FI Cleaner - To Add Or Not To Add?

[Off_Timing]

I've seen pros and cons about adding FI cleaner on other forums.

Our Winnie is a 2000, with a 3.8L, 100K on the odometer.

It's my wife's errand runner (kids to and from shool, groceries, etc). I really only add FI cleaner during the summer when we do more highway driving (and usually min 1/2 hour drive).

The injectors are still original and never been touched before.

I'm thinking of adding FI cleaner regularly (like once a month). Is this a good idea?

Also, which FI cleaner do you guys use/prefer?

Thanks.

[12Ounce]

Do not exceed the recommended mix ratio. If you succeed in passing enough thru the combustion chamber so that some is exhausted unburned ... the cat converters will be at risk.

I really cringe when persons recommend folks add "cleaners" to the air stream of an engine ... one "pouring" mistake, resulting in one hugh gulp of liquid into a combustion chamber of a running engine ... and you can expect a bent piston rod and more.

Anyone who's actually rebuilt an engine ... cleaning the internal parts ... will know that such a cleaning effort doesn't do very much. There is no such chemical application that will remove one bit of combustion chamber build-up. As far as the air intake system, you might as well disassemble it and do it right.

Now, injectors, that's a different matter ... a cleaner added to the fuel will do some good. I just add fresh motor oil to my fuel. But, once again, it is also good to occasionally disassemble the fuel rail and clear the inlet screen of the injectors.

This old man's humble opinion anyway.

[tomj76]

There are already additives in gasoline that are meant to perform the same function as FI cleaners. I contend that additional FI cleaner on a regular basis is not going to offer any benefit. On the other hand, if you have some abnormal buildup due to an engine problem, then I believe an extra dose of these solvents could help attack some of the residue, depending on what chemical you're talking about.

These cleaners are very effective against some buildups, but they can only do so much (as noted above).

[wiswind]

On my '96 3.8L, my injectors are prone to build up some crud inside the end cap that is over the spray end of the fuel injector.....
This has sent my chasing to try to track down a slight miss.....on more than one occurance.
For this....I have tried MANY cleaners....and the only one that seems to work for this particular deposit seems to be Berryman's B-12 Chemtool, which is a solvent based cleaner.
I add this up to about 3 times a year.
Fortunately, this is one of the cheaper fuel injection cleaners that you will find on the shelf.
I have tried maintenance doses of various detergent based cleaners....and they don't seem to do anything for this particular issue for me.
I was told that this deposit is caused by a combination of the oil vapor and EGR flow deposits.
Of course, one does not want to do anything to reduce the amount of flow of the PCV or EGR from what is designed....however, I have installed a Greddy catch can (shown in my pictures) to try to reduce these deposits.

Here is a link to the first of 3 pictures of a fuel injector for my 96 3.8L.

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1345...11220610rfQEsL

You can see the end cap at the bottom end......
The next 2 pictures somewhat show the end of the injector with the end cap removed.....1 dirty, the other cleaned.

As you can see.....NO cleaner that is sprayed into the intake will do anything to clean this....ONLY something added to the gasoline will clean this.

I would NOT add the Berryman's B-12 Chemtool more than a couple of times a year.

No fuel additive or a cleaner that is sprayed into the intake will do anything for the EGR ports in the lower intake manifold......these require a physical cleaning.

[Off_Timing]

My original idea was more of a preventative maintenance. I kinda agree with tomj76, that there's additives in the fuel. When I repaired my 171 code, the only thing that I really had to clean were the EGR ports, and as wiswind says, they need to be cleaned manualy.

Maybe I'll nix the idea and just keep driving it, and just add when we're going to do a bit of highway driving. The gas additives seem to be doing their job.

Thanks for all the input.