Gas Engine Injector Cleaners

[DocHeb]

Do any of them work? It seems hard to believe that 12 oz of any fluid poured into 10 gallons of gasoline would somehow dissolve something that wouldn't dissolve in straight gasoline to begin with. My 2001 Silverado 2500HD is developing some misses at idle and a friend suggested "injector cleaner". There is a spectrum of $3 to $29 dollar products, all claiming to "clean out the gunk". Sounds like snake oil to me.

 

[ray66v]

I personally have seen 2 pint cans of Sea Foam, (Motor Treatment - Sea Foam), added to the fuel, restore normal operation in an engine with severely stuck, and, or dirty, injectors, on two occasions. So, I know what it can do.

I try to put a pint in my tank about every 10k miles, and have never had any injector issues in 170k miles. Of course, there is no way to know if I would have had any trouble without it. My brother had the same model van, and he did have some injector problems, before he started using Sea Foam.

Your results may vary.

 

[okie350]

I personally have seen 2 pint cans of Sea Foam, (Motor Treatment - Sea Foam), added to the fuel, restore normal operation in an engine with severely stuck, and, or dirty, injectors, on two occasions. So, I know what it can do.

I try to put a pint in my tank about every 10k miles, and have never had any injector issues in 170k miles. Of course, there is no way to know if I would have had any trouble without it. My brother had the same model van, and he did have some injector problems, before he started using Sea Foam.

Your results may vary.

What He ^^^^ said

 

[billbill1]

My Dad said that ATF in the fuel would keep injectors clean, I add a quart every couple months in all of the fuel injected engines that I own. Never had an injector issue. Just pour into the gas tank. Cheap enough but your mileage may vary.

 

[Bird]

I periodically dump in a bottle of Gumout fuel system cleaner, but of course, I don't really know whether it does a lot of good or not. But at least I've never had an injector problems so far.

 

[automech]

billbill that atf trick was used by diesel truckers, not gas motors.

 

[coobie]

Ditto on the seafoam,great product IMHO.coobie

 

[Z RENCH]

I can vouch for sea foam injector cleaner. It really does work! Also if you can still find it, TL-3 worked very good also. Autozone used to carry it but not anymore. I have a weed whacker that would'nt idle, put some Lucas in it and bingo, no more idling trouble. Most injector cleaners do have some cleaning ability in them, the trick is that once you have a problem, use it very strong. 8 ounces per 25 gal. of fuel is not going to unplug a clogged injector.However 16 ounces per 1 gal. probably will. Have done it several times(being in the business) and never hurt anything yet. Trans oil is for diesel injectors. Trans oil also makes a very good penetrating oil.

 

[DocHeb]

Thanks all, I'll give the SeaFoam a try.

 

[AMP762]

Back a while ago when I worked in GM shops they did not recommand any additives as they could harm injectors.You may want to read the owners man.

 

[DocHeb]

Back a while ago when I worked in GM shops they did not recommand any additives as they could harm injectors.You may want to read the owners man.

Do you have any insight into what my local dealer is doing for their "$189 Fuel System Tuneup", which includes "replacing the fuel filter, clean fuel injection, throttle, body & de-carbon combustion chamber (sic)"?

 

[valley]

I use Marvel oil both in my tractor [diesel] and my chevy van [gas].

 

[WH401]

My Dad said that ATF in the fuel would keep injectors clean, I add a quart every couple months in all of the fuel injected engines that I own. Never had an injector issue. Just pour into the gas tank. Cheap enough but your mileage may vary.

Pass on the ATF, that's the last thing you want to run through your injectors. ATF contains friction modifiers that are beneficial to an automatic transmission, but detrimental to injectors or fuel system components. ATF will actually increase the wear in ways that are worse than just running plain, untreated fuel.

As far as gas treatments, if I was looking for a regular injector cleaner I would go with sea-foam.