Snake Oil aka injector cleaner

[castros_bro]

Running several sets of wheels with injected motors including the odd veg burner I occasionally slip a bottle of injector cleaner in the tank.   I had a short inerweb wander earlier today trying to workout if there is any serious technical reasons for using this snakeoil, but noting other than the    "I've used it since 1842 on every diesel Submarine I've been responsible for and none have sunk but every goat I've shagged has become pregnant"   type wibble. 

 

Anyone here got a serious positive or negative or hilarious irrelevant research results?   

[sierraman]

It’s just paraffin isn’t it? Put it this way an egg cup full of Redex won’t sort out your smoking 53 plate Mondeo diesel. Just run it on some decent diesel and stop putting a tenner in every 5 days at Asda when the low level light keeps coming on.

[Matty]

Put a bottle in mine this week and within 100 miles the check engine light came on. Coincidence I know but won't be bothering again

[steveo3002]

1st i dont believe its anything strong enough added in small bottles to do jack

 

2nd if it does strip crap and gunk from them , it will also strip it from the tank and fuel lines and dump at the inj 

 

i was going to post a thread ..has anyone sent thiers in for cleaning , all the youtube vids show them coming up great and needing it , well i sent 4 off this week , one is spent and another he advises not to use it , so yeah worth checking 

[Partridge]

In my experience this kind of stuff does make a difference, until it filters out of the system and you're back to how it felt before. It's like trying to cure Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with Red Bull. As others have suggested, not letting the fuel light come on (so sludge and silt from the bottom of the fuel tank won't get sucked into the injectors) and using decent fuel does help. This is how I've been treating my 605 and 405 - both have had significant increases in performance, MPG and feel happier and smoother in general since I've been running them.

 

Using shit fuel from ASDA/Tesco/Bilked from a Jerry can you found in the boot of a Lada Samara in a scrapyard in a skip, is false economy IMO. Even when I've been skint I still used posh fuel, purely because of the better MPG.

[myglaren]

I tried it for eight months and there was no discernible improvement.

What did make a difference was using Torq diesel- a steady improvement in economy - not much but a bit, and the hunting at 30mph stopped.

 

Torq no longer available, same station converted to Shell so I converted to Sainsburys diesel (cheap, see)!

No difference to Torq.

 

I did however change to the Shell recently - conveniently close to me and was the same price as Sainsburys.

 

It did seem a lot more lively at first and still seems to go better than previously and there may be a slight improvement in economy - can't tell as my son has had the car in Scotland and put fuel in without saving the receipt o resetting the trip meter so have to start again from tomorrow recording miles travelled/fuel used.

 

I did used to use Shell a while back, even the super-duper stuff, with no sign of anything good happening compared to Sainsburys*

 

*Had to stop going there due to air freshener in the kiosk, couldn't go in and pay.  New station now that hasn't that problem and can pay at pump if necessary.

[DodgeRover]

I say this every time this topic comes up but MOT stations stock forte diesel injector cleaner for a reason, the reason being it works.

[Matty]

Half of the problem is like using super instead of regular unleaded. Placebo effect. You start convincing yourself that it feels fitter but most of its blind optimism!

[Partridge]

Half of the problem is like using super instead of regular unleaded. Placebo effect. You start convincing yourself that it feels fitter but most of its blind optimism!

Depends on the car. Made bugger all difference on my Jags and my Accord, but my V70 loved it and so does my 405.

[FakeConcern]

I used some Redex to clean the throttle body of my C4 VTS and it came up nice and shiny!

[Matty]

Depends on the car. Made bugger all difference on my Jags and my Accord, but my V70 loved it and so does my 405.

Fair point. I haven't tested it across many cars just a few. Do you reckon it could bring the eml on if it dislodged a load of shite that then ended up sooting up the lambda or am I grasping at the biggest straw in the world?

[Bren]

If your car is in good fettle you won't notice any difference.

[bigfella2]

I say this every time this topic comes up but MOT stations stock forte diesel injector cleaner for a reason, the reason being it works.

The good garage scheme that is used in a great deal of garages in the UK is administered by forte and that's the reason why they stock it and sell it. That's the reason.

[steveo3002]

The good garage scheme that is used in a great deal of garages in the UK is administered by forte and that's the reason why they stock it and sell it. That's the reason.

not so good garage scheme

[Andyrew]

Forte diesel injector cleaner is the one we always recommend at work and we sell shiteloads of it. Expect to pay around £15.

 

There's far cheaper products some good some bad I've tried a few of the cheapy supermarket offer ones but can't say they have made a noticeable difference in comparison, but if you don't give it a go you'll never know.

 

 

my first disco 300tdi picked up better after a bottle was run through.

 

My current 300tdi disco had a massive flat spot when I bought it.Checked everything, change filters, good quality fuel timing. so i assumed clogged injector, couldn't be arsed to take the injector out so it got 3 bottles over a week (probably not advisable) or so and the flat spot went.

 

I get it discounted so I usually keep some in the workshop and it's gone in a few mates diesels with approved results and they now use it every 6 months or so.

[forddeliveryboy]

The active ingredient in the over-priced injector cleaner is often Acetone or similar. Use 0.35% for diesel or veg, less with petrol engines. After a couple of tankfuls, no more should be needed if you avoid 'cheap' fuel. Good veg burns cleaner than any mineral diesel, but lots of cold running, idling or gentle running with a big engine can soot things up especially with typical retarded timing.

 

The old inline Audi 5 is a good judge of fuel - run it on BP, Esso, Shell, Texaco etc. and smoke under hard acceleration is nearly zero. Tesco, Morrisons or Asda and Arctic ice will melt quicker when the huge clouds of clag blow up there (which it does, btw - takes two to three weeks).

 

The best possible injector cleaner is three or four hours at full power with decent fuel (pref. veg), best in streaming wet conditions. Easier said than done, but I once managed it (but in the dry) with a Merc OM603 fully loaded, towing a very heavy trailer to a 24hr race. After the first hour or so it belched a couple of massive smokescreens and we thought the thing was packing up, once home the thing ran like a just run in engine.

[Partridge]

Fair point. I haven't tested it across many cars just a few. Do you reckon it could bring the eml on if it dislodged a load of shite that then ended up sooting up the lambda or am I grasping at the biggest straw in the world?

Using man logic - yes. If the hat fits, wear it.

[sierraman]

Cataclean does work sometimes to scrape a pass. Don’t rate stuff like redex or those turbo cleaners.

[forddeliveryboy]

Cataclean does work sometimes to scrape a pass. Don’t rate stuff like redex or those turbo cleaners.

Veg or biodiesel cuts the emissions for MoTs by a decent third to two-thirds, minimum.

[steveo3002]

stp data sheet

 

http://www.partinfo.co.uk/files/53250EN12%20STP%20Fuel%20Injector%20Cleaner%20MSDS.pdf

 

redex

 

http://www.partinfo.co.uk/files/RDX10%20Redex%20Injector%20MSDS.pdf

 

crc

http://docs.crcindustries.com/msds/75061E.pdf

 

any chemists in ?  is it just a really expensive jar of parafin?

[Matty]

Using man logic - yes. If the hat fits, wear it.

At this point you're hoping someone will day "you're right that would happen yes" but to be honest I didn't believe it either!

[flat4alfa]

Cataclean SDS:
Acetone 10-30%
Petroleum distillates 5-10%
Propan-2-ol 10-30%
Xylene 30-60%

[myglaren]

A workmate knows someone that does engine cleaning with Hydrogen.

 

He claims a noticeable improvement on his recently bought Juke and also on a Corsa where the emissions went down to practically zero and mpg increased radically.

 

Not convinced but there may be something in it.

 

https://www.engineclean.uk/how-it-works/

[pauldoubleyou]

So actually, yeah I do.

 

It’s a long story but worth it so stick with me. I was at work and sat eating lunch next to a gay guy who looks like skeletor. I knew he had an 85 200e Merc and asked about it, to which he replied he had lost the keys and it had been dumped into the work multi storey for about a year. I offered him a tenner for it as a joke and he accepted. Me and a mate broke into it, found a watch and a carton of tabs and tried to get it started.

 

It sort of ran after a year, but ran like total shit. I swapped the fuel filter, looked at the diaphragm on the carb and it looked fine. I couldn’t drain the fuel as it was in a car park. Looking in the carb it was well funky and shitted up with gunge. It was running and idling but as soon as you pressed the throttle it died. Not enough fuel.

 

So out of options I emptied two cans of redex into the tank and turned it over until the fuel in the clear pipe to the carb was red, so I knew the carb was full of redex.

 

I left it two days, went out and started it up and it ran totally fine. All the issues went away. Now I hadn’t believed in shit like that but tbh this proved it had a use.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[flat4alfa]

The near 100% Napthalene in Redex does ok sitting on the carb seals, gaskets and Hylomar etc then

 

But I wonder if the <= 60% Xylene in Cataclean would be.  Not that you'd choose a cat-sounding cleaner to clean a carb, but still, the advertising doesn't state you shouldn't.  Proves you need to look up the datasheet before you pick and mix and trial.

 

I knew STP cleaner was near 100% Kerosene, other brands sell that generally as their 'octane booster' 

 

Never knew that CRC was just diesel fuel

[beko1987]

Forte stopped my injector light for months! Must run another bottle through, even at 3 bottles a year it's cheaper than fixing the problem (probably)

[DodgeRover]

I knew STP cleaner was near 100% Kerosene, other brands sell that generally as their 'octane booster'

 

Octane booster for what? Not petrol that's for sure - You would probably get a bigger octane boost dumping a couple of litres of cellulose thinners in the petrol tank

[forddeliveryboy]

Cataclean SDS:

Acetone 10-30%

Petroleum distillates 5-10%

Propan-2-ol 10-30%

Xylene 30-60%

Interesting. The rubbing alcohol (propan2ol) is there to dissolve free water, xylene makes petrol engines run well (and costs little), acetone gently dissolves muck and makes for smaller droplets in the injector mist, improving running esp. for diesels.

[Shirley Knott]

I was gifted a tin of 'Tunap' injector cleaner by the lads at my local VW parts desk when the Lupo SDI started to hesitate and run rough due to Mrs Eunos poodling round at sub 2krpm on a perpetual basis. They reconned it was the proper stuff and the chaps in the workshop swore by it etc.

 

In short is did sweet FA.

 

In the end a 30 minute motorway drive to Barnard Castle in third gear (Eeek) was the answer and solved the issues, the car has run well ever since. Italian tune ups FTW IME.

[forddeliveryboy]

For a tenner, I can buy 5 litres of acetone. That'll last 25 whole tankfuls-ish - but it's only needed now and again.

 

Forget your fancy bottles of overpriced kerosene laced with some paint thinner, acetone and isopropanol, they don't even specify the exact anounts.

 

Cetane boosters (google 2-ehn) work well for diesels, especially on veg.