Fuel injector maintenance?

Yes. Injectors don't need frequent attention. If you like, pour a bottle of Techron into the gas tank at 30,000 miles, just before you change the oil.

Thanks very much for the quick and (I know from reading many of your replies) knowledgeable reply. I'm beginning to think using the dealership for these maintenance things may not be such a good idea. The dealership's prices for an oil change aren't that much above other shops, but if they are going to be trying to foist unnecessary expensive stuff like that at me, it makes me wonder. Part of the reason I decided to go with them is that I got such a good deal on the car (0% financing, $18,000 for a bare bones '02) that I decided to get an extended warranty (bumper to bumper 7 year/70,000mi.). I thought it would be easier to get the warranty honored if I had all maintenance done at the dealership where I got the warranty and followed all of their recommendations for maintenance. I'm thinking that wasn't such a good plan after all.

Thanks again! Ted

I ran into problems with GM when the warranty had expired and I was faced with a $650 bill for a lower intake manifold gasket repair that was a faulty engineering design (another story that can be verified by a google search on "lower intake manifold gasket"). What it came down to was I didn't bring my vehicle in to a GM garage for the scheduled maintenance. My reply was the only scheduled maintenance in the 1st 60k miles was an air filter change (which was not the original air filter) and oil changes (which I had printed documentation from a quick lube at regular intervals of 2k to 3k miles).

GM said sorry, if you didn't bother to come to us for service, then how do you expect to come to your aid now?

That is no longer a problem as I will never bother them by buying a GM or Saturn again in my life time. I did however buy a brand new Mazda Tribute which I will be bringing into the dealership for oil changes.

My philosophy, at least for the moment is learn to fend off the snake oil stuff from the dealer, and continue to cover your backside by dealer documentation. Is it right? Probably not, but you got a fair enough deal. Run a bottle of Techron or Redline injector cleaner in the tank before your oil changes like Lanny says and enjoy the top down summer. :-)

Don't know the laws in your state, but in Texas, dealers MUST recognize maintenance performed at ASE certified shops. -- They cannot void the warranty for taking it to another qualified mechanic.

- L

"Oh bother," said Pooh Bear when he saw the mushroom cloud...

// Change TEJAS to TX to reply via eMail //

My GM case was post warranty, and I'm not sure the quick lube place is ASE certified to change oil and a filter. I guess it doesn't matter much if I don't keep the vehicle past the first 50k miles. Time will tell.

I frankly have come to regard the "fuel injector cleaning" scheme as something barely short of dishonest. It's an add-on service that doesn't do a damn thing unless your car is already running poorly. If you're using a name-brand fuel, you're certainly getting an effective cleaning package in your gasoline, and even if you're using no-name fuel, you're probably getting an effective cleaning package in your fuel.

Sure, I buy the 4-packs of Chevron injector cleaner at Costco for $11 and run a bottle every 1500 miles or so, but that's almost certainly major overkill.

Unless there's actually something wrong with your car, the $90 injector cleaning serves primarily to increase service revenue.

Dana

We have four fuel injected cars. Three of them we have had since new and they have never had the fuel injectors "cleaned". The accumulated miles on these cars are 168K, 144K, 104K and 55K miles. They are, respectively, a '90 Miata, '96 Chrysler Town and Country, '97 Mazda Protégé and '00 Audi A4. As another poster noted: modern auto fuel apparently has cleaning agents that ensure the only stuff going through the injectors are molecules of fuel.

If this cleaner stuff is necessary, you can't prove it by me.

Best,

Ken

Thanks Ken (and Dana in another post) for verifying my suspicion. I had never heard of fuel injectors as something requiring maintenance - much less something to be cleaned at 10,000miles! I think I am going to look into having my work done at another shop I know (run by the father of a student of mine) that I can trust to only do what really needs to be done.

Ted

Finding a good mechanic that you can trust is quite a trick. Fortunately, I found one. Unfortunately, it's me.

Ken

I think I know how you feel... whenever any mechanical problem arises, I feel compelled to find out as specifically as I can, exactly what is wrong, then decide if it's something I can remedy, before I even consider going to a mechanic. And the situation gets even more complex when you have 3 kids who have grown accustomed to coming to 'Dad's garage' for the same reason. Consequently, I've been doing all the regular maintenance (oil/filter changes, tune-ups, brakes, exhaust, shocks/struts/links) on five family autos for the last 10 years.

Pete Breemhaar Georgetown, Ontario