Opinion: Best Fuel Injector/Intake Cleaner [ Archive] - GasSavers.org - Helping You Save at the Pump

Hi all-

After installing the PCV catch can, I noticed how much oil is sent back into the intake, which I can imagine had gunked things up over 110,000 miles.

What is the opinion out there on the best fuel-injector and intake cleaner? Aside from taking the intake off and cleaning it professionally, what additive is on your list as "my personal favorite"?

I've used B-12 ChemTool by Berryman with some success. It seems to contain the least amount of components that would harm the fuel-system (rubber, in-tank fuel filter bag, etc.)

Thanks!

-RH77

Acetone'll clean that crap out. Other than that I don't have any good diy stuff for ya.

Should I do it right and take the throttle-body apart and squirt a bunch of acetone in the intake manifold and clean the throttle body, or just run it through the gas tank?

-RH77

Running it through the gas tank will do the trick.

Should I do it right and take the throttle-body apart and squirt a bunch of acetone in the intake manifold and clean the throttle body, or just run it through the gas tank?

-RH77

Be weary using high concentrations of acetone in your engine - especially not diluted in gasoline. If you want to see why, stick a rubber hose in some acetone and watch what happens.

I LOVE Seafoam. When I use this stuff, I put 1/3 can in the oil (a few days before an oil change), 1/3 can in the gas tank, and while the car is running, suck 1/3 can up through the brake booster vacuum line.

There are some good throttle body / intake manifold cleaners out there, but I don't know their names.

The problem with this method is that it won't clean much, if any, of the intake manifold because its coming in at the fuel injectors.

I've also had good results using Seafoam.

DaX hits this one right on.

I too do the "exact" same thing with SeaFoam. I firmly believe it has the biggest "bang per buck." Yes. It works very well.

Now, if you are talking the best of the best? You know, tha cream of tha crop? And if you got that paper to spend?

Then look no futher than BG Company (http://www.bgprod.com/products/fuelair.html)
This, folks, is the very best. Only thing better is popping that intake apart and cleaning it with pipe cleaners and GM TOP ENGINE Cleaner

Oh and one more thing for the brave souls reading this: Water. Yeah there is oil and varnish inside all of our intakes BUT that stuff around the EGR (tho water won't help that area) and the lower intake and valve charging area (intake and exhaust sides) is carbon. And 20 ounces of water poured through the brake booster vacuum hose will pulverize the hell outta that carbon. Pour heavy enough to get your engine close to dieing out(cuz you do this while its running), then throttle the crap out of it to get it to stop sputtering then do it again. Repeat until you are left with no more.
For those with the ONE injector TBI its easiest and actually more efficient meaning you will get 99.5% of the carbon out of the system.

~Will
P.S.~I heard SeaFoam contains water? If someone buys some in the next month, let me know if it says?

This SeaFoam sounds like it works and is trusted. Where can I buy some? The usual parts shops don't seem to have it.

Now to respond to water into the engine: water does not compress like fuel, and can really cause some undue stress on the internals. I'd be concerned to try it.

-RH77

Straight from the Seafoam website:

ABC Auto Parts

Advance Auto Parts

Auto Value

Bumper to Bumper

CARQUEST Auto Parts

Midway Auto Supply

NAPA Auto Parts

O'Reilly Auto Parts

Parts Plus

Pronto Auto Parts

Straight from the Seafoam website:

ABC Auto Parts

Advance Auto Parts

Auto Value

Bumper to Bumper

CARQUEST Auto Parts

Midway Auto Supply

NAPA Auto Parts

O'Reilly Auto Parts

Parts Plus

Pronto Auto Parts


Wow, Thanks!

RH77,
I can understand concerns about water. I too was concerned until I talked with my friend and master mechanic...he does it to all the 100% city driven patrol cars. He swore by it, then taught me by doing it with me how he does it...

My engine was always hot to where the cooling fan was on when I did it. I only used 20oz of water. I poured like I would pour cooking oil into my measuring cup when I mix batter for cake. Car will stumble, I'd give it gas to overcome, and continue pouring...
repeat until all water is used. Then, take a drive! My friend said its important to drive atleast five HARD highway miles afterward. By hard, I mean quick accelerating...

and since I love to hear ppl talking about conceivably controversial things: Read THis about Saturn owners doing it... (http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25237)

Haha, some guy on that Saturn site says how this is like a blown headgasket cleaning out the cylinders - man when I pulled my head after blowing the gasket, everything in there was SUPER clean...I guess it's worth a shot then!

For people with O2 sensors, you may want to be careful. I've heard that excessive water has been known to make O2 sensors go bad. Anybody else hear this or am I losing it? ;-)

<a href=http://honda-acura.net/forums/showthread.php?t=86584 target=_blank>http://honda-acura.net/forums/showthread.php?t=86584</a>
<a href=http://honda-acura.net/forums/showthread.php?t=177208 target=_blank>http://honda-acura.net/forums/showthread.php?t=177208</a>

Enjoy folks.

I'm home this week (no travel for work) so I'm off to the parts store to try the Seafoam tomorrow. I think I'll go straight for the brake booster line into the intake with a funnel. I tried some water through the booster line tonight and went out to the highway for some redline runs, and it seems to run smooth with less valve clatter. I'll report the Seafoam hopefully tomorrow. I don't think I'll pour anything but oil into the crankcase, though.

RH77

Hey, just make sure you do the seafoam DOWNWIND. The amount of smoke that you will encounter will scare you. ...and the neighbors might give ya some attention you wern't asking for too...well, mine do. :P

Yes, take heed to the smoke warning.

I want to say that Seafoam says it's 100% safe for the crankcase, I think it's mostly or all petrolium based.

I think I'm going to try the 20 oz. of water sometime soon...just pouring it onto the throttle plate slowly.

Well, luckily the weather's nice today so, I was able to do this outside. The Seafoam worked as expected with lots of smoke, but I guess that means it's clearing the carbon out. I dumped some into the brake booster line a little at a time and it stalled. From the label, it said to let it sit 5 minutes, so I let it sit and came back, started it up (took a few cranks) -- I then went out onto the highway and opened it up -- more white smoke; plenty of redline run-ups and now it purrs at idle and the valve clatter is gone. I assume that it'll continue to work away at the carbon over the next week or so. The exhaust tip was really black, so there's another sign of carbon gone.

The car did throw a Check Engine Code of P0500 "Vehicle Speed Sensor". The engine idled cyclically from 1000-3000 with the brake booster line off, so I guess that's the reason. I'll reset the code and see what happens.

It was kinda embarrassing driving around the neighborhood looking like I was burning oil, but I guess that's the price for a clean machine. I'll tell the neighbor then everyone will know what's going on ;-)

RH77

BUMP!

it's been a while, so can anyone attest to the legitimacy of seafoam? i'm still having some performance issues so i was thinking of giving it a try.

I've never used SeaFoam, but I have been pleased with BG 44k.

-Jay

There are a lot of users in performance forums that swear by Mopar combustion chamber cleaner.

i use seafoam everytime i do an oil change. like they said at the begining 1/3 in the oil, gas, and intake. when i changed my valve cover gasket the whole valve train and under the cover was super clean and spotless, unlike my dads that had crud all over it and under the cover. i remember the first time i used it when i got my eg the oil looked all chunky. it was weird. car ran better after that and continues to still. but in all i use it i like it it works for me i recomend it to everyone. unless your engine is so bad already that the sludge and carbon is what stopping leaks and keeping seals, then no. but if not then YES!

Dad used to say that about my old Pontiac wagon. He said never pour "cleaner" in the oil or radiator. He saidby the time you had over 150,000 miles on it, the gunk was what was holding it together. If the oil or radiator were cleaned he said it would leak like crazy.

-Jay

I've tried Seafoam, wasn't impressed. Noticed no difference. I've tried many other automotive patent medicines over the years, none has lived up to its hype. I used to use STP (my cars generally have odometers that have turned over once or twice) until I got a long lecture from an old motorcycle mechanic up in Carmel Valley, CA nearly 30 years ago. His contention was that stuff like STP is more likely to gunk up an engine than make it run better.

As for stuff in the radiator...I once bought a really nice, 10 year old Lincoln Continental for about 1/5 the normal going rate. After the weather warmed up, I found out why...the car would overheat. To shorten a long story, turns out that the radiator had several inches of stop-leak residue in the bottom. $45 and a couple hours R&R of the radiator later, the car ran nice and cool, even uphill at 70 mph with the A/C set cold enough to hang meat in the car! That changed my mind about using Bars-Leaks, that copper or aluminum stuff you pour into the radiator, etc.


Maybe in a car that gets <5k miles a year, that has a chance for varnish to form in the fuel system it might help. My cars apparently get enough use that the gasoline never has a chance to dry out. As for sludge, a couple oil changes in quick succession does a pretty fair amount of cleaning. Beyond that, probably best to tear it down, clean it all out and just change your oil on time after that.

i love seafoam, and love smokin up the neighborhood.

i found one line on my s10 that doesnt pull a vacum untill higher rpm, its great so you can limp it down the street then get out on the highway and floor it leaving a huge cloud :D

i run it thru the crankcase too on my s10. oil seems to come out dark dark black when i do. (usually its a dark brown)

one thing you have to watch about your brake booster line is sometimes it isnt centered on your TB. mine is right between the intake for the 3 and 4 cyl so most of the seafoam went to those 2 cyl (verified this by taking off the upper intake and seeing the clean spot where the line comes in and clean intake tubes while 1 and 2 were still pretty dirty...)

To shorten a long story, turns out that the radiator had several inches of stop-leak residue in the bottom. $45 and a couple hours R&R of the radiator later, the car ran nice and cool, even uphill at 70 mph with the A/C set cold enough to hang meat in the car!

you're braver and cheaper than me. my wife's car had the same issue a few years back. i just bought a new radiator after fooling w/ the old, dirty one and realizing, like you, that it was gonna take some time. good thing about domestics--cheap parts!

That's one thing I love about domestic vehicles. Years ago (early 90's) a friend of mine from work had a mid to late 70's Honda Accord. He only spent $100 on it. He ended up junking it because the starter went out, and it was over $300 to get a new one. I pissed him off. I told him that Ihad bought a remanufactured starter for my Buick, with a lifetime warranty for $30. (Trak Auto - the car lasted longer than the lifetime warranty!)

This was back in the mid '90s, before the miracle of cheap Chinese replacement radiators. The next time I went to get a radiator fixed (for another car), they said they didn't do that anymore, they just sold new ones for $129. More profit, less labor, less hassle dealing with toxic chemicals.

you're braver and cheaper than me. my wife's car had the same issue a few years back. i just bought a new radiator after fooling w/ the old, dirty one and realizing, like you, that it was gonna take some time. good thing about domestics--cheap parts!

Nail polish remover is typically acetone and water. This mixes with fuel readily (unlike water on its own) and I've had noticeable results from using it in the fuel. It does nothing for mpg while it's in the system in large doses though.

i use acetone in the gas tank w/ a synthetic 2 cycle oil for lube from time to time. my thought was to use seafoam for the other recommended uses because i don't think acetone would work well in a vacuum line or in the crankcase.

For injector cleaning, I believe the best way is to remove them and send them to be serviced. Two places I've used and would recommend:
Linder Technical Services http://www.lindertech.com/index.html
Cody Motorsports: http://www.codymotorsports.com/

Every time I reinstall reconditioned (or new) injectors, my engine will run noticeably smoother.

In addition, on my big block, they will give me a flow report for each injector and I can match the highest flowing injector(s) to the intake ports with the highest airflow(s) (but you need to have your manifold flowed to benefit from this).

-BC