Insane Fuel Saver Scams (Effuel, EcoTune, etc.) - Krazy Ken’s Tech Talk
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ค. 2022
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This family of scam products boasts some outrageous claims. With high gas prices today, Krazy Ken steps in to combat these insane products.
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Also, thanks to @Mac84 and @BranchusCreations for helping with some of the technical stuff. And thanks to @bigclivedotcom for his "fuel saver" teardown videos.
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Note: At 3:37 I talk about ecoOBD2 not showing up as a registered trademark ® in the database. Although this part is true (it is, in fact, NOT a registered trademark) the product used the ™ symbol, not the ® symbol. The use of ™ does not require legal filing, and least in the United States. So this is not as bad a red flag as I initially claimed, but I believe it's still misleading.
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Starting with this episode, I'm debuting post-credit scenes! I hope you like 'em! 👀 Also, BIG thanks to Tyler and Daily._.Driven for collabing on this episode! Check him out here: th-cam.com/channels/YRP0B-terwKonFIipRki2w.html
Hey Ken, an old beetle doesn't have an OBD2 port. It doesn't have any computers in it at all actually. So there would be no place to plug a OBD2 version of the device in. The only thing it would have would be a cigarette lighter. It just gives the scam somewhere to say that the thing plugs into the car.
@@mizinoinovermyhead.7523 Oh I'm well aware of that. But honestly, I can't take the time to spell out every permutation of inaccuracy with these scams. We'd be here forever 😂
@@ComputerClan This is very true!
@@ComputerClan did you get my email about the drone
@@mizinoinovermyhead.7523 : D
The fact that a 1969 beetle doesn't even have an OBDII port should be enough to bust it. 2.6K likes?!? This my most liked comment on TH-cam!
You beat me by 32 minutes. ;)
Yeah that's very suspicious.
HAHAHAHAHA OMG I DIDN’T EVEN REALISE
Exactly, my 1990 F-350 doesn't have one, why would a 60s car have one?
Pretty much any computer in 1969 would be bigger than the Beetle. 😆
FYI, “TM” is specifically for unregistered trademarks, which is a thing, you aren’t required to register your trademarks. It’s just a good idea. The “R” in a circle is for registered trademarks.
Today I learned the two have differences...
Seriously? Wow
Aaaaah okayy, i always wondered what does ® mean :)
I never knew that. You just helped me learn the one new thing today!
I didn't know that. I thought they were basically the same thing. I learned something new today.
My old boss from my previous company got a bunch of these things to save fuel for our trucks. He had a mechanic who literally told him it was a scam and even tested the damn thing with a special diagnostic program he had installed on his computer. BUT they ended up buying a bunch of them for all the pickups because the accounting department recommended it. Welp, the mechanic got fired by the accounting department for questioning them, and then they ended up burning tons of dollars on these things. Accounting made a bunch more terrible decisions later that led us to quit the company shortly after.
Damn that's crazy. I mean buying them against the advice of the mechanic is not great. But firing the mechanic? Really.
But it wasn't called "The Petrol Smasher", it was called "The Petrol Smahser". Totally different.
I was annoyed he didn't at least say it.
SMAHSER😂😂😂
I plugged this into my wall using and adapter and now I'm saving hundreds of gallons of electricity on my electric bill!! Simply amazing!
LOL. "gallons of electricity" got me.🤣🤣
Oh dont people will fall for this and try it probably the same people that fall for the ECU led plug saving them fuel. If you make a tiktok doing it bet you people will do it as people fall for all this on tiktok.
Gl brother wots the next lie?😫🙈😫😫🤔😫🤔🤔🤔
7 seconds in and the immediate discrepancy shows itself with the product and the webpage.
A 1969 Beetle getting that proposed milage with that product is impossible in general, but even more so as the damn thing doesn't even have an OBD2 port. 😂
Exactly what I was thinking, haha. OBD2 is only 1996 and up.
I’m pretty sure Ken mentioned that this specific model went in the AUX port.
@@LoopyChew A 1969 Beetle doesn't have a cigarette lighter, either.
@@stephenj4937 You mean they had to light their wacky tobacky with a MATCH?!
7 seconds in? The fact that logic would dictate if this worked it would already be in every sold car - I only watch the video for the tear down.
I'm impressed that a 1969 Beetle with a carburetor and no computer has an OBD2 port to plug this in
I've noticed several of these kinds of products and spot them as fake right away. The one thing I noticed though is it's really hard to get any real feedback or info exposing them as scams when doing research on them. Whenever I google them I always see fake reviews saying they work etc. They do a really good job of controlling info on them. Thank-you for exposing these. I feel bad for the people who get scammed.
Worth noting that putting Coke in your gas tank could actually legitimately destroy your engine.
Yes. This. Honestly, pouring anything into your cars oil, transmission, diff, etc. except the fluid it runs on can pretty much trash your car. Two exceptions is the wiper fluid and obviously the blinker fluid.
@@mfowl777 Blinker fluid is crucial for your car
Or 100-proof whisky - Doc Brown proved that and blew the fuel injection manifold on his DeLorean.
@@mfowl777 blasphemy, the blinker fluid is absolutely the most important to have pure and untainted
You can get away with using break grease on your muffler breaings too. Also if you've got a car that's using a turboencabulator you can use common dish soap to lubricate the novatrunion bearings in a pinch.
Gotta love how they advertise that it improves fuel efficiency, by using a carbureted, pre-OBD beetle as an example
My dad gave me an EcoTune that he ordered like 4 of. He swears by them. I now have to make a phonecall and inform him he wasted his money buying a green blinking light box
They also misspelled "smasher" as "smahser". Spelling is not a useless ability, it can be used for scam spotting. I love your debunking. Thanks for putting this out there. Your fan: Percy B.
As a freelance video editor: I'm willing to bet the cooking oil stock footage is a mistake made because the company went somewhere like Upwork and just hired extremely cheap editors, who usually don't speak a really good english
I could also see the ad being assembled entirely by a bot. There's nothing in the ads that couldn't be produced by a simple program that takes the script, parses each line of text for keywords, pulls "relevant" stock footage for each sentence, overlays the text and reads it out via TTS, and that's exactly the kind of mistake a program like that would make.
Need good English? Call are website today
@@Oneiroclast a bot like that would put upwork out of business.
Upwork still exists.
@YT Okay dude.
@YT Buddy what's cringe is replying to a six months old comment that didn't insult or make fun of anyone just to try and belittle the person you're replying to.
I love how the stock footage when they say "big oil" is cooking oil lmao. It's like an ai made the video and pulled the key words oil, consumer, and retail.
It likely did. AI generated videos (which routinely suck right now) have been getting flooded to writers
LMAO yes, it made me spit my drink
Wait a second wasn't there also a tech student that got kicked out of college for inventing a device to save on power and "big power" tried to stop us finding out
Thatbwas hes brother, dont mix them up ;)
He also had a car that ran on prayer but it was bought up by Big Religion.
More like "big scam" tried to stop us finding out...
I love the footage they chose at 2:25 "big oil" was a just lady shopping for vegetable oil at a market 😂
The FuelSaver thing claims to enhance your electrical system by using a capacitor to 'clean up' and store extra energy so the alternator does not have to generate as much and thus put less load on the engine. That is why it goes into the 12v power port. They claim Mazda does this with a 25v capacitor, and thus their 35 volt capacitor must do this but better!
But what they don't mention is that Mazda's system was a complete electrical generation system with mild regenerative breaking designed to charge a VERY large 25v capacitor, which is then used to power auxiliary devices like headlights and radio. Then, the alternator that they SPECIFICALLY designed to be compatible with this system will switch to a low load state where it puts less load on the engine, bumping up MPG by a gallon or two.
So they are using real applied engineering as a cover for a capacitor that couldn't even drive a LED for more than two seconds connected to an electrical system without the necessary components to dynamically adjust the electrical supply/load.
Also funny is that in this context the maximum voltage rating of a capacitor doesn't mean anything, as long as it is higher than the highest voltage that capacitor will ever work on it's fine.
The teardown I've seen of a FuelSaver, it had a 25V 1000uF capacitor, not even 35V. Fully charged, that would deliver about 2 seconds of power to the LED, though the LED won't work for the lower voltage so most likely it would struggle beyond the first second...
@@someguy4915 I've seen a very similar teardown most likely, where even though they kept claiming they use a 35v capacitor so they could use that as pseudoscience evidence it ended up being 25v anyway. Probably because they are already deliberately lying so what difference does incorrect advertised specifications make?
@@VraerynDaDragon that’s so scummy. Most folks probably don’t even know capacitors are rated in Farads, so they just see a bigger number and think it must be better.
Ah!! but what you are forgetting is that during cooling and voltage fluctuation..
Oops phone call got to take this.. but its totally real though, cuz quantum something...
Straightaway, I would NEVER plug anything into my car's OBD2 port unless it's a Mechanic's scan tool.
Devices disable GM cylinder shutoff. Shit runs better lasts.longer less mileage
@@eleventy-seven lol no
What about one of those devices T-Mobile sells that allows you to get WiFi in your car and check for problems? Is that fine?
If it's a ScanGauge II, then it's fine. They're fuel economy *meters* that can tell you what MPG you're getting *on an individual trip,* and they also have a scan tool in them. They're sold at AutoZone for $160 or so (maybe more now,) so you know I'm not kidding you here.
@@eleventy-sevenLol no...stop tryna support scammers..
I found a vintage, low-tech version of this scam on a customer's car recently. One of the old versions is two cheap magnets that clamshell over a fuel line and zip tie in place. According to the scam, "magnetizing the fuel molecules" creates both power and mileage gains.
One product that participated in lying about mileage increases and is still around is K&N air filters. They still lie in their marketing, but dropped the mileage claims at some point.
I think the only reason they even ship a physical product at all is so you won’t dispute the charge, because by the time you figure out it’s fake, it’s too late.
Back in the 80's my dad owned a local tune up shop (I worked there) and the scam back then was basically a big resistor that plugged into your coil, they would show these things off at local fairs and sell thousands of them. Well, we would have customers pay us to remove them and put everything back to normal. Sometimes these would actually cause harm as if you had a coil that was on it's way out it would kill it, and if you used it for very long it would cause extra wear on spark plugs. A few months after every county fair we would end up with a box full of them and I think back then they were like $50 (not cheap).
Some years ago, my uncle was trying to sell the fuel line magnets that supposedly boosted mpg. He tried selling one to my stepdad (a mechanic), saying he was getting like 50% better fuel economy.
The magnet was installed on a vacuum line.
@@joshua.harazin oh but there's the mistake, it should have been fired to the fuel line so that it could magnetically align the fuel molecules. That way they all went smoothly into the fuel system instead of bumping into each other, wasting energy!
Right up there with similar devices that aligned the air molecules.
These scams just never die in one form or another, there's always a new generation ready to consume them. :)
I'm at a loss of how a resistor plugged into the coil could help . How exactly was it wired ? Inline with the high voltage output ? The idea of a coil is to make a spark to ignite the fuel. If you don't ignite the fuel, the fuel just gets pushed out the exhaust valve . Of course you lose power as well.
@@roadmonitoroz The coil will build up voltage until it has enough to bridge the gap so putting a resistor inline meant it needed a higher voltage, thinking was a higher voltage meant bigger spark and more complete burn of fuel but it was false. Was wired inline. Resistor wires are common on cars now but they have a different purpose and that is to lower RF off the whole spark system and prevent radio interference.
Why don't they just buy the tablets you put in your tank and mix with water. That's the only way to cut fuel costs.
I would like to see you debunk the $5000 indestructible drone on sale for $99. That thing is so bad it’s crazy
I have routinely killed every drone I've touched, lemme at it and it will be dead before the hour
Isn't that the one that the developer got fired from his job for inventing it? 😂
@@michaelwarren2391 don’t they all egt fired for making amazing things? Tel you what for a $5000 drone it better be damn spectacular for a drone thats only 8 inches across.
@@massmike11 I got fired for sleeping with the boss's wife and making an amazing pregnant.
I came here because I just saw a TH-cam ad for “Fuel Save Pro” and it was hilariously bad 😂 “This young engineer was working for a car company and found a this groundbreaking thing and got fired for bringing it up to the boss and now he’s selling it for everyone!”
The ad even started showing someone pouring crown royal alcohol into their gas tank
Recent studies (as up to date as just 15 minutes ago) show that 100% of the people in my local vicinity spend all of their time watching your channel, and there is a 100% like and subscribe rate! Wow! You really are the best channel on youtube!
This reminds me of those RAM doubler or softram scams back in the late 90s. You could just pay $20 and get more memory -- except it was a scam and did nothing or worse had malware.
Like the download more storage scam lol you actually just download malware
With the softram thing, the original version of it was essentially them charging for a patch that Microsoft had released (for free), but not many people were aware of
(I believe it was the windows 3.1 version that had the patch in it, but the windows 95 version did nothing what so ever, since the patch was already part of the OS)
@@pineappleroad Not even a patch - it was basically manipulating the virtual memory for you, plus it uses some dev-oriented memory tool iirc.
Ironically, there is a thing where you can use cloud storage as virtual ram now. It's horrifyingly slow btw don't bother but its a hilarious prospect
@@sypeiterra7613 I’ve never heard of that until now
As somebody who works in an auto parts store, everything you said yes is a scam. I had seen attempts to scam my store and I have to say the sniffs out of a 108% scam
well duh the only way to increase fuel range for a vehicle is to install a bigger tank into the vehicle the engine's already running at maximum efficiency already
@@raven4k998 well no you can tune a car to getting better MPG and less WHP
@@edensmith3747 so then why don't you put anOpposed Piston Diesel Engines Are Crazy Efficient into your car and enjoy that kind of fuel efficiency oh yeah cause that's not the same thing as plugging a toy into your obd port to get better fuel efficiency out of the existing engine
In the US you do not need to actually register your trademark to trademark something. It just makes it FAR easier to win in court.
I tried this on my 50ccm scooter that already gets 115MPG. And because it already pretty much doesn't use gas, there was no gas to be saved and instead, the fuel saving device works as a performance tune and I can now go 400mph on my scooter. Will try with my dog next.
💀💀💀💀
I like how there's just so much wrong with that one website that he doesn't even mention the misspelling of smasher in "Petrol Smahser"...
I was going to message the same thing. :)
Another great stray-away....! I SO KNEW this had to be a scam, like your video on the Phone Charger, but I very nearly ordered some online, when I noticed (like you said) they were very much available on Amazon, and all the products looked exactly the same, but they were so newly listed, and the feedback was highly HIGHLY suspect!
The moment you opened up the device, I shouted, because I don't know JACK about electrical engineering, but I KNOW what a circuit board looks like when it's powering just one simple LED light! WOWSERS!! That section of the video alone should be enough for Attorney Generals to shut these scammers down!!
Please do whatever you can to get these videos out so more folks aren't falling prey to these utterly blatant scams!
Remapping engine parameters could plausibly improve fuel economy, but there would be performance and possibly reliability implications. If you could get free MPG improvements with remapping, it would come from the factory that way. Maybe the fuel economy first mapping would work better for you, but I hate that these people claim it to essentially be free.
Regarding the beetle, even if you could fit a tank that big... that's a lot of weight to carry around and weight is not friendly to fuel economy. That much gas might go past the point of diminishing returns and start becoming a liability. A much more efficient engine, some aero mods, the best transmission you can find, cutting out every gram you can get away with, and a larger tank, but not nearly as large as you'd need to get that far on an otherwise unmodified beetle.
Every time the price of gas goes up significantly, these products pop up just to prove that there is indeed a sucker born every minute.
Also when inflation and energy crisis is almost go uncontrolled in mid-2022 now, other scam product is also appeared in most ads, such as the "energy saving device" that Computer Clan just debunked it a few months ago
I feel really bad for people who actually believe these scams and give away their hard-earned money.
@@sihamhamda47 For real. Big Oil said during an interview, that if Brandon said: "Look here jack, we gave you alotta tax credits we need you to pump more oil." They'd say: "No. Our shareholders come first." Thanks Brandon, thanks for giving big oil incentives, without any stipulations or requirements. POG epic good times.
@@johnnnyjr8936 Brandon who?
Remember people bought dvd rewinders when those were new
There's a saying I've heard a number of times: If it works so well, the car companies would already have it on the car.
well that's true it works so well at getting people to spend their money on something that does not work🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The car companies spend billions on r&d so that everything works optimally together and replacing or modifying stuff will likely negatively effect something. Like if you add something to your car that creates more power it's going to come at a cost of fuel efficiency.
@@JaredConnell 5 bucks says they just picked the cheapest parts put them together saw that it worked and called it a day didn't care if it was running optimally or anything after seeing it work
Good to see that the one he received was benign. Mucking around with performance characteristics of the fuel delivery can go very bad. For example, leaning out the fuel too much can melt the engine.
Thanks - I was going to make a similar comment. To me, that is by far the best argument against these type of claims.
One of the best life lessons I've ever learned: "Save the soda for your mouth hole." Excellent advice.
You shouldn't drink Coke because it destroys your stomach lining. It's good for your gardening bed because it breaks down the soil for plants to grow.
these types of products were around before the Internet and ads were a real big thing, i remember some from when i was a little kids,early 2000s, i wouldn't be surprised if it's older than me as a scam concept.
Fun fact. Where I live (in the Philippines). People put gasoline in empty glass coke bottles and sell them at the side of the road
"Big Oil" I love it. I also saw big clive take one of these apart and how it works made me laugh.
>Shows cooking oils
One day they'll design one which adjusts the needle on your speed to keep you within speed limits!!!!!!
Technically big oil is a real thing, it's called OPEC, or OPEC+. Stands for the Organization of Petrolium Exporting Countries. Or the Organization of Petrolium Exporting Countries plus Russia. They decide how much oil is produced, and thus the supply side of supply and demand, which determines prices.
The whole thing about them purposefully feeding you more gas than you need is technically true, as the US automakers and oil companies in the early 80s were all set to go green, researching alternative fuels, doing tests with electric vehicles...then a US presidential election happened and it all stopped, and they continued feeding the world with oil instead. Doesn't have any relation to the BS claims by these scammers of course, this is just history. And current events, as to the OPEC(+) thing.
@@Zyo117 So u hate >Big Oil< too?¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The fact that they insist on calling it Effuel despite literally every picture and the actual product saying ecoOB2 is absolute madness. It's infinitely more effort.
I don’t know if it’s more to do with the actual product or your personality but this is become one of my favorite TH-cam videos in a long time and I watch a lot so that means a lot seriously great job
Fun tip. If a car is saving fuel it means it’s running lean and that can wrench an engine as it needs fuel to lubricate and cool the engine to keen it running smooth
Yes, and no. Yes running lean is common, but these days there are ways to do that without damaging the engine (especially since lean burn means less heat). Also, many modern engines deactivate some cylinders when cruising since you only need about 5-10 horsepower on average on a flat road with no headwind. This saves a lot of fuel.
You are correct. Lost a couple of 2 stroke pistons to lean mix.
@@alowitiousmckay5563 AFAIK two-stroke needs oil mixed with the fuel - too little oil = lean mixture, hence damaged pistons. Whereas @jerry bomcool probably means 'not enough fuel in air mixture' when he says lean mixture... But I'm not an expert so am ready to be corrected.
@@stepheneyles2198 I'm also talking about a lean air/fuel mix within the cylinder. This usually happens because excess air is introduced from an outside source and causes upper cylinder/piston overheating resulting in failure. This could be from a damaged head gasket, a crack, or some other cause. Have also seen lean adjustments lead to overheating and failure.
It depends and thats not really accurate for most modern cars. If your saving fuel your likely driving slower or better, your tires are aired up correctly, etc. Much more likely then running lean
Yes we love when scammers think everyone have negative IQ
unfortunately only a few need the low IQ to keep these scammers making cash
Pretty sure a '69 Beetle has an OBD negative 2 port
@@askhowiknow5527 6v at that ;)
*divide-by-zero errors intensifies*
@@MCAlexisYT :D that was a good one
I worked for many years in advanced development for automotive fuel and emissions control systems. We had a thick manila folder called the "Fraud File" which contained ads for supposed fuel-saving devices. Back then it was all 100mpg carburetors and the like. I recall one ad actually contained the following quote from the inventor of the supposed device. "I never had no training in electronics or physics, so nobody told me it was impossible", as though ignorance grants you immunity from physical laws. Before that, back in college, I performed some engine tests on a dynamometer stand at the behest of the Missouri AG's office to demonstrate whether some fuel magnet gizmo actually had any effect. To nobody's surprise, it did not.
I very much enjoy your video presentation about all these scam devices. That claim to save you fuel and am thankful that you created this video that saved me some money, time and frustration..
You are one of the few presenters that I think I want to subscribe to your channel and hopes that you talk about several different other types of subjects that may be of interest to me or my family and friends that could save us more time, money, and frustration.
God bless you and may you have a wonderful day!
I'd bet money that the ad was automatically generated and that's why it's so weird. There are a bunch of companies advertising "AI" video generation and they are pushing their services hard on writers right now. What they do is scan a chunk of test, pull footage from a stock library, then sync the footage to robo-voice narration.
In this case, the computer made an error when it saw the word "oil" - something about the context (maybe the use of the phrase "retail shops") made it think that the paragraph was about cooking oil rather than petroleum. I really can't imagine a human ever making that mistake.
It's probably not automatically generated. They just hire cheap labor from third world countries to make these things. One thing those people can't do is voiceovers, because people immediately distrust people with a foreign accent. So they use robovoices which are free.
People who notice the mistakes are likely too smart to buy this product anyways, it's the people who don't notice who will buy into this stuff.
Side note: that leak is usually a loose or ill fitting gas cap.
Loved the shout out to bigclive! More people need to be aware of his channel.
On a very, very interesting note: OBD2 was rolled out in 1996, for a 1969 beetle to have it it would have to be engine swapped, on which you generate a bizillion variables, lol
i'm pretty damn sure you can cover 2090 miles on a 1969 beetle if it was swapped with a 150cc motorcycle engine and with ed-bolian style huuuuge cannonball fueltanks, you'd take a year to cover it at -50 mph but it could be slightly possible
1st thing I noticed, before even seeing the video: The thing connects to an OBD 2 port. 1969 Beetles don's have OBD 2 ports.
Nope. Most of the OBD 2 started in 1990s in cars. And required in 1996.
Then how would you know if you had a coolant leak or your water pump belt snapped?
;-)
@@Rapscallion2009 :)) cheeky, the water pump and coolant on an air cooled engine :))
Not even OBD 1
The TM symbol just means "unregistered trademark", if they had actually registered it they would have used the (R) symbol to mean "registered trademark".
At least, OBD 2 makes it a lot easier to install fuel saver gadgets. The ones they used to sell required you to crawl under the car and attach magnets to the fuel line or raise the hood to attach a gadget to the carburetor or to the distributor. Or drop magic beans into your gas tank. Or you could install magic spark plugs. There was even a gadget that sprayed water into the carb.
The funniest one I saw was a gizmo that went onto the distributor cap. They claimed it separated the "hot electricity" (amps) from the "cold electricity" (volts) and split the gasoline molecules into smaller pieces for faster ignition
The biggest tip-off to all these devices is that the ad was a half page of fine print in the Sunday paper. Just like the present 20 minute video.
I love the way you present this! An interesting one to cover could be the battery recovery "advert" I've seen online. It never really gives any useful information but makes some bold claims and then offers us a discount to buy the details of the service.
Such a good feeling when CCKK drops an upload. For any and all, Ken's like the Rob Wolchek of online scambusting 💯
@Alexa-----------👇💋 Make this bot your next scam to bust, Ken!
Congrats on being YT's #1 channel!
Those analysts do good work.
Thanks! The analyst doesn't lie!
@@ComputerClan *[ASTERISK MISSING]*
I had a 32 year engineering career and faced the pressure and corporate BS. But I was driven by the challenge and I really enjoy tech. So I was a good fit and never wanted another career!
Im not sure if you read these man, but I found your channel recently and I absolutely love it. Thanks for the cool videos and scam alerts for the general public!
Nice of you to mention Big Clive. If anyone is interested in electrical engineering should watch him.
Thank you for pointing to BigClive's tear down (I was wondering if you would from the start of the video!), I think the only significant difference between the units is yours has a more efficient light show; these things are such a huge scam and snake oil sale they should be illegal.
Why are they "reasonably cheap"? So that most customers won't bother trying to refund the product and just sink the cost, and justify the loss as "hey, maybe my car isn't suitable" or "maybe it'll be better on the next tank".
3:33 Trademarks do not need to be registered in order to be enforceable. Registered trademarks which you would find in a database are denoted by an R in a circle ®, similar to the copyright symbol.
Liked the show. I just happened to have one hanging in my workstation that I never got around to installing. I took mine apart and had even less in mine. No chips, just a few diodes and a reset button.
I had a coworker who tried telling me to get these. I tried telling him that these were scams, but he couldn’t believe me. I hope he didn’t go through buying one of these
Some people just almost want to be scammed out of their hard-earned money unfortunately.
my mom swears by those electric saving things. late spring/early summer last year she got a couple and says her electric bill went down drastically. i told her it's probably because she shut off all her space heaters for the year, but she swears its those things.
if it sounds like i made up a satirical example to mock the gullibility of users, i wish i was. but nope, that's what happened.
@@herculesbrofister265 I think there's a psychological phenomenon which ends up validating scammy products like this via confirmation bias. You plug in a scam electricity saving device, or a scam fuel saving device, and then subconsciously you start changing your behavior and end up saving electricity and/or fuel because the devices themselves serve as reminders to change your behavior. I'd hate to think anything positive could come from blatant scams like this, but I think there's irritatingly a pathway.
the funny things is that people plug this into there car thinking its safe lol, never plug unknown things into ports
Don't worry it's just powering a transistor to led via the 5v+ to ground.
In the mid 1990s there was a company selling tuner chips for your car. They were blank. The company realized if you put a blank chip in the computer it kept your sensors in a closed loop. (Like when its cold). This added more fuel to give a bit more power. They got sued and went out of business...
Nice Job!! Really enjoyed watching this video!!
You should do the detox one where you place their electrode device in water along with your feet.
Ah, those ones look disgusting and that's on purpose
Wonder what color I'd get lol
@@sypeiterra7613 No, not the pads, the ones where you plug it into the wall outlet.
Detoxed from life lol
I do really appreciate videos and the information you share with us. What really bathers me is the fact that even during your videos you can see adds of products that are scams presented to us by TH-cam. And do not tell me that Google people taking the business of promoting those products do not know that those are scams. Terrible.
Thanks on the "dirt" about fuel saver scams!!! I enjoy your reviews tremendously!
Damn Phill Spencer CEO of Xbox created that EcoFuel 🤣🤣🤣🤣
lol yes
Ha, I missed that at first!
I was thinking BigClive took one of these things apart. Great video and thanks for exposing garbage like this stuff. =]
Is people so numbed down already that they do not realize that a 1969 beetle has no digital electronic systems?
It's almost like they intentionally used the 1969 Beetle as a practical joke.
In the mid 1990's there was a company selling a "60%" fuel savings product, It consisted of a cheap set of spark plus with an even cheaper set of plug wires that had a empty cable gland on each cable. The coup de grace was a 1 inch AM/FM antenna cover that slipped over the top so the company could send updates to the spark plugs. They pimped it on AM Talk Radio for a few years and yes you would see cars with that antenna extension!
Remapping the ecu can adjust fuel economy. I used OFT on my car
This is targeting the people who use sand paper to clean off ice and the ones who sand their tires bald for better grip.
sand their tires bald man I am to lazy for that one if I want bald tires I just drive and eventually it happens on it's own cause I am lazy
@@raven4k998 I can't tell if you're joking but just in case you aren't, bald tired get little to no grip, the texture is there for the grip
Thanks for the technical breakdown, as well as the controlled comparison. Obviously, this product wasn't going to work, but I've seen several other channels just plug it in, drive around and say, "nope. Didn't work." Without a control, you can't possibly prove that.
Well done.
There was no control here. Both my partner and I said the same. The fact it was in town, and traffic was different (the tester said so). He should have driven to a rural part of an interstate. Driven 20 miles in light conditions. As the control. And the same 20 miles back as the test.
Not 20 miles in urban where the traffic may be light one way and heavy back. Or you may have got all green lights one way and mixed the other . That test wouldn’t stand up on anything. Mind you in this case being a scam the test wouldn’t have mattered. But my point is; that is a true control comparison.
@@xr6lad even better: perform a pre-determined drive cycle on a test stand
Great episode. keep the Krazy coming. I like videos on scam tech. I learn a lot on what to look for. thank you!!!
Thanks for the info. Just a small point of fact on trademarks. TM is not a registered trademark, which is why you didn't find it on TESS. You use TM when you intend to apply or your application is in process. However, companies use the TM mark even with no intention to register. Depends on how much they value the mark. The R in a circle to the upper right, unless space doesn't permit is indication of a registered trademark.
Also, these types of ads play on the many things I've heard over the years about big oil, including at my alma Matta that they offered students who had created a solar company that solved all solar issues back in the 80s an offer they couldn't refuse. Ditto for miraculous carburetor patents that were bought and shelved by big oil. I always cry BS and point to how when 3D printer patent times expired 3D printers exploded into the market, yet that didn't happened with either solar or 100 mpg carburetors. Why, because even if there were patents, doesn't mean they actually achieved what was claimed.
And I am no fan of big oil, but extraordinary conspiracies require at least some shred of evidence, which is why so many conspiracies from alien contact to pedophile networks controlling the world are such BS and like these guys just make the originators of them wealthy - follow the conspiracy money trails - at the expense of the gullible.
I'm about to graduate with a masters in mechanical engineering, and have studied IC engine design, fluid dynamics, and combustion. Needless to say, these scams amuse me.
I'd love to see some shady salesperson trying to sell that thing to you, only for you to tear his arguments apart.
You know… it must be easy to sell these scams. Create something that looks technical, maybe put something in it to make it kinda heavy, price it at a price that is low enough people won’t sue but high enough to make people want to convince themselves it works and you can sell a million units.
And do not forget the bad evil “they” conspiracies and the genius who found a solution.
I love how when the ad is talking about "Big Oil" it's accompanied by someone looking at literal cooking oil at the grocery store. ...Wut?
LOL My aunt's Subaru doesn't even need that thing because its fuel economy is so good it uses next to nothing (except for the rarely seen bare minimum for a car to run idled) when it's idling, which is kinda nice 😊
That Coca-Cola in the gas tank reminds me of a TechRax video he did
I'm not gonna lie. I fell for it. Ordered two of them earlier this morning. I'll be getting with my bank on Monday to try to do something about it. Thanks for the video and the kick in the a**! SUBBED.
I saw the internet commercial for the EcoOBD2, and I got the 3 pack because it said it would save between 10-20% on gas costs. I put one into my Buick Encore, one in my father's Kia Forte, and one into my mother's older Kia Forte (father and myself ran gig jobs so we were hopeful to save some costs while trying to earn income). It took nearly 6-8 tanks before we saw a difference in any of the cars (all have 12 gallon tanks). The Encore got about 70 miles per tank extra boost, my father's Forte got about 160 miles per tank boost (using his internal eco setting for better mpg), and it didn't do much of anything on my mother's Forte (about 5-10 miles per tank difference at most). ...what they don't tell you is that it also messes with your battery. I had to replace my battery on the encore, and the mechanic told me it was causing a drag on the battery, so it wouldn't hurt it while it was running, but I had to remove it when turning the car off, else it would continue to drain my battery and ruin battery life on the car. -- Years later, the same product can be purchased for less than 10% of the original cost through Amazon. I still would tell anyone it's a complete crap-shot and not worth the side effects -- including a lag when "hitting the gas" to try to jackrabbit across an intersection, as it actually interacts with the engine and lowers most settings to "eco settings" -- about 80% of full settings for many features in the car -- as it's trick... yeah, it actually LOWERS the ability of your car to "save money" which it may or may not. (Unless you get some of the newest versions of these things that seem to do nothing, which might well be the "lights in a box" mentioned in this video.)
I like how a few of the cars shown in this video are actually not even Compatible with any sort of product like this. Only cars after 1999 were compatible with a obd port.
Nice to know that blinker fluid is a legit product unlike the OBD2 Fuel Savers.
To save on gas, I decided to take apart my car, tearing down to two wheels. I also bought some pedals and chain. Added a special seat to it too, as well as some handles to control it. I call it "the bike".
If I could figure out how to search the CBC archives, I'd find you episodes of Marketplace from the early 70's, which is the first time I remember hearing about fuel saver scams. Even before the internet, these companies thrived. Back then you attached them to the engine or tossed them into the tank.
Ah, the good old days; leaded gasoline, no on board computers, no catalytic converters, carburetors..... It was probably the same 69 Bug
Great vids over and over. Keep them coming
Even if it worked, putting Coke into your gas tank would be MORE expensive than gas! Probably better for the environment, but still.
Where I live gas is 4.39/gal and a 2 liter of Coke is $1.50 which comes out to just under $3 a gallon
Hey Ken, can you bust the "rodent and rat" devices out there, the ones you just plug in and they use "sounds" to get rid of them?
And those for mosquitos.
I knew this already. Watched your vid anywas because your stuff is always well made. Keep up the good work!
Good job. So obvious scams. My brother works for Ford tuning engines. His entire job is to improve fuel efficiency so to think a tiny product could get 36% saving!
The ECU also has to keep emissions in check too. An expert could tune the car to improve economy, but it'd probably end up real close to, or past the emissions limits.
probably not --- since emissions happen from partially burned fuel -- any emissions will lead to a loss of efficiency and reduce fuel economy. The best MPG would come with perfectly burned fuel and no emissions other than water. Of course, that's impossible.
@@fogcat5 Not quite true. Not all controlled emissions are partly burned fuel. Some, like nitrous oxides exist in the case of not using pure O2 as oxidiser.
That’s the problem. There were cars in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s that got over 40 mpg, but emissions were way higher than cars today. The EPA makes car companies balance both out.
I can't be the only one who noticed he pronounced "Petrol Smahser" wrong?
Love your videos. I don't know anyone who would buy from these obvious crazy ads
Thank you for exposing this product as a scam. I was interested in it, but suspicious about it, so I'm glad that I found this video. Thanks to this video, I won't be wasting my money on this scam.
Here's a crazy part about all this. There are OBD2 computers that can configure stuff in the engine on the fly. If that technology and software was put on a SOC. This stuff could actually exist. But I don't know enough about cars to give examples. it should be possible because the stuff that this thing can mess with (I know a guy who has one and played around with it) is literally anything electronical inside of an engine.
True, but then there would have to be an actual computer in the device, which analyzes which car you have and then pulls the data for the tune out of a database which needs to be stored somewhere on the device, too (and which needs to be able to be updated regularly, so you can use the device on newer cars). This a.) would not be possible, because the hardware alone would cost much more than they sell these things for and b.) they would need a HUGE research department to basically test and tune every car/engine combination out there to build the database. Which would make the device even more expensive. Basically, we would talk $1000 or more, plus maybe a yearly subscription for $500 or so to get updates. And that's *if such a tune would actually work* . Car manufacturers already try to get the best mpg for their engines, and all the tunes out there are mainly to get performance at the cost of worse fuel economy.
@@freibier OBD2 devices already have most of this. They have to be constantly updated for every code for every new car. I have one that reads codes and it communicates with an app. I can read everything from the engine, clear codes, And even reset the oil light. With an app. All the software stuff can be done off device. Cuz that's what I know about. How it communicates with the engine and all that is what I don't know about And I wish I did. The devices that car repair people use are literally just windows tablets with hefty oem software that can communicate with the engine. (I have literally held one in my hand and fucked around with it). The software is proprietary. The connector being used to transmit the data to the tablet is just a regular OBD2 connector with extra wireless built-in. Everything is updated on the tablet. The only thing that's expensive about it is the tablet being built by specific companies (like snap-on) preloaded with the OEM software. It's so possible right now just to take a mediatek soc and a phone app to do this right now it's not even funny.
@@Dtr146 I know that ODB2 diagnostic devices exist and that they are updated to be able to read codes etc. of all types of cars. But we know what they cost, and that the actual claim of the scam devices (being able to optimize all cars for fuel economy) requires FAR more development time and cost (you'd actually have to do test runs on all available engine types for each car manufacturer), so they would have to be much more expensive than the simple ODB2 diagnostic tablets. That's what I was trying to explain - the price of these scam devices alone is a huge red flag based on what it would actually take to build a working device including creating the tune data for all possible engines. That there is no way to actually realize those mpg gains anyway is just the cherry on top.
There are car enthusiasts who do things like that - but it takes a lot more than a plug-in dongle. And there are always costs. You want more power? Sure, just fine-tune the fuel injection for the hottest possible burn and you get more power. You also shorten the life of your engine, and put out more toxic emissions than legally permitted. Adjusting the engine computer is also going to be needed if you're modifying the engine to add an after-market air intake or bigger manifold or I-thought-it-was-legal-officer nitro injection.
Some total assholes with diesel engines go the other way, getting their engines deliberaly mis-tuned to produce massive amounts of particulate pollution. This is known as 'rolling coal' and is done as a political statement: Churning out big clouds of black smoke to tell the world that you are not one of those hippy gaia-worshipping tree-hugging liberal environmentalist types. It's your right to pollute!
@@vylbird8014 Those rolling coal assholes need to get bent. Asthmatics don't appreciate not being able to breathe, you know!
3:18 wait the CEO of Xbox?
What's hilarious about this thing, is it would actually slightly INCREASE your fuel consumption, since it drains a tiny bit of power to light the light. Granted, by such a minute and negligible amount it would never make a difference, but still.
Thank you for this series of video.
There's only one possible redeeming quality to this scam item: the parts contained inside that little green box. Just to get one of those diodes shipped (not including the price of the diode) from Mouser would cost more than what the device is selling for an Amazon. #Tinkerer
It's a led, you buy them in 1000s
Oh please don't tell me you'd buy a singular LED for 50$
@@sypeiterra7613 1 diode from Mouser is a trivial amount. The shipping is almost $9. I found a pair of these ecotune boxes for $7.99. Do the math...
The LEDs aren't even worth desoldering, that's how cheap they are. Typical pricing of those is in the $0.40 for 100 of them, so for 0.4 cent per LED you wouldn't even bother re-using them.
The unmarked IC is useless, if you can even figure out what exact IC it is, it most likely has no (or a very poorly written) datasheet and is very limited, at best I'd guess it's value (new) is around $0.10, perhaps double that...
The 78L05 is the best component in there and I doubt it's an original one, most likely a counterfeit which doesn't meet any of its promised specifications, making it worthless. Even if it was an original one, Mouser sells them for $0.33 in single quantity or if you buy 100 of them for a small project they're $0.20 each...
Total value of everything inside: Up to $0.10 realistically for used parts...
@@JVHShack you can literally purchase them in bulk in ridiculous quantities, there's a reason LED panels aren't two grand to build