BMW Fuel System Cleaner is Techron
 

From what I can tell most of you on this board already know that BMW fuel cleaner is really Techron from Chevron. It just so happens that I recently had a bottle of each and did a compare. Both of these are the 20oz bottles. Check out the pictures. The bottles are identical with both including the Chevron brand name on the bottom. In the 2nd picture the one on the left is the BMW bottle.

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Nice catch, but why would you ever pour that into your gas tank??? :confused:

you never done that? I do that every 6,000 miles. Why? run search and you will find out. :)

You are much better off using good fuel, with sufficient additives, but as that is not always possible there are additives available to correct problems associated with the build-up of deposits. BMW recommends not using additives, but they acknowledge the need in some cases. I just wouldn't ever use them as a preventative measure, given the other problems they can cause.

Every 6,000 miles is a bit of an overkill. As JCL have pointed out, it's much better to consistently use quality top tier fuel, which should already contain such additives. With that said, I still do use the Techron additive on all my rides, but only every 20K miles or so and I made sure that burned all of it off within a day or two.

Us Porsche guys swear by Techron. The usage is Alway use Chevron gas.
then on the gas tank before an oil change put in a whole bottle of Techron.
THe techron will get by the rings and get in your oil. Burn all the gas
change oil.
Really works well.

BMW's latest TSB specifies to use a bottle of gas additive every 3,000 miles and to only use Top Tier Gasoline, which includes Chevron, Shell and 76 among some others. Go to www.toptiergas.com for more info.

By the way, BMW sells a bottle of this stuff for $12.50 retail and 10% off with BMW CCA discount. Pep Boys carries the Chevron version for $13.99 !

thats what they say...overkill, i use premium fuel only and add that every 6K miles. Call it coincidence, but perhaps, thats the reason why i never had any problems with my E46 and my X5 on engines, anything related to fuel beyond 100K miles? I may be good or not in taking care of my BMWs but hey, lasting this long with that kind of practice encourages me more to continue doing it that way. :thumbup:

DKL, well, if you think im doing overkill, what do you call this then?

we used only chevron or unocal.

intake valves were deposit free after 100k miles on the x5 4.4.

I used to put redline fuel system cleaner every 30k or so but not anymore.