Fuel Injection

[EKS PYB]

i'm no mechanical expert so i thought i'd ask if buying those fuel injector cleaners and putting it in after a full tank of gas helps clean out the nozzle for a more even spray?

or is that just a bunch of baloney that someone came up with and it really doesn't work and might even be more problem causing to the X5 than problem solving?

please all X5 experts advice!

[China Man]

Supposedly some of them actually do their jobs, but I don't know which brands are better than others ... I just resort to heavy pedal foot driving every once in a while to clean out the "yucky", if there is any, clogging the fuel injectors

[EKS PYB]

so heavy pedal foot driving solves the problem then i will give that a shot...

[JCL]

I don't see why driving with a heavy foot would help clean out injectors. If they got clogged by gasoline going through them, how would more gasoline help? What driving at high revs and elevating engine temperature does is burn out the carbon in the combustion chamber. That can improve driveability, but only if you had driven short trips, never letting the engine get to temperature, for some period of time

Yes, cleaners can improve the spray pattern of an injector, but only if it is partly clogged. If it is clean they do nothing at all. Do you have reason to believe your injectors are clogged? Good fuel contains sufficient detergents and cleansers that additional cleaners are not required. The only reason a cleanser may be required is if you have had to use poor quality fuel for a period of time, or the vehicle was stored for an extended period of time. In that case, look for Tecron, it is one of the better cleaners. It is the same additive that the distributors put in their gasoline. It is a Chevron product, but many brands of gas have it.

Cleansers can also cause damage as often as they help, because they loosen up particles that were in the system but which weren't causing any harm. Those particles get flushed down to the injectors and that is where they can cause problems. It is far better to keep it clean that to clean it periodically, for this reason.

Finally, additives are not benign. Fixing one problem can affect another area of the engine. One example is using anything that washes down the cylinder wall, causing more ring wear. Another example is putting additives in a transmission, affecting the friction characteristics and thereby damaging the clutch packs in an automatic transmission. Some additives cause swelling and leaking of seals if they are not compatible.

Best advice is to stay clear of additives for fuel and lubricants. Coolant is a different issue, the additives get depleted and are important to long cooling system life. The only additive I would put in a fuel system is a stabilizer if the vehicle was stored for a long time, or a cleanser if the injectors were suspect (based on more of a diagnosis than 'just because', and only if there is a reason why injector clogging would be suspected).

Jeff