I have a 2006 Forester with 10,000 miles. The dealer said they recommend fuel injection cleaning once a year or every 15,000 miles-- and with the coupon they sent me, it's only $99! I told them I can't believe a car with only 10K miles would need the fuel injector cleaned.
Is this really something that needs to be done periodically? My husband has a '99 Legacy and has never had the fuel injector cleaned. My last car was a Honda Civic and I don't remember ever having this done either. Certainly not for a hundred dollars.
It's a TOTAL rip-off! Unless you always buy crappy fuel, you should not need any fuel additives.The system has good filtering on ALL cars.This is a scare tactic they use to get you in, screw you and try to sell you other shit you don't need.You cant prove they did/didn't do anything for that $99 as no parts are involved. If it runs fine, DON'T FIX IT! I currently own two fuel injected vehicles and have for many years. I NEVER add any of that crap to the fuel tank.I always try to buy from Mobil or Union-76. If you want to see what gasoline when it sits try this. Take the fuel you want to 'test" place a shotglass of it outside where it can evaporate.You will find that most brands of gasoline will evaporate and leave NOTHING behind.When we tested *SHELL* gas this way, it left behind a brown goo...looked like Carmel.Find a local vendor and stay with them.Ask when they refill their tanks and STAY AWAY for that day when they fill.This stirs up a lot of shit in their tanks.NEVER buy gas when they are refilling the station!!!If you don't believe this,ask any firestation. They will tell you they don't fill the equipment for ONE DAY after they fill the holding tanks. Follow these simple ideas and you will find you don't need "fuel system cleaning", your fuel filter will last longer and you wont get tainted fuel.
*REMEMBER* The "Dealer" is NOT YOUR FRIEND! never was, never will be. You are a mealticket PERIOD.
If you want to clean your injectors just buy a can of Sea Foam. I use it a couple of times a year and based on keeping track of gas miliage it helps. I helped the most when I ran it down the PVC hose into the engin. But, this is for a Camry with 220k miles.
Oh I bet they do... they have that machine to pay for.
For whatever it's worth, I took a lot of guff for spending $160 on fuel injector service at 100k. I had no fuel delivery related issues whatsoever on my vehicle previously. So I'd say it's safe to disregard the dealer's upsell. You won't find injector cleaning anywhere on your service schedule either, I dont' think. Just the throttle body, IIRC.
Interesting you mention this because I also spent $160 last week on cleaning out the throttle body and fuel injection system, but on my Audi: I think this was worth doing because the car was showing that tan substance at the top of the oil dipstick reading area, plus it has
106k miles. I had no issues either, but that substance isn't something that belongs on the oil dipstick.
Okay, thanks. Sounds like something I might think about at 100K miles but certainly not at 10K. I generally don't take my cars to the dealer for an oil change but thought I'd do it this time for the first year. I'm a little hesitant to go back to Jiffy Lube now although they were fine for the 130,000 miles I kept my Honda Civic. At least with them I knew to pay no attention to the upsell attempts.
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