. I'll try and rule out 100% that any fuel quality related issues are causing this. I'll try looking into other sensors that run off the same fuse as the gauge as well. I believe the EGR solenoids, and canister filter solenoid run off the same fuse.


I find it fascinating (extremely frustrating) that this issue happened at the same time I added octane booster, then disappeared when I got rid of that gas, but now it's back. If it's not somewhat related to the octane booster/fuel issue, then the coincidence of it coming and going at those times must be some type of statistical record!

???

iTrader: (5)

I've seen a short ccase a car to run like that, while it's shorting, the current goes straight to ground. so none for the ign. so can't fire the coil. but when I've seen it, it was a bigger pos starter cable.


any chance your intake pump wwire is touching the float arm or ssomething?

Bubbajones_ya

I may have to check that out if I can get my car home. I posted a thread in the TBI and electronics section now because I'm not sure if this problem I'm having stems with an electronic or mechanical issue.

The circuit breaker (I put in place of the fuse) did not trip most of the day and the car ran great. However, it tripped about 4 miles from where my girlfriends place was. I decided to keep driving and get there to check the temperature of the manifold with the laser gun I'm borrowing. Both cooling fans were on and working well. The radiator cap was spewing coolant when I opened the hood so the car overheated very quickly when the fuse blew.

It makes me think something is causing the car to run very lean, which makes it run very poorly, and also somehow blows the fuse. I'm not really sure where to look now. The temperatures were reading 260 on the heat gun so I really hope I didn't damage the block/heads or head gaskets.

I'm still trying to figure out the entire circuit for fuse #9 so I can trouble shoot what may be blowing the fuse.. the fuse blowing though is not nearly as bad as extreme overheating...

Six_Shooter

iTrader: (2)

There's exactly zero chance that any octane booster caused your issues, especially if you followed the directions, usually half or one bottle to a talk of gas.

The overheating is mechanical in nature and I'd suspect a plugged rad, or bad water pump is the most probable causes. For en engine to overheat as quickly as you claim from running lean, provided the cooling system is functioning correctly, the engine would be so lean that it wouldn't actually run.

Grounding the fuel level sender wire won't cause the fuses gauge to blow. when the tank is empty in 3rd gens, the resistance is zero, meaning it's a short to ground anyway. The resistance range of the 3rd gen sender os 0 ohms empty and 90 ohms full.

I'm going to lock this thread because it's not an EFI related topic anymore, to be honest it never really was, but now it's definitely into a different direction.