ACES IV - An effective octane booster and anti-wear additive?

[BiGMaC]

I gave Brian my credit card number yesterday around 2, my order showed up on my doorstep at 1130 am today.

Thanks for the lightening fast service!

Awesome service!

[92BlackGT]

welp, i just place an order for some ACES IV and motor oil. Brian said he would stay late to make sure my oil gets made up tonight so he could ship it out ASAP. i'm looking forward to protecting my engine!

[SHOdded]

Bravo, and good luck!

[J-Will]

those that can, please data log some before and afters.  I'm really interested in that Learned Octane value and KR

[FoMoCoSHO]

those that can, please data log some before and afters.  I'm really interested in that Learned Octane value and KR

I don't have a stock log.

I am not tuned but I do have the Typhoon installed currently.

Aces IV went in Saturday and the break-in oil was removed and Quantum blue added today.

OAR (LOR) is not logged but it hasn't moved from -1 and that was going from E20 + M.18 to just the ACES.

[FoMoCoSHO]

So I wanted to give some initial impressions with the Aces IV...

The two days prior to install I started seeing lots of +KR and not nearly as much -. (some trips I wouldn't see-4 at all!)I was getting frustrated as i was seeing +7 at times and it started out of the blue. Same blend I've been running and same stations so IDK what was going on.

First off, I hate the squeeze bottle! Need one with a 1 OZ graduation.  (Could be operator error I guess, lol, I was a little frustrated) I filled it up, went to drop Mrs. FoMoCoSHO off at her car, then realized I didn't shake it. DAMMIT TO HELL! Back to the house, dumped back in original container, shook it up this time, refilled squeeze bottle, and finally off to Shell. 

Adding in the ACES made an immediate improvement to the negative KR side. Behaved similar to corn, maybe more sensitive to throttle inputs actually. Positive events subsided immediately as well. The events are still there but the severity and frequency dropped quite dramatically. I used 3.25 ounces on the initial fillup.

Other than that the car ran like crap Saturday and yesterday and Torque confirmed the power drop. Still  having weird KR events so I think I'm going to switch to the Shell station I used to use. Even before this last weirdness I've seen some unexpected fuel trim behavior as well recently.

Today however, the car seemed to work it out somewhat and it feels much like it did on the corn, once again confirmed by Torque power readings.

The car is still pulling fuel and the trims are not dialed in yet. I am seeing LTFT of -.8 in bank 2 at times and I never saw that when I was using straight Shell so that is at least an indication that the mixture is indeed "fatter" as Brian refers to and the car is pulling fuel to adjust. I filled up at a little less that a quarter tank so still dealing with a little E and M in the mix as well. My guess is at least another complete tank before we consider the old blend to "trace amounts".

I know a couple of the other guys have ordered so I'm curious about their experiences. I'm concerned that I have a fuel quality issue coinciding with the switch so I'm not sure I'm providing the best data right now.

[SHOdded]

Def have to give the car some time to adjust, if it's anything like products that I have logged with my Edge.  Sometimes it takes a 100 miles or so of varied driving to settle in and give consistent trims & readings.  Heck it happens just by switching gas stations!  I went from Shell (top tier, same station) to Safeway (grocery tier) gas, and the logs were pretty wild.  Adding an octane booster like 104+ also elicited similar behavior, though it took less time for the trims to settle in.

[BiGMaC]

So I wanted to give some initial impressions with the Aces IV...

The two days prior to install I started seeing lots of +KR and not nearly as much -. (some trips I wouldn't see-4 at all!)I was getting frustrated as i was seeing +7 at times and it started out of the blue. Same blend I've been running and same stations so IDK what was going on.

First off, I hate the squeeze bottle! Need one with a 1 OZ graduation.  (Could be operator error I guess, lol, I was a little frustrated) I filled it up, went to drop Mrs. FoMoCoSHO off at her car, then realized I didn't shake it. DAMMIT TO HELL! Back to the house, dumped back in original container, shook it up this time, refilled squeeze bottle, and finally off to Shell. 

Adding in the ACES made an immediate improvement to the negative KR side. Behaved similar to corn, maybe more sensitive to throttle inputs actually. Positive events subsided immediately as well. The events are still there but the severity and frequency dropped quite dramatically. I used 3.25 ounces on the initial fillup.

Other than that the car ran like crap Saturday and yesterday and Torque confirmed the power drop. Still  having weird KR events so I think I'm going to switch to the Shell station I used to use. Even before this last weirdness I've seen some unexpected fuel trim behavior as well recently.

Today however, the car seemed to work it out somewhat and it feels much like it did on the corn, once again confirmed by Torque power readings.

The car is still pulling fuel and the trims are not dialed in yet. I am seeing LTFT of -.8 in bank 2 at times and I never saw that when I was using straight Shell so that is at least an indication that the mixture is indeed "fatter" as Brian refers to and the car is pulling fuel to adjust. I filled up at a little less that a quarter tank so still dealing with a little E and M in the mix as well. My guess is at least another complete tank before we consider the old blend to "trace amounts".

I know a couple of the other guys have ordered so I'm curious about their experiences. I'm concerned that I have a fuel quality issue coinciding with the switch so I'm not sure I'm providing the best data right now.

Excellent initial feedback... Thanks! More please.
Also would be interested if changing Shell stations helps. As I have posted... My SHO just didn't like the new nitro plus as well as the (two month) older Shell formulation or Chevron.

[Dxlnt1]

So I wanted to give some initial impressions with the Aces IV...

The two days prior to install I started seeing lots of +KR and not nearly as much -. (some trips I wouldn't see-4 at all!)I was getting frustrated as i was seeing +7 at times and it started out of the blue. Same blend I've been running and same stations so IDK what was going on.

First off, I hate the squeeze bottle! Need one with a 1 OZ graduation.  (Could be operator error I guess, lol, I was a little frustrated) I filled it up, went to drop Mrs. FoMoCoSHO off at her car, then realized I didn't shake it. DAMMIT TO HELL! Back to the house, dumped back in original container, shook it up this time, refilled squeeze bottle, and finally off to Shell. 

Adding in the ACES made an immediate improvement to the negative KR side. Behaved similar to corn, maybe more sensitive to throttle inputs actually. Positive events subsided immediately as well. The events are still there but the severity and frequency dropped quite dramatically. I used 3.25 ounces on the initial fillup.

Other than that the car ran like crap Saturday and yesterday and Torque confirmed the power drop. Still  having weird KR events so I think I'm going to switch to the Shell station I used to use. Even before this last weirdness I've seen some unexpected fuel trim behavior as well recently.

Today however, the car seemed to work it out somewhat and it feels much like it did on the corn, once again confirmed by Torque power readings.

The car is still pulling fuel and the trims are not dialed in yet. I am seeing LTFT of -.8 in bank 2 at times and I never saw that when I was using straight Shell so that is at least an indication that the mixture is indeed "fatter" as Brian refers to and the car is pulling fuel to adjust. I filled up at a little less that a quarter tank so still dealing with a little E and M in the mix as well. My guess is at least another complete tank before we consider the old blend to "trace amounts".

I know a couple of the other guys have ordered so I'm curious about their experiences. I'm concerned that I have a fuel quality issue coinciding with the switch so I'm not sure I'm providing the best data right now.

Are you doing mostly city or highway driving?

Def have to give the car some time to adjust, if it's anything like products that I have logged with my Edge.  Sometimes it takes a 100 miles or so of varied driving to settle in and give consistent trims & readings.  Heck it happens just by switching gas stations!  I went from Shell (top tier, same station) to Safeway (grocery tier) gas, and the logs were pretty wild.  Adding an octane booster like 104+ also elicited similar behavior, though it took less time for the trims to settle in.

I will be installing the ACES IV in my truck, then taking a road trip. Roughly 1200 miles roundtrip. My conversations with Brian were he likes the idea of the constant load on engine while "purging!" Then when I return I will add the ACES to the SHO. I will make another trip just for the burn in. Albeit that trip will only be 300 miles roundtrip it should still allow most everything to be cleaned pretty good.

[FoMoCoSHO]

Dealing with 2 separate stations doesn't help narrow it down, lol.

Luckily the ACES testing has eliminated the E-85 station and I will just go to my old Shell.

No Chevron to try around here.

I got a shiny new tune tonight so I will continue to update as we log and retune.

[FoMoCoSHO]

DX, almost all city with some short hwy blasts....

[Dxlnt1]

DX, almost all city with some short hwy blasts....

Being of the ole skool thinking, I have always believed a good blow job does a car good. Meaning a highway trip. Most cars here in L.A. do city driving. Stop n go traffic so dont really get to let the car take a deep breath for long stretch.

Just always my thinking for road trips are awesome for that reason.

[BND 370 Hemi]

Dealing with 2 separate stations doesn't help narrow it down, lol.

Luckily the ACES testing has eliminated the E-85 station and I will just go to my old Shell.

No Chevron to try around here.

I got a shiny new tune tonight so I will continue to update as we log and retune.

I have been watching the dialogue here and one thing I wanted to interject is that we are also getting to the time of the winter fuel bleed.  It is not uncommon for refineries to begin early introduction of winter blended fuels into the pipeline in anticipation of it turning cold.  Typically they don't do this until mid September as they have a drop dead date of October 1.  Ohio gets the fuels that Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky won't certify so we get the butt end of fuels to begin with.

Keep running the ACES IV and allow it to clean out what is in your tank and fuel system/engine.  We delaminate the deposits and then burn them.  First one or even two tanks can take time for the engine system to balance out what it wants to do with the oxygen and hydrogen compounds in ACES IV. 

Remember that winter fuels are full by October 1 nationwide and get progressively worse until it culminates with January being the most worst for performance and then slowly better until they bleed summer RVP fuels in the mid April.  I give all our customers the May 1st to Sept 15th as the performance fuels window at the pump.

Regards,
Brian
BND Automotive LLC
440-821-9040
www.bndautomotive.com

[SHOdded]

Good point, Brian!  How easy is it to tell a winter blend is in place, aside from a drop in mpg?  What do you think of the kits that allow you to test ethanol %age at the pump?  Are they useful for this identification?

[BND 370 Hemi]

Good point, Brian!  How easy is it to tell a winter blend is in place, aside from a drop in mpg?

What you are looking for is the Reid Vapor pressure.  Typically on the pumps you will see RVP fuel from June 1 to September 15.  This is a low RVP in the 6.3 range so it is less volatile meaning that it is more compressible for your performance use.  By January you could potentially see 12 RVP which means it will vaporize very quickly.  Remember that high vaporizing fuel is terrible for the summer and low RVP is terrible for the winter.  However, when you have a high RVP you also have less BTU value and it burns up faster too while hitting all kinds of knock retard.....hence your reduction in mpg as you stated too.

Here is wiki:

"Reid vapor pressure (RVP) is a common measure of the volatility of gasoline. It is defined as the absolute vapor pressure exerted by a liquid at 100 °F (37.8 °C) as determined by the test method ASTM-D-323. The test method applies to volatile crude oil and volatile nonviscous petroleum liquids, except liquefied petroleum gases.

The matter of vapor pressure is important relating to the function and operation of gasoline powered, especially carbureted, vehicles. High levels of vaporization are desirable for winter starting and operation and lower levels are desirable in avoiding vapor lock during summer heat. Fuel cannot be pumped when there is vapor in the fuel line (summer) and winter starting will be more difficult when liquid gasoline in the combustion chambers has not vaporized. Thus, oil refineries manipulate the Reid Vapor Pressure seasonally specifically to maintain gasoline engine reliability."

What do you think of the kits that allow you to test ethanol %age at the pump?  Are they useful for this identification?

No, ethanol is used more for octane purposes but not for BTU value which has to do with volatility and RVP.  They are good to determine what you have in the fuel and remember that while straight gasoline has 126,000 BTU per gallon, Ethyl alcohol only has 87,500 BTU per gallon.  So the ratio will be % gasoline x 126,000 + % Ethanol x 87,500 = Total BTU.

On testing for ethanol, we used to take a 200 ml test tube and fill it with 100 ml of gasoline and 30 ml of water and put a cork in the top.  Then we would shake it several times and release the pressure under the cork.  If we had 10% alcohol, the affinity to the water would be greater than the affinity to the gasoline so you would end up with 90 ml of gasoline and 40 ml of what looked like water.  This is an easy way to do it without expensive kits.  This is actually what happens in our gasoline tank with the vent.  Very quickly the atmospheric moisture will take your 93 octane fuel and turn it to 83 octane fuel and then we wonder why we have so much Long term knock retard and short term knock retard.  About this time every year I begin to get phone calls about the temperature cooling down but having more knock retard.....this is the reason!

When we put ACES IV in the fuel, it helps to stop the ethanol hygroscopic nature and stabilize the fuel. 

Regards,
Brian
BND Automotive LLC
440-821-9040
www.bndautomotive.com