Fuel injector cleaners

InOmaha said:
Mine was stumbling at idle so I seafoamed the intake. It removes carbon deposits all through the system.
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My neighbor (a Mopar technician) recommended an intake cleaning for an issue I was having. Said Seafoam was pretty much the same as the Mopar version.
I've used the spray, but now I pour a can in (maybe once a year) before a long trip knowing I'll burn through the whole tank with a hot engine.
Whether it helps or not, a little peace of mind goes a long way.
 
I run a bottle of the Lucas stuff through my '08 GC once a year. If I don't it will start idling like crap.

I know, I'm skeptical too. But when I first bought the thing it was idling so bad it would almost stall sitting at a light. I cleaned the TB, MAF, replaced the air filter, new plugs, all the usual stuff. No change. I ran a bottle of injector cleaner through it and it cleared right up. Once a year seems to keep it running fine.

I did have an injector fail as well and had to replace it. So maybe the injectors on that engine are just trash, idk.
 
I don't know if it cleans fuel injectors, but BG 44K is excellent at cleaning valve and combustion chamber deposits.
Although I have spray bottled water into the intake with ok results. I prefer to clean through the fuel system.
 
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bucky said:
Oils from the 90s are not the same as today. Many people don’t change their oil at the proper time. I don’t care what brand you use, the additives wear out at some point.
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The main problem with vehicles today is the damn oil life monitor system. Some vehicles will go 12k mile before the monitor hits 0%,
the customer will then put another 4k before coming in for an oil change.

Then they want to know why their vehilcle starts consuming oil @ 50k miles.

I can't begin to tell you the shit that I see when it comes to lack of regular maintainencs on a vehicle.

As for Fuel injector cleaners, yes I believe in some of them.

BG and Techron are very good products and do help.

I also believe that Top Tier fuels are much better for our vehicles, especially in Direct injection motors.

When I pull down a motor for repair, I can tell who uses good fuel and who uses shit fuel by the amount of carbon build up on the valves.
 
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Is a 7-month hibernation too long to resurrect a thread? plus my question is a bit Off-Topic, so at the risk of incurring the forum wrath, here goes...

I'm the original owner of an '07 Civic Si now with 248K miles. It's had modest power loss and 10-15% loss of fuel economy slowly over the past few years. It takes several seconds of cranking to start. The idle is slightly rough (for a Honda), and intermittently bogs down with high RPM upshifts (7000 -> 5000). No CELs. I'm considering fuel injector cleaning and wondering if I should try an additive like the Techron or BG 44K, vs. removing the injectors and shipping them out for thorough cleaning.

I keep up with regular oil changes (every ~7k miles); I've replaced the spark plugs and PCV valve, adjusted the valves, removed and cleaned the TB.

Thoughts?
 
Shortly after buying my TJ (18 months ago) I did a full diagnostic on it. I pulled 3 of the injectors (78K on the engine at the time) and found 2 of the 3 to have some decent amount of deposits... nothing significant but there nonetheless. Spray patterns were similar among all 3. I have no idea if the previous owner ran cleaners through it or not. So, I'd say that for a car with 78K on the engine the injectors were just fine.

I did run a "top end" cleaner through the engine and then the ol "Italian tune up" trick and did remove a lot of carbon from the intake side. I verified that with a bore scope.

I noticed a much quieter idol and a little more throttle response but nothing dramatic.
 
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TRevs said:
I'm considering fuel injector cleaning and wondering if I should try an additive like the Techron or BG 44K, vs. removing the injectors and shipping them out for thorough cleaning.
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Its easy to try the Techron first. Just remember to run the whole tank down before you re-fuel so you don't dilute the concentration in your tank.
 
TRevs said:
Is a 7-month hibernation too long to resurrect a thread? plus my question is a bit Off-Topic, so at the risk of incurring the forum wrath, here goes...

I'm the original owner of an '07 Civic Si now with 248K miles. It's had modest power loss and 10-15% loss of fuel economy slowly over the past few years. It takes several seconds of cranking to start. The idle is slightly rough (for a Honda), and intermittently bogs down with high RPM upshifts (7000 -> 5000). No CELs. I'm considering fuel injector cleaning and wondering if I should try an additive like the Techron or BG 44K, vs. removing the injectors and shipping them out for thorough cleaning.

I keep up with regular oil changes (every ~7k miles); I've replaced the spark plugs and PCV valve, adjusted the valves, removed and cleaned the TB.

Thoughts?
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Fuel strainer is in the tank. After that many miles, I'd replace it. Also, if you've never changed the O2s, it's time.

Smoke your intake and check for vacuum leaks and clean the intake components. If you change the oil regularly, these engines just keep running.
 
TRevs said:
Is a 7-month hibernation too long to resurrect a thread? plus my question is a bit Off-Topic, so at the risk of incurring the forum wrath, here goes...

I'm the original owner of an '07 Civic Si now with 248K miles. It's had modest power loss and 10-15% loss of fuel economy slowly over the past few years. It takes several seconds of cranking to start. The idle is slightly rough (for a Honda), and intermittently bogs down with high RPM upshifts (7000 -> 5000). No CELs. I'm considering fuel injector cleaning and wondering if I should try an additive like the Techron or BG 44K, vs. removing the injectors and shipping them out for thorough cleaning.

I keep up with regular oil changes (every ~7k miles); I've replaced the spark plugs and PCV valve, adjusted the valves, removed and cleaned the TB.

Thoughts?
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I'd be suspicious of a bad O2 sensor. Like spark plugs, O2 sensors eventually need to be replaced, they go bad. A bad O2 sensor can and will cause a loss of power, fuel economy, bad idle, etc.

And rarely are fuel injectors dirty from fuel deposits any more. The EPA demands and requires sufficient FI cleaners in all US gasolines to keep the FI system clean and they have required that for many years. That was not always the case, we regularly needed to add FI cleaners when FI first started showing up in cars but no longer.
 
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That’s two votes for O2 sensors; i figured those would trigger a CEL.

I priced the OEM parts from a dealer online and got $118 for one and $195 for the other. I suppose for a 14 year old car they’renot making OEM anymore.
 
Jerry Bransford said:
I'd be suspicious of a bad O2 sensor. Like spark plugs, O2 sensors eventually need to be replaced, they go bad. A bad O2 sensor can and will cause a loss of power, fuel economy, bad idle, etc.

And rarely are fuel injectors dirty from fuel deposits any more. The EPA demands and requires sufficient FI cleaners in all US gasolines to keep the FI system clean and they have required that for many years. That was not always the case, we regularly needed to add FI cleaners when FI first started showing up in cars but no longer.
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That sounds like the reasonable place to start.

I wasn't having any noticeable issues but I decided to replace the plugs and O2 sensors at about 80K and post replacement notices a little more throttle response and actually identifiable milage increase. Keep in mind in percentage terms going from a few tanks at 13.5 to 15 is a big jump.... 🤣
 
Jim Byrne said:
I don't believe you need an injector cleaner.
I have never added anything in the 12 years I have driven my '04 TJ.
Also, I run it on cheap 87 fuel & it runs great.
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Exactly. I even asked a bunch of mechanics about that when I had a lot of automotive dealerships as clients years ago. The old mechanics said it had been many years since they had last seen a dirty injector and the newer mechanics said they had never seen one.
 
Dino - KX6D said:
Its easy to try the Techron first. Just remember to run the whole tank down before you re-fuel so you don't dilute the concentration in your tank.
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Dino
That's easy. I would use Lucas oil Fuel injector cleaner over Techron any day! The good thing about it is if you want a little more action? You can pour it down the carb too! One time I had a 70's Ford F250, yea found on road dead? Haha. Anyway, one day when I was super young I filled my tank with 12 Gals of Diesel fuel. Well, I fouled almost 8 plugs up (Hay I was young), Used the Lucas oil Fuel and injector cleaner, poured it down the carb. Whamo! All be a Monkey's uncle. It worked! If I had told my Dad I did that heed be pissed off! My Dad was the purest out the get-go! Haha. Cheers
 
It's real hard to beat Techron, it's widely known as a very good FI system cleaner. Many, me included, consider it the best available. I'm not much of a Lucas fan at all. Especially after having seen tests of their oil additive that caused gear lube to foam up reducing its ability to lubricate.
 
Jerry Bransford said:
It's real hard to beat Techron, it's widely known as a very good FI system cleaner. Many, me included, consider it the best available. I'm not much of a Lucas fan at all. Especially after having seen tests of their oil additive that caused gear lube to foam up reducing its ability to lubricate.
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Jerry
What about Seafoam? Do you like that too? Cheers
 
Jerry Bransford said:
To me Seafoam is a 'claims to do everything' product but only does them so-so. There are specific products made that do individual jobs better than Seafoam.
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I don't know, Jerry. Ordinarily, I'm not a big additive guy, but at one point my motor home had been sitting for close to 6 months, so I decided to treat it with Seafoam. At the concentration they recommend it works out to about a gallon of Seafoam in a 75 gallon fuel tank. I changed the filter, added the gallon of Seafoam and topped up the tank. Drove the coach around 1500 miles over the course of 2 months and on my way to my next job, it started to run crappy. When I got where I was going, I started to mess with it, and in the end found that the fuel filter was so plugged with crap I couldn't even blow through it. That Seafoam sure cleaned that dirt up from somewhere.
 
Chris said:
I don't believe any of these additives do jack shit in terms of cleaning fuel injectors. That is my personal opinion, but it's a strong opinion of mine.

You want to know to keep your engine in tip-top shape? Ever hear of "ye old Italian tune-up"?

;)
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What is this Italian tune up you speak of..

Nm lol. Google…….
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
There is no need for additional FI cleaners here in the US. Period. The EPA mandated that ALL gasolines sold here in the US have enough cleaners to keep the FI system clean. Yes we used to need FI cleaners but not since the late 80's when the EPA mandated they be in all gasolines here in the US. Not just Top Tier gasolines either... all gasolines have more than enough cleaners in them to keep everything clean.

Keep that $$$ in your pocket and pay no attention to the know-nothing revolving-door salesman at Autozone etc. told to push those high profit little bottles of cleaners at the cash register.
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You actually take everything the EPA says at face value?

Perfect example- put 87 in your tank for a long time and be prepared to hear a ticking noise. Then put a tank of high octane in it (91-93) and it goes away.

It burns off the garbage in low octane.
 
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