Service upsell?

[Daedalus]

I have opened up a '80s carb car with 125k to find the valves coked up with what I seem to recall was about 1/2" of carbon on them. Conclusion: Carbon build up is a real problem.

My first car was a FI Nissan (Q45) that I bought with 178k, and took apart at 246k. A very thin film of carbon on those valves. Conclusion: FI cars do not need their valves cleaned.

That same Nissan, I did test injector volume with a stop watch and a graduated cylinder and every single 1 of the 8 were dead on to within 1 or 2 % (my measurement error, probably). Visually, the spray patterns looked good, with even atomization on all 8. Conclusion: The benefit of injector cleaner on fuel injectors is suspect.

FWIW, I have also soaked valves in injector cleaner for a week, and did not see any difference. The carbon did not dissolve or get soft. It was still as crusty and hard to remove after soaking as it was before. Maybe the heat inside the engine makes the difference? Conclusion: I think it's all snake oil.

I suspect the smoke you see out the tailpipe when you run sea foam in an engine is just the sea foam.

 

[KEH]

Buckgnarly said "Why are you getting rid of a Tacoma with only 150K miles?" I have been asking myself the same question. A big unexpected expense after I traded which I will be out from under in 3 mote months.

I have looked at the manual. It devotes 3-4 pages to setting up the bluetooth,but not much on real maintenance. There is a maintenance book. It has a bunch of easily checked things like checking the ball joint seals if driving on dirt roads, which I don't ordinarily do. It also says to retorque the nut on the end of the Driveshaft?? which I will attend to.

I do have some experience with the cleaning descrbed. Years ago we had a 1990 Camry, bought used, wrecked, and rebuilt. Ran fine until we put a lot of miles and it started running rough. The shop did the cleaning the EFI routine for a hefty price and the car ran fine then. So I see a place for the service, just not at 36k miles.

Thanks for the help and the comments.

KEH

 

[DodgeMech]

Good to know. I did not know the rigs that mount to the fuel lines help clean the intake as well.

Bob

got me on a technicality bob...the injector cleaner can help clean the intake valves on a port injected engine...like i said, we use both, one that runs through the injectors, and one that you spray in through the t body

Honda dealership tried this **** with my wife, so she called me with the service mgr standing right there and she put him on the phone. I got him to admit they were just dumping injector cleaner into the fuel tank. At the price of $150. I told him we will be taking our car elsewhere for now on if they try this scam again. Chevron cleaners go on sale at Auto Zone all the time. Two treatments for the price of one. It made a big difference in my sons old Lexus after two treatments.

our "kit" with the three bottles runs about 55 bucks, and at least at my dealership, we actually do what we are supposed to with the three bottles...one in tank, one through injectors and one through throttle body

Buckgnarly said "Why are you getting rid of a Tacoma with only 150K miles?" I have been asking myself the same question. A big unexpected expense after I traded which I will be out from under in 3 mote months.

I have looked at the manual. It devotes 3-4 pages to setting up the bluetooth,but not much on real maintenance. There is a maintenance book. It has a bunch of easily checked things like checking the ball joint seals if driving on dirt roads, which I don't ordinarily do. It also says to retorque the nut on the end of the Driveshaft?? which I will attend to.

I do have some experience with the cleaning descrbed. Years ago we had a 1990 Camry, bought used, wrecked, and rebuilt. Ran fine until we put a lot of miles and it started running rough. The shop did the cleaning the EFI routine for a hefty price and the car ran fine then. So I see a place for the service, just not at 36k miles.

Thanks for the help and the comments.

KEH

i think part of it is to do it before driveability becomes an issue, and the cleaner will be more likely to get ALL the **** out on the first try at a lower mileage...i need to run some through my 3rz in my taco...has 230k and i'm sure it was never done by the previous owners...and i got to change the fuel filter too...but anyway

 

[Sparkyjack]

I used to think that fuel injector cleaners where snake oil.
Then I was told to use some in my Volkswagen VR6 the exhibited what I called cold morning stumbles, this started happening in the fall. A mechanic I trust told me to run two bottles of techron through it. Wife was skeptical and asked if that all you are going to do, I said yes. Problem went away for a year after the second tank with techron.
The did two more tanks with techron and the problem never came back.

Yeah I'm a believer in fuel injector cleaners dealing with valve deposits on cars with normal fuel injection.
Direct injection cars, that's a different story.

Jack