Recommendation on fuel system cleaners

[fern6085]

Curious to know if anyone has tried or can recommend a fuel system/ injector clear?

[treginginco]

The ONLY two I use and would ever use are (in order)

1: BG44K
2: Techron Fuel System Cleaner

[b6Hate4]

Bg44k. /thread.

[A4_Mike]

My dad has used BG 44K on several of his cars and trucks in the past. He felt the product worked well and would highly recommend it.

[S4'ed]

Fuel system cleaners have no benefit in a direct injection engine : waste of money.

[treginginco]

Fuel system cleaners have no benefit in a direct injection engine : waste of money.

Why would you say this? Is your comment based on "carbon build up" issues? Okay, fine. But you are aware there is the inside of a fuel tank, fuel filter(s), fuel injectors..... all of which see benefit of occasional fuel system cleaning.

[AWDLover]

+4 for BG 44k

[STA4]

Fuel system cleaners have no benefit in a direct injection engine : waste of money.

Yes, it doesn't get sprayed on the intake valves, but my understanding is that it's still able to help with build up due to valve overlap and unburnt product.

[uberwgn]

Direct injection or not, there would be some value in "cleaning" the rest of the fuel system including injectors. VAG has their own product:

[blbroo]

Bg44k. /thread.

Have you ever noticed a difference after running BG44K? I have never used it, and the only effect I have ever noticed after using any fuel treatment is a CEL with Lucas Fuel System Cleaner until I had ran it out of the system and another 1/2 tank. That was on a 2006 TL though.

I run techron every few months, and perhaps the value is in keeping things clean vs. feeling a drop off if I don't use it.

[avant-grd]

If you use tier-1 (Shell, Mobil, etc.) high octane gas you do not need fuel injector cleaner, as gas has plenty of additives.

[treginginco]

If you use tier-1 (Shell, Mobil, etc.) high octane gas you do not need fuel injector cleaner, as gas has plenty of additives.

FYI- octane has NO impact/effect on fuel system cleaning.

Yes, top tier fuels have the added detergents and cleaning agents so they are really good for your engines.

I use top tier fuel, but still drop in a bottle of fuel system cleaner every 10k miles.

[dscline]

From what I've read, the best cleaner is PEA (polyether-amine), which is the primary cleaning component of top cleaners, like Techron. There are threads at places like Bob is the Oil Guy where people try to figure out exactly how much PEA each additive has, then break it down to which ones give you the most PEA/$, like here. Redline S1-1 and some of the Gumouts often come out on top in some of the threads I've read. I just buy Gumout, because I can get it delivered every couple months for about $5 with my subscribe-n-save discount.

Here's an entertaining video from one of the BitOG threads:

[treginginco]

From what I've read, the best cleaner is PEA (polyether-amine), which is the primary cleaning component of top cleaners, like Techron. There are threads at places like Bob is the Oil Guy where people try to figure out exactly how much PEA each additive has, then break it down to which ones give you the most PEA/$, like here. Redline S1-1 and some of the Gumouts often come out on top in some of the threads I've read. I just buy Gumout, because I can get it delivered every couple months for about $5 with my subscribe-n-save discount.

Here's an entertaining video from one of the BitOG threads:

Good stuff!!! Thank you

[o1turbo30v]

If you use tier-1 (Shell, Mobil, etc.) high octane gas you do not need fuel injector cleaner, as gas has plenty of additives.

+1^

[avant-grd]

FYI- octane has NO impact/effect on fuel system cleaning.

Yes, top tier fuels have the added detergents and cleaning agents so they are really good for your engines.

I use top tier fuel, but still drop in a bottle of fuel system cleaner every 10k miles.

Correct. Octane has no impact on cleaning. However, higher octane gas more detergent, according to the spec. Consequently, better cleaning.

[treginginco]

From US DOT:
High octane gasoline doesn’t outperform regular octane in preventing engine deposits from forming, in removing them, or in cleaning your car's engine. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires that all octane grades of all brands of gasoline contain engine cleaning detergent additives to protect against the build-up of harmful levels of engine deposits during the expected life of your car.

EXCEPTION: Top Tier fuels generally use higher quality fuel cleaning detergents i.e. PEA (polyether-amine) --- hence part of the price difference between Bobby's Gas Barn and your local Chevron fuel stop.

[avant-grd]

From US DOT:
High octane gasoline doesn’t outperform regular octane in preventing engine deposits from forming, in removing them, or in cleaning your car's engine. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires that all octane grades of all brands of gasoline contain engine cleaning detergent additives to protect against the build-up of harmful levels of engine deposits during the expected life of your car.

EXCEPTION: Top Tier fuels generally use higher quality fuel cleaning detergents i.e. PEA (polyether-amine) --- hence part of the price difference between Bobby's Gas Barn and your local Chevron fuel stop.

You could be correct and I will not spend time on researching to prove who is “more right” in amount/quality detergent and all.
The bottom line is that I was accurate in my initial statement that if you use high quality gas, you do not need to use fuel injector cleaner. The prove is in the pudding, as they say: I have done it for many years (not using additives, just quality gasoline) and none of my cars ever had problem with fuel system, and so with many other people that I know.
The industry that makes additives is pushing these on us and many cave to that pressure.

[STA4]

You could be correct and I will not spend time on researching to prove who is “more right” in amount/quality detergent and all.
The bottom line is that I was accurate in my initial statement that if you use high quality gas, you do not need to use fuel injector cleaner. The prove is in the pudding, as they say: I have done it for many years (not using additives, just quality gasoline) and none of my cars ever had problem with fuel system, and so with many other people that I know.
The industry that makes additives is pushing these on us and many cave to that pressure.

I think it really depends on factors such as the engine, mileage, climate and type of driving (i.e. short trips vs. long trips). The amount of additives in top tier fuel may be insufficient for some combination of factors.

[LmG7119]

Sorry to bring this tread out of dead. What do you guys think about Liqui Moly 2007 Jectron and their CERATEC for 2013 allroad?

Want to use it as preventive measures.

[Rollin Thunder]

Sorry to bring this tread out of dead. What do you guys think about Liqui Moly 2007 Jectron and their CERATEC for 2013 allroad?

Want to use it as preventive measures.

I currently use both with zero issues. Interested in the Blackstone report soon after using the Ceratec.

[BeerBrent]

Saw someone posted in the "what did you do to your B8 today" thread that they used all three of these recently so was thinking of doing the same (65,000 miles). Any updated thoughts on this? What do you guys use? How often?

BG 109 EPR Enging Performance Restoration
BG 110 MOA Engine Oil Supplement
BG 44K Fuel System Cleaner

[choppstixxx]

Saw someone posted in the "what did you do to your B8 today" thread that they used all three of these recently so was thinking of doing the same (65,000 miles). Any updated thoughts on this? What do you guys use? How often?

BG 109 EPR Enging Performance Restoration
BG 110 MOA Engine Oil Supplement
BG 44K Fuel System Cleaner

I've never used any, but BG 44K seems like it has great reviews across the board. I am gonna run that and eventually do a deep physical clean of the intake ports like the DIY thread.

[LmG7119]

I've never used any, but BG 44K seems like it has great reviews across the board. I am gonna run that and eventually do a deep physical clean of the intake ports like the DIY thread.

Can you post link to DIY thread? Thanks

[Marko S]

Probably a waste of money

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

[treginginco]

102k miles later ----- BG44K every 10k miles ---- still purring like a kitten.

[BeerBrent]

Thanks for everyone's input.

[Chris1244]

So I bought a pretty sweet 2010 Q5 Premium Plus 3.2 and to try and combat the known carbon issue with this engine I used redline fuel cleaner it has almost 50% PEA which is proven to clean carbon however alot of poeple say that GDI engines wont benefit I gotta say I saw a slight improvement always 93+ gas best oil early change and some redline every 5 to 10 k

[Theiceman]

there is no tangable evidence any of it works. its all observer bias and " it feels better"
fact if modern oils and gasses are full of detergents which work very well, the reason you get carbon buildup on DFI engines as pointed out as because back of valves dont get sprayed.. so actually tells you where gas DOES get sprayed the detergents and cleaners are doing their job. But no one want to give up a Billion dollar business do they ? so they will keep pushing these products.
Put in good quality gas and oil and you will be fine,

[findalex]

Carbon buildup is definitely a problem with DI engines. Changing the oil frequently prevents/delays all sorts of problems related to combustion residue such as carbon. A little cleaner here and there also keep the injectors and combustion chambers clean and thus less hot spots and less pre-ignition.

There are intake valve sprays like CRC Intake Valve Cleaner that'll clean the back of the valves. It's a little harder than just pouring something into the gas tank, but I believe it works. My car's idle smoothed out noticeably after one treatment. I also use Gumout Regane (with PEA aka Techron) and that also improves idle smoothness. With 115K miles, the car still idles like new.

I just learned recently that timing chain stretch is due to the soot wearing away at the timing chain pins (youtube engineering explained). I believe my timing chain is still within spec after 115K miles/10 years because I change my oil more frequently than Audi specifies.

[Kolbenringe]

Sorry to bring this tread out of dead. What do you guys think about Liqui Moly 2007 Jectron and their CERATEC for 2013 allroad?

Want to use it as preventive measures.

hahahah

[ps2cho]

102k miles later ----- BG44K every 10k miles ---- still purring like a kitten.

anecdotal evidence is anecdotal.

[Kolbenringe]

anecdotal evidence is anecdotal.

I have to agree. Though I do believe that direct injectors are more sensitive and can use a cleaning, I also do these drives from south Germany to the northern end of Norway in one shot. None of those cleaners can come close to what those drives do. The engine runs so much better I would say beginning after passing Stockholm on the way up. Even the Italian tune up doesn't do this much.

The thing is I also believe that it's not like the old days and in this specific case, additives are needed due to how sensitive the injectors are. My go-to was/is Redline, but I haven't used it in a couple years with no issues.

[A4_Fire]

I’ve used LiquiMoly injection cleaner. Just pour into the gas tank with the appropriate fuel amount. After running through the tank my idle revs increase and had better throttle response.
One or more must of been pretty crusty, or something along the fuel path. Either way 10/10 for me

[Kolbenringe]

I’ve used LiquiMoly injection cleaner. Just pour into the gas tank with the appropriate fuel amount. After running through the tank my idle revs increase and had better throttle response.
One or more must of been pretty crusty, or something along the fuel path. Either way 10/10 for me

Sure you don't have actual engine problems?