STP? etc? Any good? Or just crap?
Fuel injectors?
Aug 13, 2007
8 Replies
Use a product that contains the chemical ingredient "toluene". It's a very effective fuel system cleaning agent. Try a product called Berryman's B-12. It has a high percentage of toluene in it and I've had good results. It is available at most mass merchandisers and is available in both 16 oz. liquid, and aerosol. Reasonably priced too.
Fuel injector cleaners? If that is what you are asking about, I'd recommend one of the Chevron products over STP. See
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. I've had good luck with the Fuel Injector Plus Intake Valve Cleaner. In the past some other suppliers (BG for one) also had Techron in their products, but the last time I looked at the MSDS for BG-44K, it no longer listed Techron as a component. There is nothing special about the STP product and although it might not be "crap" I don't think it offers anything you are not already getting in the cheapest level of unleaded gas you can buy in the US. I would also warn against the too frequent use of any of these fuel system cleaners. Ed
Toluene? That's also in Marvel Mystery Oil...
It's a really good cleaner. We buy it by the 5 gal. pail (about fifty bucks). It will melt varnish off. You can place fuel components (really anything that is gunked up) into the bucket and in a short time remove them and blow with compressed air, spotless. It's used alot in gasoline to boost the octane.
Ed White's post is right on the money. There are those who say that adding fuel injector cleaner once a month or when they do oil changes has kept them from having fuel injector problems, but I have never added fuel injector cleaner to any of my vehicles and have never had a fuel injector problem. Routine use of fuel injector cleaner or not using it quickly enough can eat hoses and cause problems, which is why I do not recommend routine use.
If you do need to add fuel injector cleaner, try Chevron Techron or BG products (only available through some dealers and shops) or use the stuff Toyota dealers sell over the parts counter.
I can safely tell anyone here from experience that overusing fuel injector cleaners is a BAD IDEA. I have a 2002 Corolla and was driving from Medford, OR to Fresno, CA about once a month. I figured surely that injector cleaner couldn't hurt anything, right? Wrong...
Due to dealer not being able to figure it out... they replaced an Idle Air Control Valve (didn't appear to idle right due to misfiring..), replaced a catalytic convertor (yep, it did get contaminated...), and about 4 other mechanics couldn't figure it out was an injector. Low and behold, the dealer eventually took out the injectors and gave them to Oregon Fuel Injection... diagnosis? A cracked/dirty injector. Replaced that injector and the car ran GREAT! No problems since. I've heard fuel injector problems are very very hard to diagnose... that true RayO?
Either way, I just use middle grade octane and always fill up at Chevron or Shell. No cheap gas here. I've had *no* problems with this philosophy and I am sticking to it.
Fuel injector problems are not very hard to diagnose if you have the right equipment and know what you are doing.
I think you all may find it interesting to look up various MSDS (material safety data sheet) for the various fuel injector cleaners. You will find that it is all paint thinner/xylene/kerosene/acetone etc.
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That's the MSDS for STP super concentrated. You can look up each CAS # to find out what it really is CAS #'s
8008-20-6 (kerosene)
64742-81-0 (HYDRODESULFURIZED KEROSENE)
64742-95-6 (Light aromatic naphtha)
91-20-3 (NAPTHALENE)
I was down at Ace Hardware today and it seems they sell all of this, though I'm no chemist so not sure if it is the EXACT stuff but I'd imagine so. They had some Naphtha there, kerosene, but didn't see nathalene.
techron's MSDS
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COMPONENTS CAS NUMBER AMOUNT Distillates, hydrotreated light 64742-47-8 < 50 %weight stoddard solvent 8052-41-3 < 35 %weight Solvent naphtha, light aromatic 64742-95-6 5 - 10 %weight Benzene,
1,2,4-trimethyl- 95-63-6 1 - 5 %weight Xylene 1330-20-7 0.1 - 0.5 %weight
50%ish of techron is Napthol spirits
35%ish of techron is stoddard solvent aka mineral spirits 5-10% is Naphtha 1-5% is benzene .1-.5% is xyleneSupposedly from what I've discovered on the internet you can interchange benzene and xylene. I think benzene is a very well known carcinogen. So they may not even use it anymore.
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There Prestone's stuff (80-90% of it is stoddard solvent (mineral spirits))
1-5% is xylene
Refined Petroleum
8052-41-3 80-90 500 ppm TWA OSHA PEL Distillate 100 ppm TWA ACGIH TLVXylene
1330-20-7 1-5 100 ppm TWA OSHA PEL 100 ppm TWA ACGIH TLV 150 ppm STEL ACGIH TLV1,2,4 TrimEthylbenzene 95-63-6 1-5 None Established OSHA PEL
25 ppm TWA ACGIH TLVEthylbenzene 100-41-4 1-5 100 ppm TWA OSHA PEL
100 ppm TWA ACGIH TLV 125 ppm STEL ACGIH TLVProprietary Additive Mixture 5-15 None Established
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