Fuel Injector Cleaner Recommendation

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As I've poked through the threads in this forum, I've seen numerous discussions on fuel additives, but they seem to mix topics a bit and talk about different kinds of fuel additives in the same thread. I'm wondering what folks think about Fuel Injector Cleaners specifically.

For years now, I've added a 16 oz. bottle of Chevron Pro-Gard with Techron every time I do an oil change. I've been buying 4-6 bottle boxes at Costco where my cost per bottle usually ends up being around $2.50 - $2.75. What do you guys think of that particular product?

These days I'm not as cost-conscious, and given that we purchased our current vehicles new, I'm willing to spend a little bit more if it's justified. Would the "regular" Chevron Techron (I think they're now calling it Techron Concentrate Plus) be a better choice and worth the extra money?

What about BG 44K? My Nissan dealer really pushes that, but I imagine it's primarily a way for them to increase their profit margin when customers do their oil changes at the dealer and pay extra for it. The downside to the BG product is that it looks harder to find since parts stores (at least the ones in my area) don't carry it.

Also, I've always put the fuel injector cleaner in at the start of an OCI, at the same time I'm changing the oil/filter. Is it better to put it in at the end of an OCI, or doesn't it really matter?
 
Techron is a good product. It used to say to use it at the end of an OCI, but now says nothing about it on the bottle. It does dissolve things, but a tankful or two won't clean out the varnish on a motorcycle carb, so it's not some miracle product (there is none that I have found).

Really, with the Ethanol in gas now things stay pretty clean on their own... IMO.
 
Chevron Pro-Gard w/Techron is not nearly as effective as concentrated Techron or 44K.

If you want a good fuel system cleaner, use Amsoil PI. It's simply the most powerful cleaner on the market. Alternatively, Redline SI-1 is a good choice. Regardless of which one you do, it is still necessary to use Amsoil PowerFoam or SeaFoam to clean the top-end of the engine periodically.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Chevron Pro-Gard w/Techron is not nearly as effective as concentrated Techron or 44K.


But is Chevron Pro-Gard w/ Techron good enough if it's been used at every OCI since a vehicle was new?

Both of my vehicles (see signature below) has had a bottle of Chevron Pro-Gard w/ Techron every 6,000 miles since I purchased them new.
 
Give Red Line FI and Fuel System cleaner a try. It is a great product and has some UCL properties as well.
 
Originally Posted By: barlowc
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Chevron Pro-Gard w/Techron is not nearly as effective as concentrated Techron or 44K.


But is Chevron Pro-Gard w/ Techron good enough if it's been used at every OCI since a vehicle was new?

Both of my vehicles (see signature below) has had a bottle of Chevron Pro-Gard w/ Techron every 6,000 miles since I purchased them new.


Pro-Gard uses the same main ingredient, PEA, as Techron, Regane, Redline. The only issue with Pro-Gard is that it is at a much lower concentration, about 10-20%, While the rest are from 30-50% concentration.

If you want to stick with Pro-Gard, as it is cheap to buy in bulk at Costco, use it with a full tank of premium gas for more total cleaners in that tank and more often - maybe around 3000 miles.
 
For cleaning ability and value for the dollar (highest PEA concentrations) Gumout Regane Complete Fuel System Cleaner really can't be beat.

I'm always amazed that Gumout doesn't emphasize the PEA aspect of their Regane product since it is the critical cleaning component in a bottle injector cleaner.
 
Originally Posted By: barlowc
Anyone with thoughts on the Lucas Fuel Treatment?


We have used it virtually every fill in the the last 3 vehicles we have owned.

Have been mixing it with MMO 50/50 starting recently.

Never had any issues using it. Lucas has a mild cleaning effect.

May try straight MMO in the future as it costs less when you buy it by the gallon at Wal-Mart.
 
Lucas is just oil. I have talked to people from multiple companies and all have told me that there is no detergent in the lucas injector cleaner. Measuring the nitrogen in a injector cleaner is one why to get an idea of how much detergent is in the product. Lucas is in the range of ~12ppm while the others are ~500ppm or more. The Lucas shouldn't hurt your car, but it is kind of treating your car like a 2 stroke engine.

As for the question of which product to use, I would go with any of the big names because they will have done the testing to prove that their product works. STP, Chevron, Gumout. Real testing for these products can run into the 100k range per test. Also, Chevron invented the first PEA detergent.
 
I've tried Chevron "Techron" and Redline S1 and have noticed no gain or difference is engine performance. As a fuel injector cleaner is concern to put in a product that claims to clean the injectors and in addition have another product "Techron" that does the same thing gives me a conclusion to use whatever is less expensive out of the two. After all they claim to do the same thing.

Redline I've heard/read on this forum that it too is an excellent cleaner and has an UCL included is one of my favorites cuz it does two things for one price.

Lucas I've tried when I had my old 89' Camry and it appeared to do a decent job AND noticed a gain in engine performance but didn't see any change in MPG. When I noticed this difference it was over a two week period when I havd to add a small bottle per week!!! Anyway I stopped using it cuz it get expensive over periods of time.

Never tried BG-44 before.


Durango
 
A lot of recommendations have been made..... but to my knowledge only Techron has received the endorsement of any manufacturers??

GM recommended it in TSB's years ago, and people with actual injector problems (not just put it in and try to tell a difference) found that it worked.

Now, I assume that anybody else using the same chemicals would also be effective but....... who knows, please inform us??

One poster wrote that Ethanol helped. Actually it made things much worse, forming very hard compounds, and was one of the driving factors in requiring refiners to add stronger cleaners to their fuels.

BMW's widely publicized statements on this, and a commitment to publish a list of acceptable and non acceptable gasoline retailers led to everybody jumping on board and adding the proper detergents to all gasoline.

I would use Techron - years ago it cleaned up the first injected car we drove past 200k miles - but only if I was having a problem. I suspect modern gasoline additives are sufficient for most of us now
 
Part 2: I have no idea why anybody would think any of these injector cleaners would help if they were not having any problems!!
 
I have used many qts. of Lucas UCL. I quit for good after a 2,000 mile trip and things got worse.
2 stroke oil or MMO makes my cars run better.
 
Originally Posted By: fsskier
I have no idea why anybody would think any of these injector cleaners would help if they were not having any problems!!


The thought, at least mine, is from a preventative maintenance sense, that periodic use of relatively inexpensive fuel system products (e.g. Chevron Techron) will help prevent fuel injectors from getting slowly clogged over time to the point where performance/MPG suffers and requires a more expensive "fix" such as those overpriced (yet usually effective) services that most dealers offer. Now, maybe my thought on the matter is wrong?
 
Before about 1988 the detergents in gasoline were more likely solvents for varnish and gum, to keep carburetors working well.
Injection deposits are an entirely different deal, hard carbon like material.

Early injected cars were running gasoline without detergents that could correct this problem.

My experience, matching tech and engineering articles at that time:

Our 76 Audi had accumulated about 200 k miles (all before deposit cleaning detergents were added to gasoline) and had become my daughters college commuter car. Deposits had formed on the injectors - one bad enough that the car was now starting and running on 3 cylinders - in about 1.5 miles the engine would warm enough to vaporize the dribbles of gas going into cyl #4 and the car would run normally. Long trip mileage and power remained the same as always - the vaporized-dribbled gas seemed to be as good as sprayed gas - after warmup.

The problem progressively became worse for months, new plugs, wires, etc did not help of course. The dealer mechanics said: Yup, we see it all the time, you need new injectors.

At about that time General Motors TSB's came out with the Techron recommendation, then in published statements they were quite persuasive about it. We Put it in the Audi, to our amazement the car started to "pick up" that 4th cylinder about 100 yards closer to home each day. After a week it was ok in 4 blocks after startup, by the end of the tank it was hitting after 1 block.
I Put another bottle of Techron in the second tank and progress continued - at the end of that tank the car was starting on all 4 right from the beginning. Impressed, we ran one more bottle and the problem was gone forever.

Then the refiners - under enormous pressure from auto manufacturers began adding appropriate detergents, hopefully making additives unnecessary.

I have never used Techron since - my cars are running perfectly after 300 k miles - but there may be some cars more deposit prone.....I know of no evidence to make recommendations either way.
 
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