Anyone here have a PICC?

So I was flipping through the latest issue of Smithsonian and saw an ad for something called pre-ignition catalytic converter (and its lightweight cousin, a hydro assisted fuel converter). They're claiming some cars can get 100 mpg using this thing. So I checked out their web site, and to my novice mechanical mind, it all sounded plausible. To may skeptical journalist wannabe mind, though, it sounded too good to be true.

Anybody have any experience with these things?

 

Reminds me of the tornado gas-saver they were trotting out a few years ago.

If this were true, the extra fuel that might be saved would be negated by the extra work the alternator would have to do, putting more strain on the engine. Also, they fundamentally misunderstand what a catalytic converter does ... unless they're just making things up out of whole cloth. Catalytic converters do not "break down the large gas molecules that were not burned in your engine and turns them into smaller particles that can be burned in your tailpipe." They take CO, NO and unburned hydrocarbons and use a metallic catalyst to chemically convert them into CO2, water and a little bit of oxygen. A modern fuel-injected uses most of the fuel available to it.

And according to the video, your engine will run so cleanly that you'll never have to change your oil. Of course, the real reason you have to change your oil is because it breaks down over time as it gets hot inside your engine.

(And no 318-equipped Dodge van ever got 22 mpg under any circumstances.)

It's a scam. Considering Dennis Lee is behind it, I suppose that should have been a foregone conclusion.

 

God, 2Much, I'm sliding off my chair just reading that. I love a man who knows about cars.

 

I don't know who Dennis Lee is, but I googled PICC and got the same infinite number of rip-site links you'd get for Carlton Sheets. I'll just muddle along with the mileage I'm getting, which isn't all that bad.

 

you're so easy