My mechanic is running a special on fuel-injector service and recommended it for my two cars, a 97 Camry and a 92 Camry. This guy has a tendency to encourage additional procedures every time I get an oil change, which I don't have the expertise to know if they are valid or not. Is fuel injector service something I need to get done? He says it will pay for itself in gas savings. The special is 60 bucks, by the way, and the cars seem to running OK right now.
Is preventative fuel injector service a rip-off?
I'd say don't do it at all. We used to do these after watching the other shops do them on a regular basis. We are convinced that is no benefit to this. Reason we say this is the way this works. They basically unhook your fuel system from the engine and run it off a special solvent for about 10 minutes or so to flush out the injectors. This solvent is very strong, but is simply a stronger version of the stuff you can buy yourself in the cans and pour in your fuel tank. Also if you pour it in your fuel tank it will get exposed to the %26quot;inside%26quot; of the injectors much longer period of time. Injectors are basically like a spray garden hose nossle. Only thing you can do to them without removing them or replacing them is to clean them internally in one of the two above manners. Nothing you can pour in will clean the outside surface of the injector that is in the areas near the intake valve and exposed to the heat and such from the engine. I have never seen a vehicle come into our shop with %26quot;dirty%26quot; injectors that could come close to being fixed by this method. If you buy a good can of injector cleaner such as Berryman's or similar product from the parts store and every now and then put it in your tank you will reduce your chance of problems. Reason shops push this so much is that it is a big money maker. We used to spend 10 bucks on the can of flush and got 60 bucks or so to do it. Took about 15-20 minutes depending on how hard it was to hook up the injector connections. If you have seen those CLR commercials for the Calcium Lime Rust remover where they clean a shower head with the stuff you can get a good idea of what often happens with injectors. If you are building up deposits they are on the %26quot;inside'%26quot; and the outside and the outside can't be cleaned by either method using solvents. Dirt in the fuel system usually stops up the screens at the top of each injector and that has to be removed by hand through injector removal or replacement as well. Save your bucks and buy a couple of cans of injector cleaner and do this yourself. One final thought on this. Both these cleaning methods are %26quot;supposedly%26quot; approved for catalytic converters but the %26quot;quick flush at the shop%26quot; method uses the much stronger solvent that could possibly overheat the catalytic converter, or possibly interfer with deposits there as well. Before I would have this done I would talk to somebody that has had %26quot;results%26quot; from this and not just %26quot;prevention%26quot;. :-)
Is preventative fuel injector service a rip-off?
no you dont need to do it. It is a good idea to put fuel injector cleaner in your gas tank every so often.
yes and no. Your mechanic is trying to up sell a service which is quick and easy if you have the right tools (most people don't) your mechanic is correct in saying that it does pay for itself if you are driving long periods at a time. little to none if your driving around town. what happens is carbon and other deposits get clogged up in your injectors which make it harder to get fuel into your engine, and can cause your engine to run rough or sloppy at idol. you shouldn't need to get your injectors professionally clean unless they are really clogged up (you will know when they are) if you want to be safe next time your at a petrol station or auto parts store buy a bottle of injector cleaner for around $8 and add it next time you fill up with petrol this will keep your injectors in good condition and also your whole fuel system
If your car is otherwise running fine and it has relatively low mileage you are probably being ripped off. A good over the counter fuel injector cleaner added to your tank every 6000 miles will do just as good a job for less than $10. The best to use are Chevron Techron, Gumout or STP. With today's reformulated fuels and poor fuel quality in certain markets, that will go a long way in preventing you from paying big bucks to replace clogged fuel injectors. Also buying fuel from the major oil companies can help keep your fuel system running smooth. They usually have better quality control and more detergents in their products. Don't waste money buying premium fuel if your car doesn't require it either.
It's well worth it if the shop is servicing it the right way. Your fuel system builds up deposits from gas sitting in lines overtime. You can use the fuel injector cleaner that you put in your gas tank, but then your talking about a cleaner that is deluded by the gas. This service that they are trying to sell you is a cleaner that goes directly into your fuel system and is not deluded by gas.
It's a good service to do every time to tune your car up and it will save you from having to replace fuel injectors down the road, which would probably cost you 10X what the service costs.
i clean my injectors myself. about once a year i give my car a good tune up. i take off the intake manifold and the throttle body to clean them, and that's the best time to take the injectors out and clean them also
i stand them up in a bowl of straight injector cleaner to soak, then put them back with new o-rings so they don't leak. that's less than 10$ for o-rings and a can of injector cleaner.
also clean the intake, throttle body and IAC valve before putting them back. do that once a year your car will run like a top.
I use mid grade gasoline and every other fill up i put in a can of stp. I have not had an injector problem in the 25 years that I have been driving cars.
