Fuel injector cleaner is damaging??

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Hey guys, so my chevy cruze is starting to feel slower and I was told it may be my fuel injectors. I then said I would just get fuel injector cleaner and dump a bottle in my tank, and immediately the counter clerk said no, those are bad and can blow the seals and hurt my injectors! Is this true? Or am I safe to try it out and will it help?
 
Depends on what type of fuel injector cleaner is used. But the PEA cleaners you can buy off the shelf are good and relatively safe.
 
No name-brand fuel system cleaner is going to hurt your car in any way.
Techron, Gumout, Valvoline, 3M and Red Line are all brands that contain PEA, the stuff that cleans without leaving any residue and none of these will do any harm.
It's possible that some solvent based products might cause problems, but many members have used solvents like Kreen and Seafoam in their fuel with only good results.
There's also MMO, which may work and seems to cause no harm for those here who've used it.
I'd use any PEA based fuel systmem cleaner without hesiation.
I'd have to have real problems before I considered a solvent based one.
 
If it's a 1LT or above with the 1.4 turbo engine, fuel injector cleaner won't help a whole lot with what you're experiencing. The weather is warmer, and warmer air means more predetonation, especially with the turbo. The only way to make it feel as quick as it does during cold weather is to run slightly higher octane fuel. 89 octane will do the trick for the summer, and once the daily temperatures go down below 60*F or so, 87 octane will be fine again.

Try a few tanks of 89 octane, and see if that helps.
 
If you get Gumout make sure you get Regane high mileage or all in one. I don't believe that the lower tier Gumout such as the gas treatment or fuel injector cleaner ones have nearly as much pea in them. Gumout has about 8 flavors of fuel additives on most shelfs.
 
Originally Posted By: lawman1909
Hey guys, so my chevy cruze is starting to feel slower and I was told it may be my fuel injectors. I then said I would just get fuel injector cleaner and dump a bottle in my tank, and immediately the counter clerk said no, those are bad and can blow the seals and hurt my injectors! Is this true? Or am I safe to try it out and will it help?

No commercially available brand name product available today will bother the injectors or seals.
A long time ago something like Nitro 9 may have caused some corrosion issues inside the early injectors.
 
Originally Posted By: lawman1909
Thanks. I actually have the 1.8L engine. I will try gumout and see how it does.


The summer predetonation sluggishness won't affect your 1.8. Like others have said, try Gumout Regane or Chevron Techron Concentrate.

Also, I've noticed that my car's computer adapts to my driving style. If the driving has been a lot of put-putting around, it'll drive like it when I want to get on it. A good Italian tuneup to reset the computer will help also.
 
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Originally Posted By: lawman1909
Thanks. I actually have the 1.8L engine. I will try gumout and see how it does.


The summer predetonation sluggishness won't affect your 1.8. Like others have said, try Gumout Regane or Chevron Techron Concentrate.

Also, I've noticed that my car's computer adapts to my driving style. If the driving has been a lot of put-putting around, it'll drive like it when I want to get on it. A good Italian tuneup to reset the computer will help also.


Are the 1.8s also direct injected, or just the 1.4 turbos??
 
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Originally Posted By: lawman1909
Thanks. I actually have the 1.8L engine. I will try gumout and see how it does.


The summer predetonation sluggishness won't affect your 1.8. Like others have said, try Gumout Regane or Chevron Techron Concentrate.

Also, I've noticed that my car's computer adapts to my driving style. If the driving has been a lot of put-putting around, it'll drive like it when I want to get on it. A good Italian tuneup to reset the computer will help also.


Are the 1.8s also direct injected, or just the 1.4 turbos??


Neither. Both are port-injected. They were designed with DI in mind, but it wasn't implemented due to getting good fuel efficiency without it and the cost of implementing DI just for the US market on these global engines. Also, I think a engineer married a bean counter somewhere, and they decided to KISS! Fine by me, as it sidesteps all the potential DI problems and still returns great fuel economy.
 
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Originally Posted By: lawman1909
Thanks. I actually have the 1.8L engine. I will try gumout and see how it does.


The summer predetonation sluggishness won't affect your 1.8. Like others have said, try Gumout Regane or Chevron Techron Concentrate.

Also, I've noticed that my car's computer adapts to my driving style. If the driving has been a lot of put-putting around, it'll drive like it when I want to get on it. A good Italian tuneup to reset the computer will help also.


Are the 1.8s also direct injected, or just the 1.4 turbos??


Neither. Both are port-injected. They were designed with DI in mind, but it wasn't implemented due to getting good fuel efficiency without it and the cost of implementing DI just for the US market on these global engines. Also, I think a engineer married a bean counter somewhere, and they decided to KISS! Fine by me, as it sidesteps all the potential DI problems and still returns great fuel economy.


Cool, somehow I thought the 1.4 Ecotecs were DI.

Despite the problems it would incur, I wonder if the performance/power levels would have been higher with DI in the Ecotecs?
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Kind of an older thread, but why would someone consistently using Chevron gas need to put this stuff in the tank?

I consistently fill up at Costco. Since all stations have been upgraded to their high performance additive, I haven't bothered using any additives in a bottle. I still have some though. Not sure what to do with them other than maybe add them on the road or once in a while just to get rid of the stuff.
 
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
...why would someone consistently using Chevron gas need to put this stuff in the tank? I consistently fill up at Costco. Since all stations have been upgraded to their high performance additive, I haven't bothered using any additives in a bottle. I still have some though. Not sure what to do with them other than maybe add them on the road or once in a while just to get rid of the stuff.

From another contemporary thread
Originally Posted By: Joenpb
A common misconception with Top Tier fuel is that it's all you need to counter the additional gumming from ethanol fuel, those additives simply aren't enough...

I'm not sure how you would test for 'too much' or 'not enough'. If you used Top Tier gasoline even occasionally, that should keep the crud level manageable, or under control. Is there any benefit to keeping the fuel system even cleaner, beyond what the included additives accomplish?
 
Originally Posted By: lawman1909
Thanks. I actually have the 1.8L engine. I will try gumout and see how it does.



Let us know the results!!
thumbsup2.gif
 
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