Fuel Injector Cleaning
11-21-2009, 10:17 AM
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: 09-18-2007
Location: Leesburg Va.
Posts: 989
If you can get your hands on any BG products get some BG44K. It is a great pour in additive for fuel. I have never been a fan of additives untill I started useing BK at my shop. It really does do a good job in my oppion.
11-24-2009, 08:33 AM
#12
Senior Member
Join Date: 08-29-2007
Location: CenCoast California
Posts: 256
That said, what might be a problem is solevent-based cleaners or additives and the sensor in the system that measures the ratio of ethanol to gasoline.
If that's the case, I'd ONLY use a detergent-based injector cleaner in an FFV engine because the detergents used by those cleaners have chemisty similar to the detergents in the gasoline blended with the ethanol.
Sadly, flex-fuel HHRs are a useless increase in the cost of the vehicle because the amount of locations one can buy E85 are so small. Plus running the car on E85 is more expensive because the decrease in fuel mileage is not covered by a lower fuel cost.
11-24-2009, 08:39 AM
#13
You should have seen me glare on my road trip from Denver at the large ethanol factory off the highway!
Now don't get me wrong, I think ethanol might have its place, but not in our vehicles. You can't use something that involves our food in our fuel. We use too much of both, and then the price skyrockets. Now, let's just get ethanol out of our regular (e10) gasoline!
11-27-2009, 09:16 AM
#14
Senior Member
Join Date: 08-29-2009
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 1,813
E85 by me in Nassau County, NY, 3 months ago when I first bought my HHR had an 83 cents a gallon spread over regular gas. I alternated between 1/2 tanks of E85 and then 1/2 tanks of regular. Worked out with decent milage by mixing and saving a few dollars. Now the cent spread is about 38 cents. Definately not worth the cost now...
11-27-2009, 12:16 PM
#15
Senior Member
Join Date: 10-21-2008
Location: hemet, calif.
Posts: 1,831
I was just wondering....does anyone know how often you should have your fuel injectors cleaned? Also, does anyone know how much that would cost at a shop or dealer? I know putting additives in your gas can help prevent this, but my HHR has many miles I did not put on, and I'm sure the guy before me never put additives in...and I'm also more concerned about my Lumina, since it has 140k miles.
Thanks for the input!
Thanks for the input!
01-04-2010, 03:37 AM
#17
Senior Member
Join Date: 11-09-2008
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 196
My dad took his injectors out on his 91 Cutlass several years ago and took them to a diesel shop where the cleaned them out on a flow machine thingy. Charged him 20 bucks and it made a decent improvement in mpg.
07-16-2011, 01:11 AM
#18
Member
Join Date: 05-05-2011
Location: Bremerton
Posts: 54
I use Lucas fuel treatment / UCL / cleaner at each fillup. 3 Oz / 10 gal. It is not intended as a remedial cleaner, but more so to supplement the detergency that may or may not be in your gas, depending on what brand you use. It also adds lubricity that has been pretty much stripped from modern gasoline. It is not solvent based, and will not fix clogged injectors. It's really a prophylactic measure. A gallon jug lasts me forever and gets the cost down very low.
For clogged injectors, short of pulling them off the car and having them professionally cleaned, backflushed, and tested at $15-30 each, adding a nice dose of toluene to a tankful is far more effective than most overpriced and ineffective solvent based fuel system cleaners. You also get a nice octane boost. It will not harm a modern fuel system, but it will remove paint, and it's highly toxic. Use with caution.
For clogged injectors, short of pulling them off the car and having them professionally cleaned, backflushed, and tested at $15-30 each, adding a nice dose of toluene to a tankful is far more effective than most overpriced and ineffective solvent based fuel system cleaners. You also get a nice octane boost. It will not harm a modern fuel system, but it will remove paint, and it's highly toxic. Use with caution.
07-16-2011, 10:11 AM
#19
Senior Member
Join Date: 06-26-2006
Location: San Bernardino, California
Posts: 1,876
We sold 1 quart cans of toluene when I worked at ACE hardware. At the risk of starting a discussion similar to the acetone discussion, I'd be leary of the possible effects of toluene on the rubber or plastic parts in the fuel system. I have a canister cleaner for fuel injection that you pressurise with an air compressor the the vehicles operating fuel pressure and connect directly to the fuel rail. You remove the fuel pump fuse, run a dedicated cleaner through it until the car stalls, re install the fuse and you're done. Haven't used it on the HHR as I don't think it needs is yet at 55K mi.
04-30-2015, 01:50 AM
#20
New Member
Join Date: 11-15-2010
Location: Ocala
Posts: 11
What do you base it on did the engine idle better smoother? Help me understand how it worked.