Several months ago, I put together a short article about a product called Max Mileage. This fuel catalyst as Pittsburgh Power calls it, is a fuel supplement that is designed to increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. I am told that Max Mileage does this by modifying the surfaces in both fuel particles and the carbon deposits that remain after combustion. There is a lot of science that goes into describing what it is reported to do, but this modification is designed to increase the combustion rate of the modified surfaces. But, do fuel catalysts work? Ask that question on any diesel forum and you will get some very passionate answers.
What Is This Fuel Catalyst Stuff
According to Pittsburgh Power, Max Mileage is a liquid fuel additive that directly improves your engine’s combustion and efficiency. It offers an increase in thermal efficiency and accelerates the burn rate of all diesel molecules so more BTUs of heat are released earlier during the power stroke instead of being wasted as soot and high exhaust gas temperature (EGT). Max Mileage even claims to increase the thermal efficiency of any engine by an average of 10 percent.
Max Mileage is also supplemented with a fuel injector cleaner that removes injector coking deposits and prevents new deposits from forming. This is critical to maintaining factory-rated fuel economy by ensuring optimal fuel atomization and injector spray patterns into the cylinder.
Not only does Max Mileage help with combustion, but after combustion, the catalyst continues working. While soot and other diesel leftovers typically burn at around 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, Max Mileage also initiates the burning of soot at lower temperatures. Once in the exhaust system, the catalyst lowers the burning temperature of soot to roughly 750 degrees. This keeps your engine’s internal components cleaner, reduces the need for exhaust regens, and means less soot in your exhaust after-treatment system.
What Is This Stuff Supposed To Do
Although Max Mileage says it increases the thermal efficiency of any engine, which can be attributed to the cleaner combustion burn and fewer regen cycles, It needs to be said that regen cycles are a subjective discussion as the way a truck is utilized will greatly affect how often a regen is initiated.
For instance, an emissions-intact diesel truck used for daily commuting will enter regen cycles more frequently than a truck used for towing and hauling. This is because a truck that is used for more than just transportation will generate more heat within the exhaust system and therefore, offer a more complete burn of soot and less carbon deposits than a truck that is idled around town.
Project WorkHorse retains all of its factory emissions equipment and is used for both the occasional trip across town and frequently pulls various heavy trailers. The way I use the truck is very representative of how many readers also use their trucks and for that reason, I thought it would be a great truck to test whether Max Mileage could live up to the claims of increased fuel mileage and reduced regen cycles. I decided to give it a try.
Does This Fuel Catalyst Work
I am a skeptical person. When I hear someone tell me about how great a product is, I need to verify it myself. I am sure many of you are the same way. So, I thought it a good idea to actually give this stuff a try. I decided to do an unscientific test to see what happens when Max Mileage was used as instructed. To get a baseline, I drove my truck for three months without any additives being introduced into the fuel tank. I figured this would give me a good OE-type condition that resembles many trucks that are on the road.
During this three-month timeframe, I went through 357 gallons of diesel fuel to travel 5,910.4 miles. Damn, I do a lot of driving. During this timeframe, WorkHorse also went into regeneration mode twice. Fuel mileage came in at an average of 16.5 mpg. This average was achieved with a combination of highway and in-town driving, with and without a loaded trailer. By the way, all testing (with and without Max Mileage) was done using the same fuel station. Before anyone starts clamoring about various driving parameters and changing weather conditions, I live in Florida. The roads are generally level and the weather is usually hot — all the time.
When the initial three-month testing was complete and it came time to test Max Mileage, I thought I better do some research before I poured this stuff into my truck. Most of the internet posts I read had good things to say about the product delivering a mileage increase and regen cycle reductions. But I did find a few that felt it might not be as good as it was touted to be. For instance, when I published the previous article about Max Mileage, A reader had this to say, “There is no such thing as a fuel additive or oil additive improving fuel economy, lowering emissions, or improving engine performance more than the original equipment manufacturer promised on the day the vehicle was sold new. Cannot be done, not possible. Anybody who says so is lying or does not know what they are talking about.” Like many opinions found on the internet, no proof was posted so I took it with a grain of salt.
Fuel Catalyst Testing: My Results Are In
Opinions and email replies aside, you probably want to know whether Max Mileage made any difference in my 2019 Ram 2500’s fuel mileage. After three months of driving without Max Mileage, I started a three-month test using the product as instructed. Project WorkHorse has a 52-gallon Titan XL fuel tank, and according to the Max Mileage label, two ounces is sufficient for 50 gallons of fuel, so that is what I added to the tank. Each time I filled the fuel tank, I would follow up with the recommended dosage.
For the next three months, I once again tracked my mileage. Driving roughly the same roads with the same variation of in-town and highway driving as well as towing, I did notice a slight improvement in fuel mileage. For this “second chapter”, mileage jumped to 17.9 mpg. During this test period, WorkHorse’s regeneration cycles only happened once. This reduction in regen cycles reduced fuel consumption as regeneration of the exhaust utilizes a certain amount of fuel to aid with the burning of deposits from the exhaust. The amount of fuel used during regeneration is a variable I can not track. For that reason, I cannot say with any certainty how much of the mileage increase I realized is from the decrease in regen cycles or a better combustion delivered by Max Mileage. But, does it really matter? Better mileage is better mileage.
With a dosage of 2 ounces of Max Mileage for every 50-gallon fillup of WorkHorse, this half-gallon jug will treat 1,600 gallons of fuel. A stock tank will hold 23 gallons so you can figure nearly 3,200 gallons of treated diesel.
While some of you might not feel that an improvement of 1.4 mpg is much, to say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I am a skeptic at heart, and any improvement, even a small will definitely add up over the long haul. Take for instance a trip I have planned that will take me to central Pennsylvania in the coming months. The trip will cover 2,800 miles. If I do the math with the numbers used without Max Mileage, at 16.5mpg, that is 169.7 gallons of diesel. With Max Mileage and the 17. 9 mpg, the math comes out to 156.42 gallons of diesel. If I figure the average price of diesel to be $3.89, the cost difference could be $52.00. That is a nice chunk of change.
While I can’t say for certain that the Max Mileage fuel catalyst will increase your truck’s fuel mileage. It is an inexpensive fuel supplement that is definitely worth a try.
