A thin smear of Vaseline always worked well for meHi everyone,
My first post, just wanted to give a heads up. Too much Redline or Techron (hard to say which, bombarded the fuel system with both) may wear out your o rings. Mine became very brittle on the fuel pressure regulator, fuel sprayed all over my engine.. I was able to crack them pretty easily by hand once they were taken out..
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It leaked from top first, so that was replaced, but then a week later, the lower one went too and this all started about a week or two after the following steps:
Full tank, no additives (yet) just Shell V-Power NiTRO+
Once at 1/2 tank:
Two bottles of STP Super Concentrated Fuel Injector Cleaner (10.5oz total)
Jumped on it HARD several times (Italian tune-ups hehe)
Run until gas light comes on, re-fill.
Once at 1/2 tank:
Gumout Regane Complete Fuel System Cleaner (12oz)
More Italian tune-ups
Run until gas light comes on, re-fill
Once at 1/4 tank of gas:
1 bottle of Redline SI-1 (15oz)
More Italian tune-ups
Run until gas light comes on, re-fill
Everything seemed fine so I kept going with trying out these additives, I probably should have stopped here...
Fill tank up, keep jumping on it really hard, neutral drops, redlining it, just really beating the crap out of this thing..
Once on 1/8th tank of gas, yes AN EIGHTH:
2 bottles of Redline SI-1 (30oz, SUPER HIGH CONCENTRATION)
1 bottle of Lucas Octane Boost (15oz)
More Italian tune-ups.... Car ran EXTREMELY ROUGH, shaking away, was worried the car was actually going to going stall, kept the throttle down and powered through, steering wheel vibrating away...
I actually idled the car at the gas station until it ran out of gas to really push everything through once I had a feeling it could run out any second.
Fill tank up, resume the Italian tune-ups!
Once on 1/4 tank of gas: 2 bottles of Techron (24oz)
Italian tune-ups until empty
Now here's the thing.. Several fill-ups later, no more fuel additives after the Techron, THAT'S when my o rings started failing.. Now.. I'm not 100% certain when EXACTLY the leak started because I did smell some gas occasionally for awhile before I actually saw any leaking due to it being such a small leak initially, and the fuel regulator in a 2001 Maxima is quite tucked away. Once I spotted it, the fuel regulator looked like a leaky garden hose and the top of the engine was all wet, it got pretty bad and a potential fire hazard..
I know I used more than recommended, but I just want to let people know that there may be a risk with overdoing the fuel system cleaners..
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: The P0430 code has never come back! My car sat for about 4 1/2 years being redone (lots of body work, fabrication, welding, engine work, etc) so I just wanted to try and flush everything out. That code ever since I bought the car like 9 years ago would pop up occasionally. Now, there's a trick to get the P0430 code to disappear by moving the O2 sensor back a foot or two away from the front one, but this only worked temporarily. After all these additives, the car is actually incredibly responsive and it certainly did something.
165K miles on this Maxima, looks and drives like a brand new car
If you are going to go nuts with Techron and Redline, please keep an eye on your o rings! I believe if they were all 100% silicone, they wouldn't crack or warp but it'd be more expensive to manufacture.
I don't think I'll be adding anything to my tank except premium gas for awhile.
Cheers!
Blew my o rings with too much Techron or Redline...
- Thread starter NTULINUX
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I stopped using this type of additives a while ago and never really been a believer in additives at all. They flush your wallet way more than your motor and are mainly a cash grab in my experience.
I am currently testing TCW3 in three vehicles and results seem better. 500:1 to 700:1 ratio for each tank of fuel. Continuously cleans the valves as well as the combustion chambers but also add lubrication and isn't caustic like the other fuel additives can be. Seems to improve gas mileage as well when properly dosed.
I am currently testing TCW3 in three vehicles and results seem better. 500:1 to 700:1 ratio for each tank of fuel. Continuously cleans the valves as well as the combustion chambers but also add lubrication and isn't caustic like the other fuel additives can be. Seems to improve gas mileage as well when properly dosed.
It was an experiment, that's all. Engine is running smoother than ever, codes are gone, injectors are great now! I couldn't find a thread where someone used as much Redline and Techron and I wanted to know what would happen. Going through my notes, the o rings on the fuel regulator were replaced when the intake manifold gasket was replaced, this would have been about 5 years ago.
Well, the directions don't have anything to do with the question. The concern was, has these products damaged my o rings, not, "Did I use them according to what it said on the bottle."
After reading through this thread, it seems a lot of you are quite controlling and like telling people what to do, attacking and mocking along the way. If you wanted to try and run your car on straight kerosene or paint thinner, that's your car and your money.
Yes I have, running Shell Rotella T6 multi-vehicle, it's really great for cold starts! I was running Valvoline High Mileage 150K with MaxLife Plus Technology Synthetic Blend Motor Oil due to it having the most amount of detergents I could find. It doesn't do too well in the cold.. I had to order it on Amazon because everyone only sold the 75K variant.
I rather just wait and replace them all with along with new plugs, ignition coils, etc when I have the chance. I'll be dropping NGK Ruthenium plugs in my car when that time comes!
Look folks, I had fun with this, and it was all well worth it. I'm glad some others found this post interesting, hopefully learned something new, and didn't feel compelled to be on the offense.
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It is absolutely your car.
And it's your money.
And you can do what you want with it.
I think the general observation is that the type of people that do these sorts of things have room temperature IQ.
But I'm sure you're different than that.
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If IQ was directly correlated with how much Techron you put in your gas tank, the tests would just ask that instead of a bunch of, "shape stuff."
The good news is it didn't catch on fire and burn down.
Hmm... a room temperature IQ would probably equate to a moron, but not to be confused with imbecile and idiot although I don't think the terms are popular anymore.
Moron (psychology) - Wikipedia
Those are your words.......would probably equate to a moron, but not to be confused with imbecile and idiot although I don't think the terms are popular anymore.
Moron (psychology) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Well it's winter so I figured room temperature had to be somewhere between 62-70 although some people like it warmer. I'm not sure what the next level up from moron is, maybe just below average. That was the clinical definition until it fell out of favor.
CleanSump
Site Donor 2022
Very mature people.
To the op. When using PEA based fuel system cleaners if woul help you to avoid your Italian tune ups. This does not help you. The reason PEA’s work in the chamber is they live in the 500F range. Your method will send EGTs way north of 500F ultimately killing your PEA before it can help you. PEA and very easy driving will be your best bet. Just enough to work is the right amount. More is not better. Running top tier fuels is really a good practice which will get you to 3X LAC. That is of course where fuels were more commonly treated before there was LAC. Treatment every 3,000 miles would probably be premature. Based on some detergent studies I have seen I would use a PEA based cleaner about every 1200 gallons of fuel assuming I would ignore the good advice of running top tier fuel that keep things clean.
How often do you have to do oil changes after adding PEA like Gumout Regane High Mileage Fuel System Cleaner? If you use one bottle, would you recommend an oil change right after, or after the 2nd interval of cleaner?
Its the same in the rail (unless boosted) but not getting there to maintain pressure.
I would stick with Chevron’s recommendation.
Alrighty! I did put about a thousand, maybe two thousand miles on the oil after running everything through, but mostly light driving after that. Oil didn't smell like anything but oil.
+1 They have a recommendation for a reason. Having said that I won't be pointing the blame on anyone with a vehicle as old as the OP's.
Think about it. Did the o-rings leak before you overdosed your fuel system with cleaning chemicals? It's is quite possible. If the leaks started after the treatment then not following product directions likely paid a big part of your problem. More is not better and that's why directions are printed on the bottle. Don't get bent out of shape over this Francis, you fixed it, you don't like the answers now it's time to move on.
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