What do you really think Fuel system cleaners are for?

Injector cleaning is #1 imo. If one injector gets sticky, leaky or clogged it throws off the whole ECM fueling calculation. Not nessesarily a lot but just a bit. I run a bottle of PEA every oil change now so far so good on Chevy 6.2l truck. When scanning the engine funky injectors will show up as right/left bank fuel trims out of balance and possibly fuel dilution if you get leaky one/s
 
For me, it's a once or twice annual thing I do to mainly clear any crud out of the injectors, cylinders, and valves. I'm not expecting too much out of it- I think of it along the lines of cleaning my coffee maker every six months whether I know if it needs it or not- doing it periodically keeps it from getting all crudded up and having problems.

It's questionable how useful it is when there's a requirement for a detergent additive to be in pump fuel. The typical things used to clean coffeemakers are either toxic or unpalatable, so it's not as if those can be tossed into the water. But fuel detergents are chosen such that they can be burned with the fuel and out the tailpipe.

That being said - I've got some myself. Before Costco had completely switched over to their Top Tier additive system, they would claim that at the very least all of their fuel contained an EPA requirement minimum concentration of detergent additive, and that they sold several aftermarket additives if one was concerned that the concentration wasn't high enough.
 
Injector cleaning is #1 imo. If one injector gets sticky, leaky or clogged it throws off the whole ECM fueling calculation. Not nessesarily a lot but just a bit. I run a bottle of PEA every oil change now so far so good on Chevy 6.2l truck. When scanning the engine funky injectors will show up as right/left bank fuel trims out of balance and possibly fuel dilution if you get leaky one/s

Injectors are supposedly the easiest thing for detergent additives to clean. I think the tops of cylinders may be the hardest, as many aftermarket detergent additives don't say anything about cleaning cylinders.
 
IMHO most are GREAT for peace of mind. I did not say they necessarily worked. ;) lol
I tend to choose the use of Chevron Fuel to keep my fuel system clean until I do a F/I Service on them.

The proper way to clean a Fuel injection system is with a Professional Fuel Injection cleaning system.
Or removing the suspected parts that need to be cleaned and individually cleaning them.

The better Fuel injection companies that offer re-built or performance fuel injector with a core exchange can contest that they rarely see injectors that clean.
 
Fuel system cleaners are for maintenance of the fuel system. Some say they are snake oil and modern fuels have enough additives to keep everything working well. Others say it is good preventative maintenance to run these once in a while. I say it's cheap insurance to run them once in a while rather than never use them and have an expensive problem down the road. Modern fuels are "dry" and the fuel pump, pressure regulator, injectors, etc. would likely benefit from some cleaning and lubrication.
 
Fuel system cleaners are for maintenance of the fuel system. Some say they are snake oil and modern fuels have enough additives to keep everything working well. Others say it is good preventative maintenance to run these once in a while. I say it's cheap insurance to run them once in a while rather than never use them and have an expensive problem down the road. Modern fuels are "dry" and the fuel pump, pressure regulator, injectors, etc. would likely benefit from some cleaning and lubrication.
I really wonder. I've used a fuel system cleaner once and it was on my old BMW when it had a rough idle. That turned out to be a pushed-back pin on one of the injector connectors however.

I do use Top Tier fuel nearly all the time but other than that and the once I used it in the BMW, I've never used cleaner in over a million miles combined in my vehicles. Maybe I should, I don't know.
 
I do wonder about what happens when different detergent additives are mixed and matched. The testing is generally on a single additive package. Not sure what happens when one is added on top of the other, or if different generic additives are mixed with different loads. I'm thinking the proprietary additives are usually the same each time.
 
Every oil change in my fleet. Techron or Liquimoly Jectron (or DI Jectron). Always have done this. Figure a pulse of higher concentration of additive is a good thing for the FIs.
 
I use light fractions of non aromatic kerosene in each lpg fill. (+a drop of pea)
Lpg injectors are quieter, low rpm improvement. I use also original additives, but not often.
 
Can't beat the Super Tech cleaner. $1.89 per bottle and good for a couple o weeks. No need to spend on all that price stuff. The Super Tech gets the job done. Long thin silver bottle.
 
I really wonder. I've used a fuel system cleaner once and it was on my old BMW when it had a rough idle. That turned out to be a pushed-back pin on one of the injector connectors however.

I do use Top Tier fuel nearly all the time but other than that and the once I used it in the BMW, I've never used cleaner in over a million miles combined in my vehicles. Maybe I should, I don't know.
I use Top Tier Fuel also. My truck definitely runs better after a can of Berrymans or the cheap stuff from Walmart. Jeez, at $1.89 per bottle, how can you go wrong?
 
I thought these injector cleaner products are all junk and only way to clean injector is ultrasonically?
Definitely not junk. I just forget to buy it so I can keep it on hand. I can't vouch for fuel system cleaners in general, but the Super Tech in the long thing bottle, and Berrymans, definitely make a difference. I feel it primarily on acceleration.
 
I have yet to see legitimate proof of any of them working. I use them. Just ran two bottles through a vehicle that's getting crappy mpg. But I don't know if they work. I'd at least have to pull the intake which is a pain and look at the intake valves.
 
Definitely not junk. I just forget to buy it so I can keep it on hand. I can't vouch for fuel system cleaners in general, but the Super Tech in the long thing bottle, and Berrymans, definitely make a difference. I feel it primarily on acceleration.
I feel my car is faster after it's washed....does not make it an accurate statement.
 
I feel my car is faster after it's washed....does not make it an accurate statement.

UPS had commercials about how much they loved washing their planes. One claim was that it saved money by improving the aerodynamics and performance of the planes, but in the end the voiceover just said that they like clean planes.

OK - found the commercial. It is a bit odd since this plane has all those windows. I thought that cargo planes didn't have normal passenger windows or at least had blanks placed in to block out the windows.

 
Keeping injectors clean so spray patterns remain within spec.
But therein lies the problem. How do I know that my spray patterns aren’t in spec and how would I know they would be after using the additive? I am all for having a good spray pattern out of injectors but do the additive companies show before and after spray patterns when using their products? The only videos that I’ve seen are for professional injector cleaning.
 
But therein lies the problem. How do I know that my spray patterns aren’t in spec and how would I know they would be after using the additive? I am all for having a good spray pattern out of injectors but do the additive companies show before and after spray patterns when using their products? The only videos that I’ve seen are for professional injector cleaning.

I've seen before and after photos on a card attached to the neck of some of these. But they likely show a case where the detergent additive in the fuel wasn't sufficient to keep the injectors clean. They don't really describe how they got the injectors dirty, as many claim that they've never had injector issues with EPA minimum detergent fuel. I'm pretty sure this could be done by using non-detergent fuel just like the control testing for Top Tier Fuel tests.

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