Fuel injector cleaners-Question.

[Yellow96]

What is the best product to use in the gas tank to clean the fuel injectors? How often should you use the additives?
Thanks-----John

 

[JRMaroon]

I've been using Techron (Made By Chevron) fuel system cleaner in all of my vehicles for about 5 years. This is advertised as a total fuel system cleaner (valves, combustion chambers, injectors).

The recomended interval is 3000 miles.

 

[Vettelt193]

Techron!! You can buy it at wal mart, or full service Chevron stations. For the Vette, I fill it up with Chevron premium with 2 bottles of techron (each bottle treats up to 12 gallons, most C4's have a 20 gallon tank) Be warned though, if your fuel system is dirty, you will have to change the oil after running it through... (the oil will get black if you have a dirty fuel system)

 

[Eric]

I've also been using the Chevron Techron products for as long as I can recall. When I took a car with 85k on it in for some work, the shop said FI innards were squeky clean. Granted, this wasn't a Vette, but I use that stuff on all three of my FI cars.

 

[B17Crew]

Hello everyone, Yellow96’s post got me thinking back to an in depth article on C4 maintenance. It was written by Chris Petris of Corvette Clinic, Inc., in Sanford, Florida.

The article is titled, “Treat it Right, 84-’96 maintenance”-it’s from the December ‘98 issue of Corvette Fever, pages 68-75. Bear with me, I’m going to quote two of the paragraphs from the section regarding fuel injector cleaning:

“I recommend annual injector cleaning on all the ‘85-’88 cars. These cars use either Bosch or Lucus injectors. The injectors sit deeper in the intake manifold than ‘89-and-up injectors, so they build up deposits more frequently. You can purchase 3M injector cleaner that is for one-time usage. Remove the fuel pump fuse and fuel cap. Follow the instructions on the hose and hook it to the can. Install the injector cleaner on the fuel rail on the right side below the vacuum fittings at the pressure test port. Follow the instructions on the can to use.

Multec injectors were present on all ‘89-’96 Corvettes. These are self cleaning disc injectors. The injector windings are cooled with fuel, so harsh injector cleaner will damage the windings and short out the injector.”

Sure enough, I called the local Chevy dealer and asked them about injector cleaning and they said, basically what Chris Petris said, ‘89-96 Corvettes should not have the injectors cleaned or damage is a possibility. I noticed some of you have listed that you have LT1s/LT4s, I justed wanted to share some info I came across.

B17Crew

 

[RUDYBKK]

I have been driving vettes since my first,
78 silver and black Once Chevron Tectron
can along I started using in from 92 on
and performance has been great. Be sure
you get the entire fuel system flavor
not just the injector cleaner. Comes in
a black bottle can get it at WalMart
PEPBOYS, just about any auto suuply
chain. Second choice, GB TOP ENGINE
and Fuel system cleaner kinda pricy
but very good Each can has a token in
it redeemable for .50 it is a black and
yellow continer. Problem hard to find
in retail sector however dealer have it.

 

[Yellow96]

Thanks for the reply-this was very educational.
When in doubt--just ask
What a great site! Thanks, John

 

[B17Crew]

That’s one of the nice things about this site, you get a host of good help from people that are as passionate about their Corvettes as you are.

B17Crew

 

[vettl83]

I like the Redline fuel injector cleaner, due to the fact that it is detergent based rather than solvent. I believe it is the solvent based cleaners that do the damage to the later model C4 injectors and when you have sixteen injctors on one vehicle, you gotta take care of em. 84 CF 91 ZR-1

 

[RUDYBKK]

Redline good products I always run the
water wetter my hi speed eng temp using it
stays between 194-197 even at 85-90mph
Only trouble is finding it used to order
it direct from RL in Pacheco Calif (near SF)
thanks for your eval on the product Will
give it a try next time I order from RL.

 

[Rich 94 6spd]

B17crew i'm with you.
"Multec injectors were present on all ‘89-’96 Corvettes. These are self cleaning disc injectors. The injector windings are cooled with fuel, so harsh injector cleaner will damage the windings and short out the injector."

I won't clean mine because of the possibility of causing damage to the injector windings.
Rich

 

[BlackNBlue95]

B17crew i'm with you.
"Multec injectors were present on all ‘89-’96 Corvettes. These are self cleaning disc injectors. The injector windings are cooled with fuel, so harsh injector cleaner will damage the windings and short out the injector."

I won't clean mine because of the possibility of causing damage to the injector windings.
Rich

I dunno, I havn't had a problem with m injectors yet knock on wood.. and I've used a professional detergent available from Snap-On tools.. my shop has a motorvac machine and I've used it twice since owning my car.. no problems yet.. but this is of cousre a little different then putting an additive in the tank but only in the sens that is has it's own fuel tank.. you also use their de-carbonizer to clean the intake manifold.. it works very well.. but this is stuff most of you probably don't have access to we charge somewhere around 140$ for the service which envolves cycleing the fuel rail whith the car off for 20 minutes and running the engine off the motovac for almost an hour as well as cleaning the throttle body and intake..

The only 2 things I can reccomend to put in the tank are BG's 44K decarbonizer and Sea Foam I know sea foam can be bought off the shelf at most parts stores, the BG 44K may be harder to get ahold of..

 

[RUDYBKK]

Please tell me more about this "sea foam"
what it do and why you "lik'ie it " rudy

 

[Eagle85C4]

I tried the Sea Foam, it did not work very well....then I tried the Lucas Brand Injector cleaner and I was very surprised at the performance I picked up after using it. Made a big difference...

 

[Edmond]

I tried the Sea Foam, it did not work very well....then I tried the Lucas Brand Injector cleaner and I was very surprised at the performance I picked up after using it. Made a big difference...

I went with advice of Eagle and used the Lucas. I did pick up better gas mileage but I didn't get a chance to romp it on the expressway to really turn the engine at a higher RPM and burn off some of that nasty stuff that built up.

 

[wx briefer]

B17Crew is right on! Just to pass along my own experience, I have used 'Berrymans 12' additive about 3 or 4 times and techron maybe twice in the 65k miles on my LT4. Last week I checked the resistance of the injectors and found them to be from 12.1 to 12.5 with most in the 12.2-12.3 range. I generally try to keep the tank topped off, especially with an approaching cold front, as most of us aviators do in order to keep water out of the fuel from condensation. I also raise the hood after pulling into the garage when not in a hurry to let the heat dissipate quicker to avoid baking deposits on the injectors.