Fitch Fuel Catalyst: Fact or Fiction???

Exciterfan

Exciterfan

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Okay everybody, please wade in with your opinions and/or experience.

I bought two of the Fitch Fuel catalysts last season and ran them all season long. LIke my other friends who used them, I noticed a lot less smoke when warming up the sled, I never had any issues all season long, even when I was forced to use 87 octane fuel. They supposedly raise the octane of the fuel

Purposely decided to use the SXR as a test bed during the off season and see if Fiotch's claims were true or not. I left my sled with about 3/4 of tank of fuel, never drained the carbs. Basically left it until now.

Went out tonight with the goal of cleaning the carbs and making an asessment on the investment. Decided to first syphon out the fuel in the tank and see how it looked. I was actually shocked to see what I found. The fuel came out like it went in. No indication of varnish or sludge. It smelt really fresh.

Did a few other tasks (side tracked) so I didn't get the carbs out, but now I'm questioning the need???

Okay all of you chemists out there (NOSBOY), I'd like to hear you thoughts. Do these things work or not.

I may still pull the carbs and see how they look, because the fuel in the bowls would have been treated by the catalysts while it was in the tank, but it wouldn't have been exposed to them during the off season. If my carbs are clean, then I might just consider reselling these things.

Thoughts?
 
Can't comment on the carb condition but I use them in my 96 and it seemed to help mileage out some and on those older sleds, every bit helps.
 
Exciterfan said:
Decided to first syphon out the fuel in the tank and see how it looked. I was actually shocked to see what I found. The fuel came out like it went in. No indication of varnish or sludge. It smelt really fresh.
Click to expand...
You can get that with stabil, i never have a problem with bad fuel.
 
I got em in mine aswell..seem to work fine...unfortunetly didn't flush my carbs in the spring...might defeat the purpose..hopefuly once the bowls get fresh fuel it might we'll see what happened...
 
The Fitch Fuel Catalyst is ONLY a fuel stabilizer, nothing more. The fancy name and their hype about it doing anything more is just that. It will only PREVENT fuel from LOSING octane over a storage period. It will not add to the octane level. It will not improve the fuel in any way or make it better than it came out of the pump. Stabil or any other fuel stabilizer will do the same thing.

What companies like this do to get magazines like Snow Tech to gush over the product and to blindly print all the hype that they are fed, I do not know. It seems that it must be more than just buying an ad. Some money directly to the editor may be the answer.
 
Being skeptical of the claims of this product, I have not purchased it.

FWIW, snowtech did go out and say from the get go that they were skeptical as well, and would report honest observations on the fitch fuel catalysts.

me, well, i use stabil since I have a big jug of it.
 
i think it works, the company has documented proof from Canton College of Technology doing a test on a chevrolet truck showing increase in fuel milege, they give this litera5ure out at the snow shows, also on a side note i read an article that the army is using them in their vehicles as well....CP
 
Well I have been snowmobiling since before the 80's and then some. I have never used a fuel sablizer nor drained a tank. They are usually low at the end of the season and I usually put some oil in the tank of a oil injected sled. A good portion and a run if in the summer until it really smokes good with the access oil and just shut it down. Early winter I goes about starting it. Cleaning the plugs, some gas directly down the cylinders and get it going.
 
you can gat the same oil heavy result by pulling the oil injection cable till it fouls out. it doesn't take too long
 
fuel

Very interesting subject, I´ve always cleen my carbs before first run for the season. And drain out the old and put in fresh fuel. In my opinion Fitch Fuel Catalyst might work (can´t say it don´t never tryed it and don´t have a lab to check it). A strange thing is that I´ve read that us army/navy and whatever uses it and is satisfied. Then I think why doesn´t this big army/navy budget pay for a test in their labs to prove to us ordinary people that it´s a great product and will keep our vehicles run great and cleen for the enviroment. A strange thing ivé seen when my carbs is that sometimes there is dirt everywhere and sometimes nothing. So what I think is that about the octane I can say nothing if it works or not(don´t have the things to test Fitch or any other products). About the dirt in the carbs I don´t now. It can come from uneven quality of gas from gas station (hope I won´t be killed about this, a hope is that this is a problem a few times) Maybe dirt in barrels or in tank a bad fuel filter or a lot of moisture that get in your tank and carbs during the summer and corrodes the alu. Thats why I always cleen my carbs and tank at the start of the season. I was surprised this year to see everything totally cleen.
 
go over to the 4stroke side, there is an article about 10000000 posts long on it, it has been going for over a year. there is a guy that did a blind test on his wifes truck, she drives the same places every week and always checks milage. he never told her and she never gained a bit of gas milage.
this is just like the magnets that go on your fuel line. electrodes in the intake, etc...
show me the blind study by someone that does not sell them or is funded by someone selling them.

gas almost never goes bad over the summer. it will dry up in the carb, yes, that is evaporation. if gas varnishes over the summer, you bought some really old gas the last time you filled up.

even if you use stabil in the tank, you should still drain the tank and clean the carbs. gas will still evaporate out of a vented carb. even with stabil in it gas octane goes down at the same rate.
 
I would never ever ride my sled until the carbs come off and at least checked.Motor repairs are just too costly.As far as storage goes,it gets fuel conditioner and the motor fogged with injection oil not fogging oil.IMHO starting them every couple of weeks in the summer is just asking for condensation(moisture from the temp. change)if you even remember to do it.Every couple of weeks ends up being once in six months real easy.As for cranking the injection pump wide open and idling it,not good either as it is still only a 50:1 mix and doesn't leave enough of an oil film on the bearings and rings when the fuel dries up to do you any good.It takes 10 min. to do it right then clean it, cover it up and forget it till fall.

Ever notice most sleds squeak or pile up crank brgs on the first or second ride at W.O.T. down the lake. Not hard to figure out why.
 
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Opening the fuel pump at idle will give the motor quite a bit more than a 50/1 mix. The pump can be opened further than the normal wide open throttle setting. It will also be using much less gas at idle, so the oil ratio will be greater even though the pump RPM's are lower at idle.

Having said that, fogging oil is a better product for storing a motor because it is made for that purpose. It has the ingredients and makeup for the specific purpose of protecting metal parts from corrosion. 2 stroke oil does not.
But metal protection is a different issue and not what Ficht or any fuel stabilizer is for.

Of course Ficht works and the military says that it works, of course it stabilizes fuel, but that is all it does. It will not cause a fuel to increase an engines power. It will only prevent a fuel from losing what it originally had. It will only do what a stabilizer like "Sta-bil" will do. Nothing more. Ficht's claim that it will give an engine more power is only when comparing stabilized fuel to old, unstabilized, bad fuel. Their claims are basically saying that if you ran gas that had sat for a year without Ficht in it, and then ran gas that had been sitting for a year with Ficht in it, the Ficht gas would give your sled more power and it would run better and get better mileage and whatever else. Which of course would be true. But they are just not telling the whole story because they are trying to hype the product. Sta-bil will do the exact same thing. Ficht or any stabilizer will not improve fresh gas.

And yes, a stabilizer will prevent a fuel from evaporating. That is it's exact job. It surrounds the fuel molecules and prevents them from evaporating. When fuel goes bad in storage, it is because the light molecules have evaporated. In a carburator, when the light molecules are gone, whats left is the thick residue, often referred to as varnish.

Fuel that is sold in the winter will deteriorate quicker because it is a lighter fuel to aid in cold weather starting.


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Well.....as the saying goes, it's like an (you know what), everybody has one. Same goes with an opinion. So I'll share mine. I've put them in my 96 vmax, my srx and my buddy's sxr. The vmax ran better and got 3 more mpg. The SRX, no difference at all. The sxr I don't really know. When the carbs where pulled on all 3 they where nice and clean. As for your question whether to pull them? Yes. You never know what dirt can be in there.
 
I am not at all a chemist, but here is my take on this - the Fitch device (and don't ask me how) makes oxygen molecules bond to the fuel molecules which in turn make it a bit more combustible - this would account for the claims of more power and more MPG - in addition, it would help with long term storage
Now Stabil on the other hand, merely bonds to the fuel molecules and helps prevent them from evaporating and it also contains components that absorb moisture and make that moisture combustible
Now comes the culprit - ethanol - ethanol was added to fuel to absorb moisture and make it combustible, which it does - what it also does, is evaporate at a lower temperuature than water - so when it sits long term it absorbs moisture then evaporates leaving behind the moisture and resulting bad fuel - (phase seperation) neither the Fitch device nor Stabil will stop the evaporation process of ethanol - so neither will work for long term storage of fuel with ethanol (I asked this question of a Fitch representative at a snow show one year and that is excatly what he told me)
Bottom line, the Fitch device will oxygenate your fuel somewhat resulting in some additional power and MPG - it will keep your fuel fresh during long term storage as long as your fuel does not contain ethanol - Stabil on the other hand will only stabilze non ethanol fuels for long term storage - I hope some of this info helps! ;)!
 
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Voo Doo. I will never think it is anything but. Stabil physically mixes with the fuel. What does the catylist do? If you have a 10 gallon tank full of gas that never moves all summer how does gas get exposed to the cell in the bottom corner of the tank? Two strokes have so many variables that it almost matters what mood you are in that day to decide how it is running, let alone the difference those things could make. JMVHO :)
 
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