Using Fuel Injection Cleaner to Save Money



Posted: Thursday, November 26, 2009

by Ben Mester
Plan B Publishing

Fuel injection cleaner, also called fuel injector cleaner, is a chemical that's often overlooked by the population. In tuneups, fuel injectors may or may not be cleaned, and over time, buildup can definitely cause a loss of fuel efficiency. If they are cleaned during a regular tuneup, a shop will generally charge an arm and a leg to disassemble the system and clean it, or to just dump a fuel injection cleaner additive into the gas tank for you, when it's perfectly easy for you to do it yourself.

Clean fuel injectors are a definite must in the way of fuel economy, emissions, and peak engine performance. When fuel injectors are dirty, they can't deliver the correct spray required for combustion, and as a result, fuel economy and engine performance suffers. This, in the long run, can be costly or can even begin to cause symptoms like a rough idle or misfires. That's why I really like fuel injection cleaner. The reason I recommend fuel injector cleaner is because it's one of those simple things a person can do without having to replace any parts or any under the hood work. Normally in a tuneup, lots of things get replaced, things like spark plugs, distributor caps, belts, and fluids. But with fuel injectors, running an additive through a tank of gas every once in awhile will definitely do the trick.

Through the course of time, all fuel injectors become clogged. This happens because the deposits come from the gasoline itself. Gasoline is a compound mixture of hydrocarbons, and includes waxy, heavy chemicals known as oilfins, which yield a lot of energy when burned. As long as a car is running, the fuel injectors and engine runs efficiently. The clogging occurs when the engine is shut off, and a process known as heat soak occurs. Residue of fuel in the injector nozzles begins to evaporate, and it leaves the oilfins behind, which don't evaporate and some of which don't get washed away, but instead get baked into hard varnish deposits, which ultimately will clog the injectors.

Newer injectors are more resistant than the old ones to this kind of clogging, and additives are added to gasoline to try and dissolve some of these buildups. But cars that make mostly short trips are still especially susceptible to fuel injection clogging, and every injector will ultimately become clogged over time. If the fuel injectors are never cleaned, as the car ages you'll start to notice that your car shakes a bit while idling and eventually it will either stall or misfire, and all the while your fuel economy and engine performance will suffer. I was just in a car the other day that suffered from a very rough idle, and the driver had to keep a little pressure on the gas petal while stopped to keep the car from stalling.

There are many different kinds of fuel injection cleaners, the most common one being gasoline itself! Cheap gasoline is often lacking in the additives that breakdown clogging and, over the long haul, can cost you more money than it saves. The best tip for keeping your injectors clean is to not buy cheap gas. But this is only a preventative measure. My guess is that for people reading this article, it's because your fuel injectors are already partially clogged and are causing problems to your engine performance. If that's the case, then you still have quite a few options. There are many cheap fuel injection cleaners that you can add to your gasoline which will act like drano on a sink pipe and will dissolve many of the clogs in your injectors. When used semi-regularly (once every few months) it will keep your injectors nice and clean.

But this may not be enough for some engines. Older engines already experiencing heavy problems may need a bigger hand. To do this, you might actually need a fuel injection cleaner kit that lets you disassemble the fuel injection system and clean it. This, however, isn't always a possibility, and some fuel injectors are delicate and difficult to tamper with. Before you try something like this, I would really recommend that you run a bottle of fuel injection cleaner additive through a tank of gas to see if it helps at all. It's cheap and effective. There's your money saving tip of the day!

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Thanks for checking out this article about fuel injection cleaner. For more automotive tips, check out more of my work.
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