One of my Pet(rol) hates!

Fuel – this is regulated by a pressurise valve at the engine end – generally more fuel means more power but you also need more air as well – certainly an induction kit and preferably a turbo or supercharger. If the mixture is too rich a catalyst would be destroyed. High pressure fuel regulators should be fitted by a specialist who can tune the engine to give the best fuel to air mix for your driving style and will keep the cat alive.

High-octane fuel burns more efficiently and lower octane fuel can actually cause detonation in high performance engines (where the pressure in the cylinder causes combustion prematurely.) Japanese cars typically use 100 Ron fuel in their native country – the best we get in the UK is about 98RON (Shell Optimax, Bp Ultimate). Additives can help increase the octane of the fuel but I actually found my car became sooty when I used them – I assume that they have moved on now but I am still reluctant to use a fuel additive. A good fuel will help to clean the injectors/carb and remove and prevent further carbon build up in the engine.

I can actually tell which makers fuel is in my car after a few miles driving so recommend that you pick a fuel that suits your style of driving.

Looking up the exhaust pipe makes you look like a weirdo, but gives an indication of what the inside of the engine is like. Black oily soot – bad, the engine is probably burning oil and running too rich adjust oil grade used and check the injectors/carb settings. Greyish or white soot – very clean burning engine - although the mixture could be a little too lean (a long journey can really benefit an engine if you have a good fuel and will produce a grey soot in the exhaust.) Dark grey to black dusty soot – fairly normal and what most car owners should aim for. Removing the spark plugs will also tell you a lot about the condition of the engine including weather the plugs are too cold/hot or there is an ignition problem and the plugs can look very different from cylinder to cylinder (so check them all) – consult a workshop manual for details of diagnosing an engines condition from the plugs.

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