Jody Bevan, owner of MnJ Autocare in Oldham, explains how garage efficiency and customer satisfaction can benefit from a clever use of additive technologies.
About this time each year, garages can expect distress calls from soft-top owners or classic car enthusiasts who can’t get their car started after a winter lay-up in the garage. “You can bet that it’s going to be a stale fuel problem, rather than a contaminated fuel problem”, says Jody.
“Because fuel octane levels fall quite sharply very quickly, re-starting problems after a lay-up can occur with cars that are either young or old, but it’s easily preventable. I use Lucas Oil’s fuel stabiliser in my own classic cars and advise all my customers to use it in theirs. It prevents the breakdown of petrol during vehicle storage, which works especially well with classics that only come out for the summer months. It also means no need to drain the tank. As the product also cleans, lubricates and maintains fuel components, there are added benefits for both the user and the garage that supplied it.”
In the workshop
Jody introduced an additive strategy at MnJ after being hearing of the additives range by her local motor factor. Consequently, she was well informed and ahead of the pack on additive responses to the potential fuel problems generated by the introduction of the E10 petrol standard in September 2021.
“I knew Lucas Oil had a product called safeguard ethanol fuel treatment and I knew how to use it with my customer base. I think this is a basic essential worth keeping handy in every classic car, in fact any car that wasn’t designed to run on ethanol fuels. If for any reason you can’t get any E5 fuel, you can add it to your tank and then use any available alternative fuel. I tell my customers it will help prevent internal component corrosion, combat the degradation of ethanol-based fuels caused by fuel separation and, consequently, protect their investment.”
