Fuel system cleaners-- which is most effective?

[W661335PF]

There's BG 44, Sea Foam, Cheveron Techron, MaxLife, STP,... and the list is endless. Most make claims to clean your fuel system and to be safe, and some have claims that remind me of the snake oil salsmen of the 1800's.

Question is: Which one(s) do you guys use that has been effective and has not harmed the seals or engine/fuel injection system? How long have you used the product? In anyone's research (the reading kind), what has come highly recommended for the G?

Thanks all for your help.

[zozoka1212]

Last 5-6 years I've been using STP octane booster. That cleans and give a bit better octane at the same time. I've been using half bottle for each fill. I had no issue at all. I used it on my Saab for 3 years and used it on Ford. Never had any fuel issue with my car.

Let's hear others too. I am curious too what others have been using. I also tried couple of times the pure Accetone too. I think the fuel cleaner and the booster have Accetone in too. But that just an assuming. I am not an expert.

zozo

[SVTCOBRA]

I've used both Gumout and STP in all of my cars.

I was going to clean the injectors in my cobra recently, but luckily I read in the service manual to NOT clean them due the injectors having a special coating.

Don't know if that's the case with the G's or not.

But, injector cleaner should be OK.

[zozoka1212]

That's interesting. Never heard this coat thing. Most be a ford thing. Sorry had to.

Zozo

Q probably knows about it. Lets see if he chimes in. I haven't seen him here for awhile.

[champagneG35]

I highly recommend Seafoam poured into a cup and sucked through the intake via a vacuum line (brake booster line has the easiest access). You don't have to use it that often at all & it costs like $6.99 here in CA. Use it maybe once about every 100K or 50K if you get invited to a group cleansing session

I just did mine like 3 weeks ago and even though I was only at 54K I noticed my gas mileage shoot up and it ran smoother I couldn't tell at idle that it was running and before I could feel very slight vibration. I used half a can through the intake and poured the other half in the tank.

I got pictures of the white smoke show that ensued but my friend has them on his camera will have to post later. My boss did his BMW M3 with 99K miles on it and was shocked at the difference, even his wife said something about the way it drove afterwards. At 80mph they couldn't tell the engine was on .

[Rivalry]

I just read up on SeaFoam and now I'm wondering where it has been all of my life! Definitely giving it a shot near my next oil change.

For a complete tutorial on using SeaFoam, I found this website :

http://members.nuvox.net/~on.r....html

[rn79870]

I used to run 104+ boost in a 5.0 and the plugs would cake with this orange stuff in about 1000 miles. Didn't seem to make that much difference either. Then I read an article about what you had to do to get to 104 octane and it was far more than just adding the stuff to the tank.

My owners manual for my G recommends against running any fuel additives, cleaners or otherwise. That said, I'd lean towards the Chevron brand if I was planning on adding anything.

Just my 2 cents.

[Q45tech]

The newer returnless fuel system designs are less prone to problems unless you purchase defective gasoline.Water is the usual culprit and this requires ISO HEET.Carbon build up on intake valve stems and deposits on piston crowns need BG44k to clean.

Research the available retail store cleaners and you won't find much that will do any harm on ocassional use.

SeaFoam has pale oil, a mild solvent, and some isopropyl alcohol.

What you really desire is a high percentage of detergents and that will be found in Techron and BG44k.

[champagneG35]

The newer returnless fuel system designs are less prone to problems unless you purchase defective gasoline.Water is the usual culprit and this requires ISO HEET.Carbon build up on intake valve stems and deposits on piston crowns need BG44k to clean.

Research the available retail store cleaners and you won't find much that will do any harm on ocassional use.

SeaFoam has pale oil, a mild solvent, and some isopropyl alcohol.

What you really desire is a high percentage of detergents and that will be found in Techron and BG44k.

That may be true Q and perhaps your method works better but none the less I know first hand SeaFoam delivers results, and does it quickly . I've used it on 2 of my own vehicles and seen it used on 3 others and all that used it were very satisfied with the results .

[tollboothwilley]

Never used Seafoam, but I have also heard some very good results and a lot of people that swear by it. In fact, I used to own a bimmer and people on a board i was on with that car loved the stuff.

I have used Lucas. Supposed to be effective, but I'm not sure really....
Modified by tollboothwilley at 10:48 AM 1/1/2008

[Sentientbydesign]

From personal experience, I haven't found Lucas to be at all effective.

I did have good experience using Gumout. I got an additional 2 MPGs, but I also modified the way I drove that day.

I spoke to a mechanic recently who said that the tank additives are nice, but the injector cleaners that use the IV setup are the best.