fuel injector cleaners - do they work?
 

and are they a good idea?

I use them on my car just to be on the safe side, but i've heard they dont' do jack for ya. When i use it i don't really notice a difference though.

I'm using Redline Total Something or Other until it runs out. Started when I bought the car. I haven't noticed a difference, but I didn't expect to. Once the bottle is gone (4-8oz per fillup) I will stop for a while.

The best thing to do is to send your injectors to RC engineering. I think they charge 120 shipped to have 4 injectors balanced and cleaned. This is a must for high mileage injectors. Something i'll invest in soon enough.
You can also ask them to bore it out a bit too.

Danny

I use STP Concentrated fuel injector cleaner.
The one in the BLack bottle.

Been using it for a while now. Ever since
I had emails with " Steve" from the web
site " Lightening in the world of Thunder"
I asked if he used it and he said yes. He did,
so i figure good for him is good for me..

not sure how beneficial it is or not. Its more for
a piece of mind i guess.

Other factor people seem to over look. I believe is
the GAS one puts in their cars..

MY FD3S only ever gets Amoco ultimate, and only has
for last several years. People say gas is gas and is all
the same. But I beg to differ. Amoco ulitmate is Clear,
no coloring, and in my opinion burns better, leaving less
residue and etc. I am not touting Amoco gas, my FD3S
was on the Ultimate even way before we owned an Amoco. Toput in to analogy. its like a person. Drinking Soda compared to Water.. Whos gonna be healthier
down the road??

BTW: i am going on 130K miles on original motor..

That's great to hear about Amoco. When I was having problems with '88TII,which I purchased new, Mazda Tech Center NE told me one gas not to use....Amoco. At that time I had about 2,500 miles on the car.
If it's like anything else Mazda told me....They are full of it!!!!!!
By the way, they ended up buying my '88 back and then I got my '89 in April '89.

I don't intend to start a fuel war on this thread, but clear fuel is just an advertisement or incentive for you to choose their fuel. I wouldn't consider it a better fuel. I run methanol in my race engines, which is clear, has no odor, and you can't see the flames when its on fire, but leaves NASTY white residue in the engine. We actually run a mixture of gas and oil to clean it out!

Is methanol residue comparable to what clear gasoline will do? No, but I'll stick with whatever gas station is nearby, and send my fuel injectors to RC;) .

gas is gas...
as long as it is fresh, Amaco 93 octane is the same as Holiday 93 etc
they all get their gas from the exact same refinaries. your best bet is to fill up at a place that does a loot of fleet traffic. they often have the best prices and they go through gas faster then most, ensuring fresh gas. they are also inspected more diligently for octane consitance because they cater to fleet type customers.

I just started using protek-R in my FD. I'd like to use fuel injector cleanor somewhere down the line. Do you think it would be wise to use protek-R and injector cleanor at the sametime. Or should I wait till my next gas fill up and do one, then next fill up do the other? Thanks.

OK OK

By no means am I an chemical engineer, But there are
some things I would like to say.

Gas is NOT just gas..
Thats like saying a "diamond is a diamond" " car is a car"
You wouldn't compare a Hyundai to a Mercedes, would you? OF course not. To make a blanket statment like that is not only wrong but also naive.

Generic stations like Xtra, Sheetz, Wawa, Citco and even
self named brand like " billy bob gas". Maybe the same
gas. Because they buy their fuel by PRICE.. They don't
care where its from, how it was made and etc. Their
driving motivation to buy gas to sell customer is totally
Price driven.

The generic stations buy gas off the RACKS that no
MAJOR players aka exxon/amoco/shell/sunoco and etc
Won't use. Bascially left over, bottom of the barrell.
which is sold to the " rack" cheap, which generic stations
buy from.

Why won't the Major companies use it? because it doesn't meet their quality requirements.

The statement that gas is gas and its the same thing is
Slightly true.. ITS a fossil FUEL.. DIno juice, OIL that
has been pumped up and refined into gasoline. Other
than that it isn't.

OIL companies, drill, and then refine oil in to gasoline.
Some of the gas is good and some aren't. The Gas that
isn't GOOD, is rejected and sold as rack to Generic stations. Once the gasoline passes inspection Then its
reformulated with additives and etc to make it different
gas than from Exxon to amoco.

Comparing Methanal gas to regular pump gas isn't a fair
comparison.. Methanal is made of corn, with differnt burning qualities. Zach -Hence the white stuff in your motor.

Some gasolines burn cleaner, better for enviornment,
leaves less residue and etc..

If you want. Take a clear container and get gas from
the Major companies.. and take a look.
Amoco gas is CLEAR others are brownish/gold color.
So you wonder whats the differnce. Amoco went outtheir way to make a clean, cleaner burning fuel,
which is not only better for the enviornment but better
for your engine and fuel system.. The colored gas you put in. say from exxon or shell. Once the gas is burnt,
where is the color stuff gone?? Hmm Carbon deposits
in the engine?? clogging injectors and fuel filters???

Don't get me wrong. a tank of gas isn't gonna make or
break your engine.. But that tank of gas for 10 years.
will no doubt make a difference..

And when gas is delivered by tanker, Driver supplies
a Billof Laden from the refinery where the gas is from.
Amoco only get amoco gas, exxon only exxon and so forth. As for generics, who knows..

And not sure about other major gas corps. But Amoco
Send out their own testers to test their gas every 2 months to test octane, inspect tanks for water vapors
and etc.. ON TOP of the quarterly inspections from the
State comptrollers. and thats ON top of the inspections
and test done by our Fleet.. So the gas is check, double
checked and tripple checked..

So if you go buy gas at Wawa, Sheetz, Xtra..
When that day comes, when you get a tank full
of bad gas, car runs like SHIT or even pop a motor.
remember at least you of saved yourself 2-5 cent
a gallon..

Well, to clear this up. Amaco is the only gas company that controls their gas from refinery to loading on a tanker truck. This doesn't necessarily mean its better but I would expect tighter quality control.

I found this out when working at a gas pumping terminal outside of Baton Rouge, LA earlier this year. They receive gas from four area refineries including Texaco, Exxon and Shell plus another big name. There are two grades (89 and 93 are mixed to get 89) of gas that all get mixed in the same tanks and pumped up to the east coast to the Virgina area. 3 pipelines from this terminal supply the Southeast (the Southeast actually has two main terminals that distribute gas, most areas of the country have one). The gas turn over is never more than 45 days because the refineries have to mix different blends for different states. The incoming and outgoing gas is tested along the pipeline and before being loaded onto tanker trucks. When gas is loaded onto the tanker, additives are added for whichever brand of gas it is (techron for Cheveron gas, etc).

Jack

I don't own nor work at a gas station: all my info came from chemical engineers & car tuners
Amaco might be the difference, but I could swear I have seen Amaco tankers at the Coke refinary outside of minneapolis....

Ive had extremely good luck with the "Justice Brothers" injector cleaner solution, much better than "seafoam"

also I dont think its at all necessary or recommended to run injector cleaner all the time i would run it once ot twice then chill on it for a while and if you dont think it helped pull them and clean them by hand, or have them sent to RC engineering for balancing and cleaning even porting maybe...

i agree with twintriangles. mess with the gas lines after you've put a bottle in the tank and you'll find out why it works. and thats diluted also. it doubles as nair too.