HAFC Successful in Many Vehicles... But Not Mine Yet

It has been a very long time since my last post. I have a lot of really good excuses for the lapse and failure to keep all of you who are interested informed as to the results of the installation of the HAFC kit in my 2001 Oldsmobile Silhouette.

Excuses aside, I will report to you that while there have been many vehicles with reported results in mileage improvements with the HAFC installed, mine is not one of them. In fact, my father's vehicle which has the same engine as mine has also defied the efforts of our very skilled mechanic. While many will dismiss the effectiveness or authenticity of the HAFC system based on my failure to obtain real results, I'm not giving up, as there are many vehicles that have shown real gains.

The fact is this is new technology that is really very much in the research and development stage. There is no universal application of this kit as far as I can tell. Every make and model has its own unique characteristics that require each installation to include unique application and tuning approaches. The challenge is that car manufacturers build systems into each vehicle that differ from one model to the next and even from one year to the next. The HAFC has to find a fit into each system. The answer would be for the manufacturers to embrace the hydrogen assist approach and build their systems around this, but that doesn't appear likely at least in the here and now.

Presently, I'm driving my vehicle with the kit installed but turned off as I wait for results from recent research conducted by some master mechanics. There is an effort under way to develop a stand-alone computer system that can better control the emission parameters with the HAFC. There has been some promising data, and I'm holding out hope that this will push the HAFC system closer to qualifying as a kit that proves to be universally applicable across any vehicle type without requiring difficult tuning techniques.

One thing I have discovered is that most installations and tuning require far more than 4 to 5 hours as touted by the manufacturer. The reason for this is probably due to the fact there is very little sharing of information among the mechanics scattered across the country. While there are weekly calls held for the sharing of experiences and questions, there is not a centralized repository of information the mechanics can use to disseminate successful approaches to installation and tuning. Therefore, even if there is a successful implementation of the HAFC in a vehicle identical to mine somewhere in the country, another mechanic has no access to the tuning details that would make it easy to complete a successful install in my vehicle. It's as if the mechanics are on their own to a certain degree and must discover the right combination of parameters and added electronic components independently.

From a customer's perspective this is frustrating, especially when one can hear of successful installations, but there's no sharing of the information among the pool of certified installer/tuners. Until there's a tool in place such as a centralized database accessible to all mechanics, the research and development will be slow-going for sure.