Carb/Fuel Injector Cleaner?

Hello All -

As the doting owner of an '88 9000 Turbo that's going on 250K, I'm wondering whether, aside from other routine preventative maintenance, there's any benefit to using any of the variety of carbeurator/fuel injector cleaning fuel additives that are available. And if so, are any brands more recommendable than others?

Appreciate the wisdom of others' opinions on this stuff, be it snake oil or not!

Reply to
Mick Forstag
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_Al_ wrote: :: you can use some stuff called `sea foam` from Napa, or....depending :: upon how brave you are...you can do water injection. water :: injection, you just simply let the engine suck about 2 cups of water :: through a vaccum line, don't let it stall, feed it slowly, keep :: rpm's up.....

You get a way better result with water, if it's carbonated water.

Cheers!

Reply to
Henrik B.

You do what now??

What purpose does the water serve?

Reply to
Grunff

Reply to
_Al_

Grunff wrote: ::: seconds then shut it off, let it sit for about 45 minutes, then ::: fire it up....then just to be safe you might want to do a oil ::: change (250k....might have a little blowby at the rings) :: :: You do what now??

Yes, it works better than any fuel-additives.

:: What purpose does the water serve?

You use carbonated water, feed it through the inlet-manifold. The (carbonated) water will react with any coke sitting on the valves or other places.

Cheers!

Reply to
Henrik B.

when it boils off, into steam, and is under compression, it softens and loosens any carbon deposits. Pretty much like the side effect benefit of running water injection under boost.

That is designed to stop knock, but does have the side effect of helping to clean the engine.

Reply to
MeatballTurbo

The water method suggested by others is a good method for cleaning deposits from the valves, but it doesn't do anything for the fuel injectors (as your post requested). BTW, American Motors Corp did the original testing about

30 or 40 years ago, and they found that plain tap water (it doesn't need to be carbonated) was more effective at cleaning the valves than any of the special preparations that were available.

For the fuel injectors - and a car of that age and mileage likely has injectors that need cleaning if they haven't yet been replaced - an additive to the fuel would be most effective. I used to have a system that would allow the car to run on a 12 fl. oz. can of Gumout to perform the cleaning, but that only works with mechanical fuel pumps and carbureted engines.

I got somewhat improved performance and fuel economy after cleaning the injectors in my 9000 when it had about 120K miles on it. In my area, certain gas stations sell "E-85" fuel, which is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. It is an alternate fuel for certain cars that are designed to operate on this mixture - the most readily available one is the Ford Taurus. Ethanol also happens to be the main ingredient in most fuel injector cleaners available in the store for $5 a pint. E-85 typically costs about the same as regular unleaded (or less in some places). I used 2 gallons in a nearly full tank. It is best to do this when the weather is warm because ethanol doesn't vaporize as well as gasoline and may cause problems with the engine being able to idle properly in cold weather. Don't use it too often, as it is more likely to corrode some metal parts and soften some rubber and plastic parts than regular gasoline. And don't pump it directly into your tank, use a one or two gallon fuel jug. This way you can (somewhat) accurately measure how much you put in, and you don't risk the station attendant turning off the pump and telling you that you can't use that fuel in your car. If they ask, you can tell them you plan to use it in your lawn mower (it works well there too).

I tried this and it worked well for me. YMMV.

Walt Kienzle

1991 9000T

Reply to
Walt Kienzle

For the fuel and injection systems, "Chevron Techron Fuel System Cleaner" is highly recommended and known to actually work. Available in the USA, I don't know about Europe. Don't get fuel injection cleaner, you want the "system" cleaner.

I generally stay away from snake oil but this stuff actually works.

Reply to
Bob

I recently used a injector cleaner supposedly designed for cars with more than

60,000 miles on them. Made by STP or Gumout or one of those, can't remember which. It did help. I was trying to solve a rough idle problem and that eliminated most of it. I use cleaners every so often. It's easy to get water in the gas tank around here and one of the things the gas additives do is help get that out.

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Reply to
LauraK

But how does it clean your injectors?

Reply to
Grunff

doesn't do the injectors, just valves/piston crowns, and some parts of the bore.

Reply to
MeatballTurbo

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