Max Mileage Catalyst Review - Fuel Borne Catalyst - Bottled By Pittsburgh Power

Max Mileage Fuel Catalyst By Pittsburgh PowerA while back, I started looking into a fuel additive I heard about called "Max Mileage". Unlike other fuel additives, this is a "fuel borne catalyst" and not something that is really new to the fuel additive market. Pittsburgh Power got a hold of it and simply increased it's popularity among the trucking industry after branding and bottling it under their name.

If you or someone you know has ever run a fuel borne catalyst from a company called "betterdiesel", Max Mileage is the same product, simply branded under a new name. I found this out after searching for as much information as possible regarding the catalyst, finding my way to and talking to the folks at betterdiesel, then being referred to Pittsburgh Power since I had first heard of the product from them.

Anyhow, I was skeptical. After speaking to the folks at Betterdiesel, I called Pittsburgh Power. At that point, I was told that the product would not be beneficial to my truck because it was non emissions. I called back to betterdiesel after that, and I guess that information was passed on to Bruce at Pittsburgh Power because I received a call from him a day or so later. After a lengthy discussion, he sent me a bottle to give it a try.

About 2/3 of the way through the bottle, both my 12.7 Detroit, and my APU engine were running significantly quieter and smoother. Fuel economy had climbed 2-3 tenths. I was also running another fuel additive at the time, and upon getting a 2nd bottle of the catalyst, I stopped using the other additive. I maintained my fuel economy improvement.

Weather cooled down, so it was time to run my bunk heater. As with every winter, the bunk heater would smoke like crazy, and struggle to start up. This would be the 4th winter of dealing with the bunk heater getting progressively worse. After using the heater regularly for a few cycles, I realized that the smoke on initial startup had greatly reduced, heater would start up sooner, and as of this post, there is no longer any smoke coming from the bunk heater and it is consistently firing up on the first attempt. Seriously, it was getting embarrassing to see the smoke coming from my truck when I would start this heater, and I was resigned to the assumption that this would be the year I had to finally replace it. Instead, it starts up better than it did the first year.

Also gone is the soot that would accumulate on the front of my trailer. Granted, it was only a very light film, but I knew it was there. The Fuel Borne Catalyst reduces the temperature in which soot will burn, and this is one of the key features where it is advertised to really help emissions equipped trucks. Not something I can verify, but it is said to greatly reduce regens, and also reduce DEF consumption. I've heard some say it really helped, others say they really didn't notice a difference.

That is my experience with the product. I recently bought my 3rd bottle, but with winter here, I am stopping usage of the catalyst in favor of running a winter additive. I was tempted to just run both, but struggling to justify the cost of running both at the same time so i chose to focus on preventing icing and gelling.

The fuel borne catalyst does have one potential area of concern. The introduction of Iron into your fuel system. I am from from being an expert in this area, so I don't know if the concern is truly justified or not. It is worth discussing though in terms of deciding whether this type of product is a good decision long term or not. If you do run the product, expect to see iron levels increase in your oil samples. This has been verified by many people, just not sure if it is a cause for concern or not.

For a non emissions truck, I don't see how the iron would ever by a cause for concern. For trucks with a DPF, I guess you might catch this to an extent in the filter, but at the same time, how much soot are you preventing at the same time?

Ultimately, I ran this product long enough to know that it changed the way both my 12.7 Detroit and my APU engine ran. Both definitely quieter and smoother. I also am 100% positive that this product cleaned up my bunk heater, which was scheduled to be replaced this winter due to the increasing smoke and start up fails that had increased each year.

Would I recommend it to someone who was having fuel economy concerns? Definitely. I would also recommend it to someone who was dealing with a truck that was running a little rough. I have read reviews by others who were dealing with engine problems and fuel economy issues where this product did really good things.

My opinion, I feel like it does a good job of slowly cleaning up an engine. Build up on sensors are one thing that can lead to fuel economy issues that are very difficult to diagnose on newer engines. You can slowly replace one sensor at a time, or you can give something like this a try to see if a couple bottles helps.

If you do choose to use it, plan on running a couple gallons through the engine to see what happens. Don't expect changes immediately.
 
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I was going to start a thread, but see there is one started. I had 230 dollars worth of TA points so I thought I will give it a try. It’s expensive that’s for dang sure. $253.00.

I can’t help with the dpf. My truck is an 06 515 isx that has been deleted. I run an 8 axle rgn so I’ve never got good fuel mileage. Last quarters ifta was 4.05, but I did have a bad charge air cooler for a little while. My last fill up before Pittsburgh power in a jug was 4.48 over 920 miles at no more that 62 mph with no idle.

I fueled up in oak grove at the petro and dosed it per instructions. I will up date at next fill up.
 
I've been having better luck doing more maintenance and making sure my air induction is solid.
The other big change that I had on my truck was putting a new boost sensor in.

I doubt I will be buying this product again
 
Well I’m highly skeptical and wouldn’t have dropped 250 bucks, but I’ve ran out of stuff to buy at the TA and will give it a try.
 
Well I’m highly skeptical and wouldn’t have dropped 250 bucks, but I’ve ran out of stuff to buy at the TA and will give it a try.

I was about halfway through the bottle before I noticed any gains other than the engine running quieter.
 
I idled the truck last night because it’s 17 and well it’s 17. Truck does seem to run smoother and quieter. But I did the math and if I don’t see 6 tenths of a gain it’s not worth it at 5 tenths I’m just breaking even.
 
Fueled again this morning although I don’t have any good numbers. I drove 282 miles and had probably close to 40 hours idle time. Truck took 107 gallons. We are rolling today, so I should have some better numbers tomorrow.
 
660 miles and 173 gallons. That’s 3.81 not any improvement in mileage. It actually may be down a 10th. But I did have a decent head wind yesterday and several towns with red lights. I’m grossing 136,620 with 28 tires on the ground so I didn’t expect much. The truck does seem to run smoother and quieter, it also seems to pull better.
 
Which engine have you got?

Have you replaced any of the sensors or checked for boost leaks?

I've had too many other things done at the same time to directly attribute it to this stuff.

It's kind of apparent though the tank you change the boost sensor on spikes up and stays there.

Put the old one back it and it returns to the old mpg.
 
Which engine have you got?

Have you replaced any of the sensors or checked for boost leaks?

I've had too many other things done at the same time to directly attribute it to this stuff.

It's kind of apparent though the tank you change the boost sensor on spikes up and stays there.

Put the old one back it and it returns to the old mpg.
You mean on paper or what the computer spits out?
 
It's a bad time of year to be playing the improved mileage game. Between the cold, winds and idling any real difference can be clouded by those variables.
When you're blowing bubbles like a bubble machine on the CAC pipe, you have to do something
 
When you're blowing bubbles like a bubble machine on the CAC pipe, you have to do something
That's obviously different, and if its serious at all, the loss of power would be immediately noticeable. No additive is going to fix a leaking air-to-air in any case.
 
No boost leaks sensors are clean it’s an 06 isx. Nothing is wrong with the engine and the mpg isn’t out of line for the truck specs and what I do. This is more a test on max Mileage than it is trying to improve mpg
 
If I try that stuff, it won't be until late spring/early summer when I can actually see if its worth something. It just doesn't make much sense to try it now.
 
If you don’t normally travel north of 70 and rarely west of Fort Worth and know what your fuel mileage typically runs then now is as good a time as any.
 

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