Fuel Injector Cleaner?

I was thinking about using some of that Prestone Fuel Injector Cleaner
on my L-300 but I was wondering if it might harm my engine? I was also
wondering how well a $5 product could clean Fuel Injectors on a car? So
what do you think is it worth it, or is it a waste of money to use it?
And would it do any damage to my engine? Thanks, for any, and all help
on this.

 

Chevron with Techron additive is the most recommended, it's the black
bottle. If you cannot find that, use STP Fuel Injection Cleaner, also in a
black bottle. Both can be bought at any auto parts store. Chevron additive
has worked the beat on our older Saturns, costs about $8. Tried Prestone,
did nothing for us.

 

I use a bottle of the STP injector cleaner every few months on my '01 lw300.
At the cost of fuel these days, every mpg gained by having a clean fuel
system is worth the cost of the cleaner.

The first time I used the cleaner, a week later I got a failure of the evap
canister vent solenoid. I replaced the solenoid twice - interestingly, it
always failed in August when it is hot. The third solenoid has been in
service for two years now and no problems. I think that the original parts
were of marginal actuation force and did not close always when actuated.
Bottom line is that there is no credible relationship between solenoid
failure and injector cleaner.

 

OK, So now I am not to sure if I should use it or not. I do not want to
damage any solenoids, or anything like that. I guess I better ask this
again will this product do any damage to my engine? I do not want to try
it if there is any chance that it will do "any" damage to my L-300
engine. Thanks!

 

read my post again. What I told you is proven safe. STP FI cleaner or
Chevron w/Techron additive, both in black bottles.

 

Seriously, go use a brand name fuel system cleaner.
I also try to put an engine flush in the oil before an oil change. I used to
use a '5 minute motor flush' but haven't seen that on the shelves for a
while. Now I use a quart of kerosene added to the oil prior to changing.
Warm up the engine, stop it to add the cleaner and then run at idle for 5
minutes. Stop engine and drain promptly.

 

It won't harm it, but there's no benefit from it either, unless you've
been using some very low grade, non-detergent gasoline (in California
this isn't even possible as the state mandates a very high minimum
standard for gasoline). As the old commercial used to say "it's in there."

Read "http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/1994/June/14.html"

The same goes for oil additives. Back in the days of non-detergent motor
oils there was a benefit to the oil additives, but no more.

If you've been using low quality gasoline, or have a vehicle that is
very rarely used so the gasoline has been sitting in the tank for many,
many months, then use a can of BG 44K. It's better than the Chevron
Techron cleaner, but the Chevron product is okay as well. See
"http://www.bgprod.com/products/fuelair.html".

The BG and Chevron products have a low enough level of solvents to not
damage seals, hoses, and gaskets. The cleaners used for off-car cleaning
of injectors are the ones that can damage the engine if used improperly.

 

You do this on modern engines? I used it to deal with stuck lifters in the 60s but figured it was a bad idea on most cars built since the end of the 70s.

David

 

With single weight, non-detergent motor oil, the kerosene routine was a
good idea. It's totally unnecessary with modern detergent motor oils.
Old habits die hard I guess. There are still some people doing 3000 mile
oil changes too.

 

OK, Thanks for all the replys! I guess I will try the Chevron with
Techron, since that seems to be the popular one here. Thanks again for
the help!

 

]6, 2008, 2:23pm From:
] (SMS)

]There are still some people doing 3000 mile oil
] changes too.

Thanks for reminding me about that! For years and years Saturn Dealers
swore by the 3000 mile oil change for Saturns even though the Manual
said 7500. Now within the past two years the dealers have gone to 5000
mile oil changes. So I guess all of those years they were wrong about
those 3000 mile oil changes. How do I get ny "Rebate" for 10 years of
totaly unnessesary Oil Changes? LOL

 

I stopped reading his crap post right there.

 

Actually on the older Saturns there were two very good reasons for 3000
mile oil changes. First, there was a tendency for varnish to form in the
timing chain tensioner bore causing timing chain problems, and more
frequent oil changes helped prevent this problem from occurring. Second,
the early Saturn engines tended to use a lot of oil, and the 3000 mile
oil changes were a way of helping ensure that the oil level didn't fall
too low on the vehicles where the owner never checked the oil. If you
burned a quart every 1000 miles, after 3000 miles the oil would be low,
but not critically low to the point of causing engine damage.

 

Is there some specific problem that you're having with the engine that
makes you believe that you need an additive? Chevron and all other name
brand (and most no-name) gasolines already have detergent additives to
prevent fuel system problems. It won't hurt anything to use these
products, but they won't make your fuel system any cleaner than it is
now. It's about as useful as those engine overhaul pellets that J.C.
Whitney used to sell.

 

]6, 2008, 9:06pm From:
] (SMS)

]Is there some specific problem that you're
] having with the engine that makes you believe
] that you need an additive? Chevron and all
] other name brand (and most no-name)
] gasolines already have detergent additives to
] prevent fuel system problems. It won't hurt
] anything to use these products, but they won't
] make your fuel system any cleaner than it is
] now. It's about as useful as those engine
] overhaul pellets that J.C. Whitney used to sell.

Well my gas mileage has been pretty eratic lately. One fill up I will
get 23mpg city/highway,
and the next I will get 19mpg city/highway, and the next 21mpg
city/highway. And my dealer has been pushing me to get my fuel injectors
cleaned. I think that is around $100 at my Saturn dealer. So if I can
just put in a $6 bottle of Fuel Injector cleaner, and get the same
results, why not do it? Or should I just spend the bucks at my dealer
for the service?

 

A real fuel injector cleaning and fuel system cleaning is much more
involved than pouring in a bottle of Techron. $100 is not expensive if
they remove each injector for cleaning and testing, and clean the whole
fuel system. But if they're just pouring in a bottle of GM fuel system
cleaner then $100 is a lot.

There's an overview of fuel system cleaning procedures at
"http://acdelcotechconnect.com/pdf/tsb/tsb_05D-105.pdf".

Look at where it states: "The addition of the Fuel System Treatment
should not be necessary for those customers who exclusively use Top Tier
Detergent Gasoline only." This is really the bottom line. I don't know
where you live, or the gasoline you use. Apparently in some states there
is not much control over gasoline quality and there are differences
between what GM calls "top tier" detergent gasolines and other
gasolines. In California, there is a very high minimum standard for
gasoline in terms of additives, and there is very little difference
betweeen a gasoline like Chevron, and something from a place like Costco.

 

posted, cross-posted and reposted.....smells like a baited post here.

 

Agreed. I had a fuel injected car in the early 1980's. It started
running poorly and I found it had partially clogged injectors. I
replaced 3 out of 4 due to a lack of funds.

A year later I got around to changing #4. I checked first and it was
working fine. Around that time the local paper had an article on how
gas was now higher detergent to work with fuel injection.

Was it better gas? Who knows. But the clog went away. I would
expect gas to be better now, some 20+ years later.

 

Exxon and Ford (I think) got into a dispute in the 80s about how much detergent there should be in gas as a bunch of Ford injectors were getting fouled at the time. After that I think the feds came up with a standard such that all gas in the US has a certain level of detergent and cars sold here have to work with that amount.

David

 

The marketing machines at retail end have to work non-stop to create the
illusion of one gasoline being better than another, at least in the
states that have very high minimum standards. In Northern California,
Arco, which is the cheapest name brand gasoline, gets their fuel from
the Shell refinery (they have no refinery in this area) yet Shell
charges significantly more. Chevron touts its Techron additive as being
something unique, which it isn't, and also is premium priced. Costco is
usually the cheapest gasoline, plus they take credit cards (Amex) plus
they give 3% or 5% in rebates on gasoline on the card (no matter where
you purchase it, though there are a couple of exceptions such as other
warehouse stores).