On the assumption that fuel injector cleaner should be used periodically, does it matter when in the oil change interval it is added? I was thinking that since it is supposed to clean things out that maybe one should wait until close to changing the oil to do this so that any extra contaminants that might have gotten in there from the cleaning could get immediately drained and not circulate around for 7 to 10 thousand miles. Would certainly appreciate people's experience and insight here. Also, how often would one run this stuff? I just got a 2012 Cadillac SRX with 35k and have no idea how the first owner drove or what kind of gas he used. Am experiencing slight pinging but haven't used any GM fuel injector cleaner yet because the oil life monitor is at over 90% due to my above expressed concern about doing it so early in the oil change interval. Also, whenever one does this, is the GM product the only safe one to use? Owners manual says only use the GM stuff and this is the first manual that has ever said anything at all about which product to use. Am wondering if it is just marketing or whether there is some real substance to that recommendation based on some particular idiosyncrasy of the GM fuel system (sort of like only use Honda p/s fluid in a Honda power steering unit). Thanks in advance.
does it matter when you add fuel injector cleaner?
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Good FI cleaners will also remove deposits from valves and pistons. I believe most of this will go out the tailpipe, but on the off chance that some of it gets past the rings, there would be some logic to using the cleaner before an oil change. Probably on the second to last fillup.
The stuff actually cleaned from the fuel injectors themselves would be inconsequential.
You could make the arguement that rather than a periodic cleaning, a much smaller amount of the cleaning substance should be used all the time. In the case of any top tier fuel, this is already the case. So.....Unless you are buying your gas at 7-11, the whole question is moot.
The stuff actually cleaned from the fuel injectors themselves would be inconsequential.
You could make the arguement that rather than a periodic cleaning, a much smaller amount of the cleaning substance should be used all the time. In the case of any top tier fuel, this is already the case. So.....Unless you are buying your gas at 7-11, the whole question is moot.
I used tend to use fuel injector cleaner towards the end of my OCI. I really don't think it matters that much.
Using Techron or something else that's non GM wouldn't be an issue.
Using Techron or something else that's non GM wouldn't be an issue.
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I don't think it's do with any given idiosyncrasy, more that GM don't know what the average joe might have in his garage and they can't warranty every different combination of chemicals that a YouTube chemist might come up with.
They're covering their behinds..
That said, a renowned product like Redline or Techron with a high concentration of PEA will no doubt clean up any junk in the fuel system and cause no harm to any component or system.
Is there wisdom in the tale of only using injector cleaner at the end of an OCI? Possibly, possibly not. I think it depends how much junk is liable to be cleaned, what will be caught by the fuel filter? What will be caught by the oil filter? Is there truth that chunks of carbon could score cylinder walls? What if the PEA 'softens' carbon deposits as it claims? D your rings seal well enough to keep all carbon out of the oil and will that affect bore life? D you have lame rings that let all the carbon past, saving the bores but potentially clogging and oil passage? Or in extreme cases plugging the filter?
There are so many variables that there can be no straight answer, it truly is application specific. If you're worried about the pinging, use an additive now and see if the pinging goes away, then change the oil and filter to sleep better at night.
Tbh I'd look at super unleaded fuel and a coolant&thermostat change to control the ping, and a cheap eBay USB bore scope down the plug holes to determine of I actually need a cleaning product in my fuel.
They're covering their behinds..
That said, a renowned product like Redline or Techron with a high concentration of PEA will no doubt clean up any junk in the fuel system and cause no harm to any component or system.
Is there wisdom in the tale of only using injector cleaner at the end of an OCI? Possibly, possibly not. I think it depends how much junk is liable to be cleaned, what will be caught by the fuel filter? What will be caught by the oil filter? Is there truth that chunks of carbon could score cylinder walls? What if the PEA 'softens' carbon deposits as it claims? D your rings seal well enough to keep all carbon out of the oil and will that affect bore life? D you have lame rings that let all the carbon past, saving the bores but potentially clogging and oil passage? Or in extreme cases plugging the filter?
There are so many variables that there can be no straight answer, it truly is application specific. If you're worried about the pinging, use an additive now and see if the pinging goes away, then change the oil and filter to sleep better at night.
Tbh I'd look at super unleaded fuel and a coolant&thermostat change to control the ping, and a cheap eBay USB bore scope down the plug holes to determine of I actually need a cleaning product in my fuel.
Chirs Fix covers different attempts at using Techron and others. Techron had the "best results" of those tested.
Fuel Injector Cleaners
Fuel Injector Cleaners
Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Good FI cleaners will also remove deposits from valves and pistons. I believe most of this will go out the tailpipe, but on the off chance that some of it gets past the rings, there would be some logic to using the cleaner before an oil change. Probably on the second to last fillup.
The stuff actually cleaned from the fuel injectors themselves would be inconsequential.
You could make the arguement that rather than a periodic cleaning, a much smaller amount of the cleaning substance should be used all the time. In the case of any top tier fuel, this is already the case. So.....Unless you are buying your gas at 7-11, the whole question is moot.
A lot of the local 7/11's have Mobil fuel actually...
Good FI cleaners will also remove deposits from valves and pistons. I believe most of this will go out the tailpipe, but on the off chance that some of it gets past the rings, there would be some logic to using the cleaner before an oil change. Probably on the second to last fillup.
The stuff actually cleaned from the fuel injectors themselves would be inconsequential.
You could make the arguement that rather than a periodic cleaning, a much smaller amount of the cleaning substance should be used all the time. In the case of any top tier fuel, this is already the case. So.....Unless you are buying your gas at 7-11, the whole question is moot.
A lot of the local 7/11's have Mobil fuel actually...
my
, if it's even worth that much...
I dose my car with techron once a year, just before i leave on my fall vacation 1100mi drive to Dallas (my brother lives down there)that trip is about the only time i will burn through a full tank of gas before refueling,the rest of the year, I usually just fill up once a week, only having used between 1/4-1/2 a tank.
I get 2 bottles of the techron concentrate,(12oz, treats up to 12 gallons)since my car has a 20 gal tank, just pour 'em both in before i head out.
normally i do my fall OC after this trip(2200mi round trip)I can normally hit 5k mi with this trip included in my 6mo/5k mi OCI (lots of short trips, only live 4.5 mi from work...)
I dose my car with techron once a year, just before i leave on my fall vacation 1100mi drive to Dallas (my brother lives down there)that trip is about the only time i will burn through a full tank of gas before refueling,the rest of the year, I usually just fill up once a week, only having used between 1/4-1/2 a tank.
I get 2 bottles of the techron concentrate,(12oz, treats up to 12 gallons)since my car has a 20 gal tank, just pour 'em both in before i head out.
normally i do my fall OC after this trip(2200mi round trip)I can normally hit 5k mi with this trip included in my 6mo/5k mi OCI (lots of short trips, only live 4.5 mi from work...)
Originally Posted By: Nickdfresh
Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Good FI cleaners will also remove deposits from valves and pistons. I believe most of this will go out the tailpipe, but on the off chance that some of it gets past the rings, there would be some logic to using the cleaner before an oil change. Probably on the second to last fillup.
The stuff actually cleaned from the fuel injectors themselves would be inconsequential.
You could make the arguement that rather than a periodic cleaning, a much smaller amount of the cleaning substance should be used all the time. In the case of any top tier fuel, this is already the case. So.....Unless you are buying your gas at 7-11, the whole question is moot.
A lot of the local 7/11's have Mobil fuel actually...
ThEy have the same fuel as every other station in the area, from the same refinery.
Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Good FI cleaners will also remove deposits from valves and pistons. I believe most of this will go out the tailpipe, but on the off chance that some of it gets past the rings, there would be some logic to using the cleaner before an oil change. Probably on the second to last fillup.
The stuff actually cleaned from the fuel injectors themselves would be inconsequential.
You could make the arguement that rather than a periodic cleaning, a much smaller amount of the cleaning substance should be used all the time. In the case of any top tier fuel, this is already the case. So.....Unless you are buying your gas at 7-11, the whole question is moot.
A lot of the local 7/11's have Mobil fuel actually...
ThEy have the same fuel as every other station in the area, from the same refinery.
Why not just use top tier fuel and be done with it?
If in tank cleaners work (which I am not convinced of) and you run them through a used fuel filter...aren't you cleaning the filter and sending all that gunk into the engine?
If in tank cleaners work (which I am not convinced of) and you run them through a used fuel filter...aren't you cleaning the filter and sending all that gunk into the engine?
Originally Posted By: Olas
Originally Posted By: Nickdfresh
Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Good FI cleaners will also remove deposits from valves and pistons. I believe most of this will go out the tailpipe, but on the off chance that some of it gets past the rings, there would be some logic to using the cleaner before an oil change. Probably on the second to last fillup.
The stuff actually cleaned from the fuel injectors themselves would be inconsequential.
Same fuel......Different additive package. It may only be less than 1% of the fuel, but the additives are the only difference in the fuel.
You could make the arguement that rather than a periodic cleaning, a much smaller amount of the cleaning substance should be used all the time. In the case of any top tier fuel, this is already the case. So.....Unless you are buying your gas at 7-11, the whole question is moot.
A lot of the local 7/11's have Mobil fuel actually...
ThEy have the same fuel as every other station in the area, from the same refinery.
Originally Posted By: Nickdfresh
Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Good FI cleaners will also remove deposits from valves and pistons. I believe most of this will go out the tailpipe, but on the off chance that some of it gets past the rings, there would be some logic to using the cleaner before an oil change. Probably on the second to last fillup.
The stuff actually cleaned from the fuel injectors themselves would be inconsequential.
Same fuel......Different additive package. It may only be less than 1% of the fuel, but the additives are the only difference in the fuel.
You could make the arguement that rather than a periodic cleaning, a much smaller amount of the cleaning substance should be used all the time. In the case of any top tier fuel, this is already the case. So.....Unless you are buying your gas at 7-11, the whole question is moot.
A lot of the local 7/11's have Mobil fuel actually...
ThEy have the same fuel as every other station in the area, from the same refinery.
Originally Posted By: Nickdfresh
Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Good FI cleaners will also remove deposits from valves and pistons. I believe most of this will go out the tailpipe, but on the off chance that some of it gets past the rings, there would be some logic to using the cleaner before an oil change. Probably on the second to last fillup.
The stuff actually cleaned from the fuel injectors themselves would be inconsequential.
You could make the arguement that rather than a periodic cleaning, a much smaller amount of the cleaning substance should be used all the time. In the case of any top tier fuel, this is already the case. So.....Unless you are buying your gas at 7-11, the whole question is moot.
A lot of the local 7/11's have Mobil fuel actually...
Maybe in your part of the world. It could be anything, here.
The only "Bad" fuel I have bought in the last 10 years was in Tejas. It ran OK, but the mileage was down by 30%. The next tank, with a headwind that I was not fighting with the bad tank, it was back up within 10% of normal. All gas is NOT the same.
Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Good FI cleaners will also remove deposits from valves and pistons. I believe most of this will go out the tailpipe, but on the off chance that some of it gets past the rings, there would be some logic to using the cleaner before an oil change. Probably on the second to last fillup.
The stuff actually cleaned from the fuel injectors themselves would be inconsequential.
You could make the arguement that rather than a periodic cleaning, a much smaller amount of the cleaning substance should be used all the time. In the case of any top tier fuel, this is already the case. So.....Unless you are buying your gas at 7-11, the whole question is moot.
A lot of the local 7/11's have Mobil fuel actually...
Maybe in your part of the world. It could be anything, here.
The only "Bad" fuel I have bought in the last 10 years was in Tejas. It ran OK, but the mileage was down by 30%. The next tank, with a headwind that I was not fighting with the bad tank, it was back up within 10% of normal. All gas is NOT the same.
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I dose my injectors with ethanol, up to 10% every fill up, I have the cleanest injectors this side of NASA... IMO, fuel additives are a waste of money...
Originally Posted By: Oldmoparguy1
I dose my injectors with ethanol, up to 10% every fill up, I have the cleanest injectors this side of NASA... IMO, fuel additives are a waste of money...
Ethanol does clean but is not effective at reducing serious carbon deposits. Only a specially designed
detergent like PEA can achieve that.
I dose my injectors with ethanol, up to 10% every fill up, I have the cleanest injectors this side of NASA... IMO, fuel additives are a waste of money...
Ethanol does clean but is not effective at reducing serious carbon deposits. Only a specially designed
detergent like PEA can achieve that.
Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel
Originally Posted By: Oldmoparguy1
I dose my injectors with ethanol, up to 10% every fill up, I have the cleanest injectors this side of NASA... IMO, fuel additives are a waste of money...
Ethanol does clean but is not effective at reducing serious carbon deposits. Only a specially designed
detergent like PEA can achieve that.
What carbon deposits? I don't have any.
In the last 2 years, I pulled then injectors on 2 Chrysler 3.3 engines, a 94 with 240k miles and a 2000 with 153k miles. I did this to change plugs and VC gaskets. The injectors were clean and shiny. Looking in the intake ports, I could see the clean areas where the spray pattern hit the port walls.
Several years ago, I replaced the HG on a 94 2.5 I4 with over 200k on it. The heads had very light deposits, almost nothing and appeared to be what you see from oil additives. 3 pistons had a partial black coating that turned out to be soft carbon that could be wiped off with some solvent.
Originally Posted By: Oldmoparguy1
I dose my injectors with ethanol, up to 10% every fill up, I have the cleanest injectors this side of NASA... IMO, fuel additives are a waste of money...
Ethanol does clean but is not effective at reducing serious carbon deposits. Only a specially designed
detergent like PEA can achieve that.
What carbon deposits? I don't have any.
In the last 2 years, I pulled then injectors on 2 Chrysler 3.3 engines, a 94 with 240k miles and a 2000 with 153k miles. I did this to change plugs and VC gaskets. The injectors were clean and shiny. Looking in the intake ports, I could see the clean areas where the spray pattern hit the port walls.
Several years ago, I replaced the HG on a 94 2.5 I4 with over 200k on it. The heads had very light deposits, almost nothing and appeared to be what you see from oil additives. 3 pistons had a partial black coating that turned out to be soft carbon that could be wiped off with some solvent.
the GM product is just a rebadged Techron fuel system cleaner. I would throw a bottle of this in a fill up before an oil change.
Re Chris Fix's video:
Some of the differences between before and after are due to slight changes in lighting.
Lots of reflections in there.
I'd like to see what difference a steam blast would make.
That's where you dribble A LITTLE water into the throttle while revving the engine.
The lower two pictures on the Techron Bottle are of a valve head, not a piston.
That said, I think Techron is great, but I think any cleaner in the fuel will have little affect on a piston head because it's mostly burned up by the time it gets there.
Doing a piston soak with Techron might have interesting results.
Some of the differences between before and after are due to slight changes in lighting.
Lots of reflections in there.
I'd like to see what difference a steam blast would make.
That's where you dribble A LITTLE water into the throttle while revving the engine.
The lower two pictures on the Techron Bottle are of a valve head, not a piston.
That said, I think Techron is great, but I think any cleaner in the fuel will have little affect on a piston head because it's mostly burned up by the time it gets there.
Doing a piston soak with Techron might have interesting results.
Originally Posted By: 2civics
Chirs Fix covers different attempts at using Techron and others. Techron had the "best results" of those tested.
Fuel Injector Cleaners
I don't think Chris Fix does his tests right.
All he does is add it to a tank, then show us the tops of his pistons with a boroscope.
The only two cleaners that actually clean are the High PEA ones anyways, like Redline SI-1 and Gumout with Regane (there are three, pick one.) Maybe also MaxClean but that's it. They also clean up Ethanol poop in fuel system..
Not just at the tops of the pistons after a few hundred miles.
Chirs Fix covers different attempts at using Techron and others. Techron had the "best results" of those tested.
Fuel Injector Cleaners
I don't think Chris Fix does his tests right.
All he does is add it to a tank, then show us the tops of his pistons with a boroscope.
The only two cleaners that actually clean are the High PEA ones anyways, like Redline SI-1 and Gumout with Regane (there are three, pick one.) Maybe also MaxClean but that's it. They also clean up Ethanol poop in fuel system..
Not just at the tops of the pistons after a few hundred miles.
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