Oxygenated Fuels eating injectors??

[Bill C]

Hi everyone, my father has a newer GMC 1500 pickup. I believe it's around four years old. He's been having fuel injector troubles as well as fuel pump troubles. He can't start the truck and the dealer has replaced a few injectors and the fuel pump twice. The dealer told him it was the oxygenated fuels we have here in the ChicagoLand area that is causing the problems

They are recommending that he puts a can of their ($20 GM) fuel injector cleaner in once a month to help with the problem.

With this in mind does anyone have any experience with oxygenated fuel causing injector problems?

Also is this $20 GM fuel injector cleaner worth the $20, He's going to save me the bottle next time he puts a can in.

Thanks again for the help here

 

[jason07-1zzfe]

Sorry can't help you with the real cause, but that is BS.
Didn't one of the newer GM V8s have a issue with carbon deposits?

 

[greencrew]

I picked up a used truck in madison which is an area not required to sell oxynenated fuels. I was concerned because of the large number of problems with many people who convert a car from regular fuel to oxygenated fuel that I might have made a mistake.

Since Neutra disolves varnish deposits I ran that in the gas to clean up the old varnish coating left behind by the regular fuel. As far as I'm concerned it worked. I did have to replace the fuel pump, but my injectors are quiet and the engine runs smooth.

I'm not so sure it is all BS, we have had many many problems with fuel systems in this area since oxygenated gas was introduced. I have had a number of problems myself on new engines which don't get used often enough to keep fuel fresh.

Neutra also functions as a gasoline stabilizer.

 

[TC]

My brother's Chevy S-10 pickup in Las Vegas had several fuel injectors go bad as well at around the 50K-70K mile mark, back in the late 90's, I believe. Sounds like the problem is with the injectors, not the fuel.

You may have misinterpreted what was happening when you mentioned fuel "eating" the injectors (I believe nylon is a primary component of same..??). If this was the case, no amount of fuel injection cleaner would redeposit the nylon (or other material) and rebuild the injectors.

If the injectors are becoming clogged in some manner, a good cleaning additive could help reverse this, but that doesn't explain the two failed fuel pumps. Such components are designed to be chemically compatible with any common gasolines, including the oxygenated versions that have been around for a while. Not sure what's goin' down with that truck. I'd suggest using some high quality cleaner additives, plus changing brands of gasoline in case that might make a difference.

 

[MolaKule]

Could it be poor dealer practices?

I had a bad O2 sensor on my '92 Burb (one year old replacement) go bad and a fuel filter clog (1 year) not long after fuel pump replacement. But never had the injectors replaced and they are the original with 281,000 miles on the engine, and I have used the Neutra/FP mix, Amsoil PI, and a host of other cleaners.

I was at a Ford dealership the other day with an older person to make sure her car was properly lubed, and the Ford tech writer and mechanics were all saying that a dose of fuel system cleaner applied regularly would overcome the lack of solvency and cleaning that many fuels don't posess. I believe Terry D. has also been of this opinion for some time as well.

Try FP and or Neutra. I believe the problem is NOT that fuel is "eating" the injectors or seals, but that the lack of fuel solvency is allowing deposits on the injectors and preventing an optimal fuel spray pattern.

 

[MNgopher]

Since we've been running the ethanol "oxy" fuel around here since '92 in the winter and year around since '96, I'd think we'd hear a lot about ethanol destroying injectors if it were true. Seeing as how none of my vehicles has had an injector replaced with over 700,000 miles between them, I'd call it bunk.

The oxy fuels get to be the scapegoat for a lot of issues that have little to do with them.

As others have pointed out, it is likely the solvency and detergents in the fuel package not doing the job. If you use one station regularly, perhaps its time to switch stations or brands!

One thing that can cause problems with the ethanol fuels is the ethanol will attract additional moisture, which can be a problem if fuel is kept over time. While the ethanol will act like a fuel line deicer (like HEET) it also means moisture is present in higher quantities than before.

Thus stations that have poor housekeeping often have problems when ethanol fuel is introduced.

 

[T-Keith]

I don't know about oxegenated fuels, but Fuel injector cleaner itself can destroy, not save some injectors. Specifically late 80s early 90s fuel injectors. GM does not recomend ANY fuel injector cleaner in these engines. Mine lasted about a week after using fuel injector cleaner before two injectors went out. The cleaner eats away at the coating on the coils and eventually shorts out the injector.

-T

 

[TC]

What does the owner's manual of this 4 yr old GMC pickup say about fuel additives? If there were a compatibility problem, it's safe to assume it would be covered by a specific warning somewhere. Most (if not all) chemical components in common fuel treatments/additives have been used for years, so it's unlikely there would be any recent or unanticipated discoveries about chemical compatibility at this point, and certainly nothing which wasn't known when that owner's manual was printed.

 

[tmorris1]

If that was the case everyone in MN would have bad injectors because that is about all you can get.

 

[XS650]

quote:

---

Originally posted by tmorris1:
If that was the case everyone in MN would have bad injectors because that is about all you can get.

---

There are a wide variety of possibilities between no one having fuel system problems with ethanol mixes and everyone having problems with ethanol mixes.

 

[MNgopher]

XS, the point is that we have been using ethanol fuels here in MN since the early '90's in the winter and year around by state law since 1996. You'd think we'd have found out that ethanol is "bad" for injectors after over 12 years of experience...