MotorVac Optimistic

SANTA ANA — MotorVac Technologies Inc., a maker of fuel-system cleaning equipment for cars and trucks, expects to narrow its third-quarter loss to about $50,000 from a loss of $65,000 for the same period last year.

Lee Melody, MotorVac’s president and chief executive, said Monday that per-share losses are expected to remain flat at about 1 cent. Gross revenue also should be essentially flat for the quarter at about $2.5 million, down from $2.6 million last year, he said.

Melody said results were affected by the slower-than-anticipated sales of its new diesel cleaning technology, which was introduced last year.

MotorVac had expected the technology to account for 25% of its revenue by now, but it now constitutes only about 10% of sales.

Melody is optimistic that results will improve in the fourth quarter. Boosted by additional distribution of its diesel-cleaning equipment and a new technology for transmission cleaning, Melody forecasts that MotorVac will report a profit in the fourth quarter and its first full year of profitable results, before extraordinary gains from settlement of a lawsuit.

In 1996, the company reported a loss of $1.3 million for the year. Sales for the year should be about $10 million, Melody said, up from $8.2 million last year.