Which Turpentine As Engine Fuel Additive Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 2 turpentine as engine fuel additive options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Turpentine
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Solvent test | Engine carbon buildup test, 50/50 gasoline-turpentine blend, 45 min run | Fuel efficiency test, 50/50 blend, fuel-injected generator powering ~2,370 W of halogen lights | See-through cylinder head combustion test, 50/50 blend | Upper cylinder lubrication wear-scar test, 40 ml turpentine, 30 sec, 5-lb plate removed | Farm Bego speed test, turpentine only | Farm Bego tire-spin distance test, 60/40 turpentine-to-gasoline blend | Engine carbon buildup test, 45 min run | Fuel efficiency test, fuel-injected generator powering ~2,370 W of halogen lights | See-through cylinder head combustion test | Upper cylinder lubrication wear-scar test | Farm Bego speed test |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Turpentine | does not mix with water (oil-based solvent, confirmed not alcohol-based); mixes well with gasoline, blending clear after a brief foggy period | ran the engine fine (smells like Pine-Sol); compression reading same as straight gasoline at 110 PSI; MORE carbon buildup on spark plug, cylinder head, and around the valves compared to straight non-ethanol gasoline | generator ran 21 minutes 52 seconds, about a minute and a half longer than straight gasoline's 20 minutes 28 seconds | combustion looked nearly identical to straight gasoline, blue to yellow-orange flame, appeared to nearly fully combust | wear scar 9% smaller than the gasoline wear scar, indicating better lubrication than gasoline | 54 mph, 4 mph slower than the 58 mph non-ethanol gasoline standing record (narrator attributes the shortfall to slick grass traction, not the fuel) | 107 yards, described as pretty much the same as gasoline, with no noticeable power loss | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 291 octane no-ethanol gasoline | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | ran great; left some carbon deposits on the spark plug and a small amount of deposits on the piston, valves, and cylinder head; compression 110 PSI baseline | generator ran 20 minutes 28 seconds (the time-to-beat baseline) | blue flame over the piston gradually becoming bright orange and yellow | baseline/control wear scar, described as larger (9%) than the turpentine wear scar | 58 mph, the standing record used as the benchmark for the turpentine run |
How it was tested
- solvent miscibility with water and gasoline
- engine carbon/deposit buildup after a 45 minute run (small engine, new head gasket and spark plug each run)
- compression test before and after each run
- fuel efficiency via fuel-injected generator running a fixed light load
- see-through cylinder head combustion visual comparison
- upper cylinder lubrication wear-scar comparison
- Farm Bego top speed run
- Farm Bego tire-spin distance test
Data notes and caveats
This is a myth-test/exploratory video (not a brand-vs-brand head-to-head): the only product on the Products Tested list is Turpentine, tested as a gasoline additive/substitute against a 91 octane non-ethanol gasoline baseline across cleanliness, fuel efficiency, combustion, lubrication, and real-vehicle (Farm Bego) performance. No single declared winner; results were genuinely mixed (turpentine blend ran the generator longer and showed less wear, but left more carbon buildup than straight gasoline), so winner/runnerUp/budgetPick are left null. The video ends with an explicit safety caveat: do not run turpentine in an actual vehicle, likely catalytic converter damage and other problems. Meta chapters field is null for this video.
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