Oil and Fuel additives: safe for X5?

[sam48is]

I searched but found no answer. Is it safe to add the various oil and fuel additives/treatments to my 4.8is - you know, the off the shelf variety at the hardware store... I'm tempted to add the fuel system cleaner to clean the spark plugs...

[RichiRich]

Originally Posted by sam48is

I searched but found no answer. Is it safe to add the various oil and fuel additives/treatments to my 4.8is - you know, the off the shelf variety at the hardware store... I'm tempted to add the fuel system cleaner to clean the spark plugs...

I'm doing an oil change in an hour!!

I will be adding....as always Lucas Oil Treatment...you can use regular as it is ok to mix with synthetics..but now they have a synthetic treatment....and then I always do a lucas fuel treatment.....

Great stuff....

Rich

[FSETH]

You are probably going to get a lot of different opinions and no difinitive answer on this one. IMO, most people feel it is safe to use fuel additives like Techron, Red Line and so on, but it is probably better to use a good quality gas with detergents on a daily basis to prevent any buildup in the first place. There are probably only one or two oil additives I would personally ever use for cleaning the engine. Liqui-Moly's Motor Clean and what ever BG's similar product is. Although if you change your oil ever 7,500 miles or so, I am not sure why you would really need the oil additives.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by FSETH

You are probably going to get a lot of different opinions and no difinitive answer on this one. IMO, most people feel it is safe to use fuel additives like Techron, Red Line and so on, but it is probably better to use a good quality gas with detergents on a daily basis to prevent any buildup in the first place. There are probably only one or two oil additives I would personally ever use for cleaning the engine. Liqui-Moly's Motor Clean and what ever BG's similar product is. Although if you change your oil ever 7,500 miles or so, I am not sure why you would really need the oil additives.

on the lots of different opinions here. Firstly, fuel additives and oil additives can't be lumped together. If you use good fuel, you shouldn't need fuel additives. If you do need to clean out the fuel system, I would use Techron according top the package directions, ie don't use too much. There aren't too many other fuel additives I would put in my vehicle, really only fuel stabilizers for long term storage.

Oil additives are different. First, BMW specifically advises not to use them. If you are out of warranty and want to take the chance, it is your call. Most oil additives do not have any substantiated claims or independent tests, rather they rely on word of mouth, anecdotal evidence, and internet sales. There are a lot of snake oil sales organizations out there. They used to use more direct selling like Amway, with customers getting paid referrals, but now the internet has taken over that sales channel somewhat. Consider what type of additive you want to put in. Is it a detergent package, or is it a thickener designed to change the viscosity of the oil? I use the latest API spec (API SM at the moment) and there is no need for additional additives in my opinion. If you are using a cheap oil, additives are designed to improve it. If you are using a good oil, it would be better to purchase a higher quality oil than to blend it yourself with a cheap oil and an additive. If you are using a top name brand synthetic, Mobil 1 or Castrol, something like Lucas treatment is more likely to reduce the oil quality than improve it, as you are diluting the oil properties from what they were designed to be.

[dkl]

Read this thread => http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...hlight=techron

[sam48is]

What about things like fuel injector cleaners and fuel system cleaners like this one and this one ...??

I bought the car used at 40k miles and don't know if the previous owner used premium fuel or not....that's why I'm considering these as a clean up, but I don't want to hurt the car.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by sam48is

What about things like fuel injector cleaners and fuel system cleaners like this one and this one ...??

I bought the car used at 40k miles and don't know if the previous owner used premium fuel or not....that's why I'm considering these as a clean up, but I don't want to hurt the car.

I wouldn't use either of those, without knowing what they include as detergents. The STP site says that they are based on kerosene, which is a lighter fuel oil than diesel. I wouldn't put kerosene in my vehicle. If you can find a fuel injector cleaner that lists Techron as the cleaner, I would be more likely to use that.

mgruber: He is not likely to be able to use Top Tier fuels as he is in the UAE, and Top Tier is a North American fuel marketing program.

[X5 Meister]

Why not just stick with what BMW recommends since they've done a test or two on their own engines. Use toptiergas. BMW gas additive (techron) every 3,000 miles if you can't use toptiergas, or just want added cleaning. And oil changes every 15,000 miles max with one of the 5 BMW recommended oils for your car.

[sudolg]

No additives needed.

[sudolg]

The fuel injector cleaners which you pour into the tank won't do anything. To do it right, run it on OTC Inject-R Kleen.