Eric The Car Guy's take on fuel additives.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't know of any car manufacturer that publishes an instruction recommending fuel additives. That implies they don't believe they're necessary for their products efficiency.

 

TOYOTA themselves flog an injector cleaner/fuel additive. When I started checking why my Dad was paying so much for servicing on his old CAMRY (91), I found this was being billed to him every 3rd or 4th service. I sent him to a private mechanic after that.

 

The Placebo Effect has value....

I don't know, nearly as long as I have been able to own vehicles I have embraced a very conservative schedule of occasionally running a fuel injector cleaner-usually Techron.
About twice a year, I'll run a treatment.

Yes, I believe it's mostly "snake oil", I have serious doubts about any great benefits the treatments may or may not be creating. But I also think it's NOT doing any damage.
And the investment is modest. Therefore I approach it as being...if it does help? Then at least I'm doing it. If it really isn't helping? I'll enjoy the temporary placebo affect that allows me to imagine fuel injection pistons gleaming like Excalibur.

I don't bother to recommend to others they adopt this protocol.
But it's an approach that allows me to embrace the probably imagined benefits. At what is usually less than a $10 investment, twice a year? I can be wrong about this, and still be happy.

 

@danlatu mentioned something about actually removing injectors and having them cleaned, individually, and effectively. When I searched for this all I got was a bunch of fuel additive snake-oil results. Maybe he can comment, regarding the efficacy of such cleaning, who's doing it.

 

It's a multi-faceted topic, the video covers an interesting aspect related to direct injection, however that doesn't apply to Prius which is port injected.

Since 1995 all gasoline includes additives which help to keep fuel injectors and intake valves clean. However using gasoline that only meets the EPA minimum can still result in clogged fuel injectors and carbon buildup. Because of this several car makers including Toyota joined together to develop the Top Tier standard. To receive Top Tier certification the gasoline has to be submitted for testing to verify that it meets a certain level of carbon buildup reduction.

When using non Top Tier, EPA minimum fuel, using a fuel cleaning additive should in theory help, although even if you follow the instructions on the bottle you never really know if you are adding too much or too little to do the job. For that reason it's better to use Top Tier fuel because then you have a better chance that the correct amount of detergent is being used. And Top Tier doesn't necessarily cost more as some discount retailers including Costco are Top Tier certified. Also whatever savings you may get by buying at a non Top Tier station is partly offset by how much you pay for fuel additive.

I suppose the ultimate insurance is to use Top Tier gasoline and fuel additive, I doubt if it hurts anything, it's just less likely to be necessary.

Back to the video, direct injection, where the gasoline is sprayed directly into the cylinders has become very popular in recent years. However he points out that since the fuel bypasses the intake valves they don't get cleaned. Thus in his opinion this makes fuel additives a complete waste in direct injection engines. That is true as far as the intake valves, but for some reason he doesn't seem to see any benefit to the fuel injectors. He does however allow that older cars that are having various engine problems could possibly be helped at least a little bit by fuel additives, although as he points out that is just putting a bandaid on a larger problem.

The direct injection issue with intake valves is a known issue, Toyota seems to have decided that the best approach is to combine direct and port injection, a hybrid method if you will, more complex but addressing the intake valve issue. But again the current Prius is not affected as it is still using port injection.

 

OK.
You're wrong.
Many recommend a dose of injector cleaner periodically.....but that is for the injectors and to disperse contamination in the fuel tank and lines.

The title of the thread.....and the video is misleading.
His little story proves NOTHING about using additives to keep contamination out of the fuel or for cleaning the injectors.

He may have good evidence that additives do little to nothing for removing the dreaded "carbon deposits"......which usually don't really need to be removed anyway. I agree with that part.

 

They make direct injection spray cleaner in an aerosol can but has to be applied at the throttle body or inside intake manifold. The pruis is a port injection which has a fuel injector spraying directly over the intake valve. Valves on a direct injection system get carbon deposits on them from the egr and pcv system. Di engine valves can get dirty in as little as 30k miles. Carbon can coat these valves so bad that the valve does not fully close causing loss in power or even a bend valve from the piston hitting it. That is why bmw, mini, audi, vw etc offer a walnut shell blasting service to clean the intake valves. This service is 400$+ and is not mentioned in the manual for maintenance. The hybrid port and direct injection systems found in Lexus, Acura, and some Hondas have the benefit of cleaning valves on start up and di for normal operation. Di engines benefit from more power with better efficiency. The injectors on port injection will stay cleaner longer than direct injection but can still gum up from contaminants in fuel, fuel tank, egr and pcv. All fuel has cleaner in them, so buying some fuel systems/injector cleaner may not hurt the system but results are really not proven. Most mechanics, doctors, lawyers and car salesmen etc. are just hustlers. They want to upsell every service you can imagine. I was at bestbuy and needed a 16gb usb flash drive 5~10$. The guy tried to sell me a 128gb flash drive, when i said i do not need it he got pushy with me. There are some thirsty people out there, so cover your a s s by doing research before you buy and regret. I used to love working on cars because it was fun, now I love working on cars because i do not have do deal with these retards at the stealership.

As for cleaning injectors i do it myself and use a tire valve stem. Drill the hole in the tire valve stem smaller so the straw does not pop out. use 9~12vdc to open the injector but do not hold it down long. Pulse it or you will burn up the injector. Pulse and spray at the same time.

 

It's not a placebo! Techron is great stuff. I am a former Saab mechanic and we always had our customers do it twice a year. There is a big difference when you tear a head off a car. We were able to do a side by side comparison of some that never used Techron and someone who did and the head, vales etc were so much cleaner, the cra ran better. Granted this was in the 90's and gas has improved, but it does help.

Most manufacturers suggest it in the owners manual.

 

I don't think I ever owned a car that recommended a fuel additive. Does Toyota, these days? Either way, I put in Techron twice a year for the same reasons as The Electric Me.

 

I have done such cleaning of injectors before and now on all manner of cars. Hybrids and none hybrids alike. They are quite cool! But the problem is, are you willing to take that time to loosened up all the injectors a d clean them individually?

 

Well...Toyota also doesn't recommend changing the transmission fluid on a Prius either. We all know that is BS and needs to be done.

I think the lack of a 'recommendation' means the vehicle should last until Toyota's definition of 'life of vehicle'....which probably differs tremendously from the definition of most here.

BTW - Hyundai *does* recommend a fuel system cleaner ( or PEA-based alternative) for their DI engines. This is mentioned in the owners manual.

I use PEA-based fuel system cleaners (usually Techron) in all of our vehicles ( two Prii, a Hyundai Sonata, and an Elantra GT ).

 

+1
Except I only do so about once a year...

+2

Most of the front-line Generals and Admirals in the oil wars, fuel additive wars, etc....swap out their cars every 200,000 miles or less.
In many cases.......much less.

In other words?
They're not out on the sharp end of the stick.

 

Is Toyota promoting it, or is a local dealership promoting it? In this U.S., those are very distinct entities.

 

Yes, that's what I was trying to ask. Dealerships promoting this is nothing new. Toyota putting this recommendation in the manual and maintenance schedule is news to me.

 

It is TOYOTA branded. Not sure about TOYOTA recommending, but the dealer supposedly put it in.

Dad wasn't a car person at all - I noticed the Injector Cleaner on the bill when he asked me ... when the local dealer gave him an estimate of, I think $3000+ for extra$ they thought needed doing. We changed mechanics after that.