injector cleaner in turbo engine??

I have an s80 T6 . Can I use fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank with a turbo engine? Jst thought I'd ask first

John

Reply to
John W
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Yes. Techron is a popular brand, but I've used inexpensive brands successfuly in my '85 765T and other cars.

If you habitually use "top tier" gasoline brands (see

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injector cleaner isn't useful. Otherwise I recommend about as often as the oil is changed. Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

Thanks for the info,ike.

Reply to
John W

I'm looking more into this recently and I'm really tipping toward using "top tier" gasoline regularly. It was sparked by a couple of people who had trouble with 'pinging' in their 2001 Toyota Prius cars. In each case the mileage was over 100K miles. The prime suspect is carbon deposits, one of the bad things top tier fuel is designed to prevent. A couple of links I found interesting:

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the second link does have something to sell, the background sounds right and the claims make sense in terms of my experience as a DIYer. Every cylinder head I've ever had off had carbon deposits and every piston head has also had deposits. In another forum another regular echoed that, except that the few that had used top tier gasoline exclusively did not have carbon deposits. Hmm.

The same contributor mentioned he has a Shell credit card that gives him a

5% discount on gasoline, which would put it on a par with the very cheapest gasolines. I have to look into that. Carbon deposits can be bad news, especially in a turbocharged engine.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

I might be cheaper to buy the cheapest fuel and use a liquid to clean valves, injectors, etc. .

Before using the "ultra fuel treatment", I used a cleaner only for the injectors and the result was marginal improvement.

Using a bottle of cleaner every 2-4 years shouldn't do too much harm?

Here in Canada, a litre of premium is about 10 cents more than the cheapest fuel. Since there are 4.5 litres in a (Canadian) gallon, that's 45 cents more per gallon. 45 cents out of $4.50 means about

10% more for premium fuel. If you spend $3,000/year on gas, you pay $300 more. It might be better to simply pay someone to open the engine and have him properly cleans the valves, injectors, etc. .

My $0.02.

Reply to
NoOne

Or not - here in Flagstaff the price difference between Chevron or Shell and the very cheapest gas is less than 15 cents per gallon, amounting to only a three dollar difference on a twenty gallon tank. More often the margin is closer to 7 or 8 cents (sometimes they are the same), which would cut the difference to about a dollar and a half, about the price of the cheapest additive. In

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it says, "Deposit control additives such as polybutene amine (PBA) were introduced in 1970 to help keep injectors and intake valves clean. The only drawback with PBA is that too much of it can increase combustion chamber deposits. Polyether amine (PEA), by comparison, cleans fuel injectors and valves, and does not increase combustion chamber deposits. In fact, it helps remove accumulated deposits inside the combustion chamber..." It is crucial to know just what is in the additive, and the cheap ones are typically just petroleum distillates. Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

In the old days higher detergency was related to fuel grade, but the Top Tier designation does not allow for that. The Top Tier designation is not related to fuel grade; all grades at all outlets of a top tier brand must meet the standards for detergency for the brand to be certified "top tier." If the car is spec'd to use regular, use regular at a top tier station.

It really isn't an option to plan to have the deposits removed by a mechanic; the procedure is essentially the same as replacement of the head gasket(s). Removing the deposits manually is the expensive emergency surgery the improved gasoline is supposed to avoid.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

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