Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW!

Re: Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW!

Ethanol doesn't play nicely with the pipelines and is added in at the distribution terminal. It's certainly possible that a batch got screwed up, but having done a little work for these terminals, I'd be very surprised to see it off by that much... that's potentially a multi-million dollar mistake.

 

I have been told that Shell provides Costco their gas? Hal

 

Re: Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW!

My money is on the cheapest supplier that meets Costco's requirements.

 

If you use E10 the injectors are already getting plenty of cleaner.

 

Hello
All what about a oil based cleaner like Lucas ? and any feed back on oil additives ? I have a while to go before im broken in but im looking into the future .

thanks Jay

 

I just had my 2005 in to the dealer for service. They recommend cleaning the fuel injectors every 15,000 miles due to the ethanol in gas. I had them do it and I noticed an immediate increase in power and acceleration on the car. Still on the same tank of gas, so haven't noticed any change in mileage. The vehicle has 45,600 miles on it. The charge for the service was 85.00 in SWFL.

 

Re: Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW!

Yes, but some of us go out of our way to buy 100% gas. See E85 Boondoggle of the Day: TTAC Prius Driver Says Ethanol Sucks

Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada is a good way to keep track of stations that offer it.

 

Re: Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW!

We have 39000 miles on our Prius and I thought I would give the Chevron Pro-Guard a try on our 220 mile trip from PA to OH. On the same roads taken many times and never received more than 47 MPG but this time was 51.

We had poor weather, 32 degrees when we started out, more traffic than expected, school buses, and a few times totally stopped for road construction. I was expecting poorer mileage with all the road conditions we dealt with.

So I am going to give the Chevron Pro-Guard Fuel Injector Cleaner a thumbs up and will try it again.

Bob

 

Did you check wind direction and speed?

 

Re: Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW!

Why? You're going out of your way to avoid routine injector cleaning but adding cleaner by the bottle. That's superstition. (E85 should not be used in anything but flexfuel vehicles, which Prius is not. E10 is perfectly fine.)

 

Re: Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW! . . . er, maybe not.

I've always wondered if the injector cleaner itself might not raise the
average level of BTUs/gal. in the tank (or some other measure of energy
density) and produce a short term, single tank MPG increase. Which
would tend to encourage its repeated use whether or not there is any
actual injector cleaning happening.

If such were the case, any long term effect on MPGs would have to be
judged/calculated on the second and following tanks of gas.

Haven't the slightest idea how to resolve this conundrum. :noidea:

 

Thanks for the info, I need to do this. My 05 prius just dropped from 45 MPG to about 36-37. Any other tips?

 

Re: Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW!

Cold and snow on the road?

Do you still have the original 12 volt battery? A bad battery will cause the Prius ICE to run overtime trying to charge it.

 

Re: Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW!

Concur with both of the above. I currently see that in Fairfax, VA, it's 41 F and on 10/29, it was a high of 39 F and 33 F for a low. On 10/10, it was 81 F for high and 49 F for a low, in comparison.

5prius5:
Please answer http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-answer-these-questions-esp-if-youre-new.html in a new thread.
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-fuel-economy/99504-why-mileage-gets-worse-in-winter.html

 

Re: Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW!

I didn't say I was adding cleaner by the bottle. I just said I wasn't buying E10.

You can see more on that topic in http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-main-forum/98236-there-recommended-gas-prius.html

 

Re: Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW!

Thanks I just did

I will check the battery status and add that as well to rule that out.

 

Re: Fuel injector cleaner . . . WOW!

I stand corrected... Good Lord. Well, everyone needs a hobby :_>

 

Has anybody tried STP Super Concentrated Fuel Injector Cleaner?

 

Good ole STP!
Used it in the 70's in my first car...
A 1954 CHEVY, I always belived it helped, till I bought a new engine.

 

In some sense, fuel system cleaner with high amount of PEA such as Redline, 3M, STP deep clean, or BASF KeropurG may help cleaning injector, intake valves, and piston tops. However, most of Prius engine are generally already clean not like direct injected engine in VW, Hyundai, or Ford. In direct injected engines, the effect are usually higher since the injectors get dirty faster than port injectors. For a good test. People should do fair test of 2000 miles before and after with the same temperatures, speed, travel area, and distance. I can guarantee, it will only make minor difference if you already used TopTier gas stations like Chevron, Shell, BP, Total, Costco, etc. In my opinion, it is cheaper by using Shell gas station with membership bonus than for instance Walmart + fuel additives every 3 months.

In facts, Toyota recommends fuel system cleaner annually by just adding it to the tanks. Especially Canada and cold zone. In Europe, Toyota Prius use midgrade Fuel/Super 89 instead of Regular 87 and usually with E5 instead of E10 10% ethanol. I personally got about 1-3% higher gas mileage in Europe with my prius 3rd gen then when I was in USA at similar terrain/flat. Here, BASF KeropurG is cheaper than Redline, STP, etc. I put it every year before oil change / 10k Miles. Don't feel much different because I used Total, Aral/BP, or Shell all the time with E5 Super instead of E10. With E10, I lost about 2% because of small engine. In bigger engine like camry or RAV4, the difference between 5 and 10% ethanol are less. E10 is still cheaper about 3-4% but I prefers E5 for longer terms reason, longer life of catalytic converters and better low-end rpm torque/power.