Fuel system cleaner, and/or UCL ??

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I have done a bit of reading on both these ideas, and I am confused. The UCL (whatever the form TCW3, MMO etc) lubricates all the upper cylinder components, fuel pump what have you. Then you have the fuel system cleaner (whatever the form, STP, Amsoil Redline etc). The only problem I have is they seem to cancel each other out. You take the UCL and you lightly coat parts of the system, you take the system cleaner and it cleans the varnish and any oil based residues. So which is better for the car, to be all lubed up, or squeaky clean?...or both...or neither??
 
Originally Posted By: chevrofreak
Get it clean, then lube it up.

The UCL in theory should help prevent the injectors from gumming up again.


Agree, but the determination process whether already clean or not is not easy without scope inside the combustion chamber.
Premium fuel normally comes with good dose of UCL components.
 
Originally Posted By: kr_bitog
Originally Posted By: chevrofreak
Get it clean, then lube it up.

The UCL in theory should help prevent the injectors from gumming up again.


Agree, but the determination process whether already clean or not is not easy without scope inside the combustion chamber.
Premium fuel normally comes with good dose of UCL components.



As a long time UCL user, Chevrofreak is correct. Clean it, then lube it. If the car has more than lets say 20,000 miles on it I would run a good FI cleaner first. Once you're finished with it add your UCL, that should keep things in good working order. If the car is used in short runs then a FI cleaner could be used before it has 20K on the clock. This is what has worked for me.

The interesting thing with any additive, oil or gas, is the average person has no idea the condition of his engine internals unless he opens it up and looks. So knowing exactly when to use a FI cleaner is a guess, but prior to moving to a UCL I would dose the car with a good FI cleaner to play it safe. I'm not sure if Premium Gas contains a UCL, it should provide better cleaning than regular gas. Opinions vary on that along with the brand of gas.

YMMV
 
I have a 1997 Suburban, have never used premium fuel, a couple of years ago I tried some toluene and then I tried some 2 stroke, but I think the doses were so small with either one, it never had any impact. It has a tank as big as Exxon Valdez @ 160L/42gal.US. So what would be the regiment without breaking the bank? Does 1 bottle of Redline SI followed by 500ml or 8oz per tank of TCW3 sound good?
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BTW it gets a regular of 13L/100km or 18mpgUS in the summer and had a maximum 10.6L/100km or 25mpg US just last year, it has 294,000km or 183,000miles on the odo.
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I would use 2 bottles of a FI cleaner, since the tank is the size of two large auto tanks. If you don't want to use SI look for Regane or Techron on sale or a 2 for 1 deal on it.

As far as the TCW3 goes use it after the FI cleaner at a rate of 1 oz/ 5 gallons of gas. So yes 8, maybe 8.5 oz for the first tank should be good. After that 1oz for every 5 gallons of gas you add. HTH
 
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