Fuel Injector Cleaning Auto Maintenance: Myths and Facts

1. Increases service center's profit
2. It's an easy sell with today's gas prices
3. Offsets factory maintenance reductions, and extended life systems
4. Variety of gas quality and grades
5. Poor adherence to vehicle maintenance

Notice that "It's Required" did not make the list.  That's because many times fuel injection services are not needed, and provide little to no benefit.  Nor are they approved or required by any manufacturer under normal operatring conditions.  

Despite this, under certain conditions, they can be beneficial.

Here are some frequently asked questions and answers: 

What do they do?
Depending on the product, injection services clean naturally forming carbon deposits from your fuel injectors and fuel rails—some will even clean the fuel tank, and valve carbon deposits.  

Do they work?
In short, yes.  Provided it’s a premium product (such as BG), the service is performed correctly, and the vehicle's condition necessitates it.  

Fuel injection services can do amazing things.  They can improve fuel efficiency, increase horse power, and repair some performance concerns.  

I have even seen fuel injection services quiet horrendous carbon knocks--a knocking noise from the engine due to excessive carbon build-up coming in contact with internal engine components.  

Whether or not fuel injector cleaning auto maintenance will do all the above every time is another story.  The most important factor is the vehicle's condition.  If a vehicle has been poorly maintained, run on cheap gas, and abused, a fuel injection service may do miracles. 

If the vehicle has been maintained according to manufacturer guidelines, an injection service is likely not needed, and will provide little to no benefit.

Are they worth it?
Maybe.  Again, it depends on the condition of your vehicle.  If the service achieves any of the advertised claims, it may be worth it.  In truth, most cars don’t need it.  The consistent use of quality fuel, and proper vehicle maintenance should be all that is necessary to keep your car running properly.  

However, consistent use of cheap gas and poor adherence to your auto maintenance schedule, as well as certain driving styles can significantly increase the accumulation of carbon deposits.  Thus the possibility of poor fuel efficiency, decreased horsepower, and performance issues increases--all of which could be helped by injector maintenance.  

How often should it be done?
It depends on the product used, but generally between 15,000 to 30,000-miles is the average.  The fuel injection product manufacturers of course argue for the lowest mileage interval possible to sell more product, but every 30,000 is generally ok  

Can a fuel injection service do any damage to my engine or car?
Not if done correctly.  Done incorrectly, anything goes.  A technician could conceivable hydro-lock your engine, or blow a hole in the piston—although both scenarios are rare.   

If anything does go wrong, there is usually an underlying problem, which gets exacerbated by the fuel injector auto maintenance.  

Why doesn’t my manufacturer recommend fuel injector cleaning auto maintenance?
No manufacturer recommends fuel injector cleaning auto maintenance under normal operating conditions. From a manufacturer’s viewpoint: take care of your car right (i.e., as the manufacturer dictates) and you’ll be fine.

However, depending on the problem, some manufacturers will recommend fuel injector cleaning auto maintenance as the cure—especially for carbon knock, and also to clean out fuel system contaminants caused by the use of certain low grade fuels available on the market.

With so many fuel grades and quality differences, manufacturers may eventually consider adding fuel system cleaning as part of regular service intervals.  In the mean time, one can suspect, that they'll be happy to blame any car problems on an "external" source like gasoline.

How much does fuel injector cleaning auto maintenance cost?
Prices vary depending on the service center and the actual procedure performed, and product used.  The procedure you want should clean the entire fuel system including the tank and should not cost more than $150 USD.

Note: with BG products, there are two "fuel-saving" services.  The injection service, which we have been discussing, and an induction service (air induction).  

The induction service is a separate service, which focuses on cleaning the throttle body of naturally forming carbon deposits.  Cleaning the throttle body is nothing new.  Technicians have been doing this service for years (with over-the-counter carburetor cleaners) to address a variety of concerns from stalling to poor gas mileage, and even emission failures.

The induction service is a fabulous service for vehicles with excessive carbon deposits in the throttle body.  If you decide that an injection service is right for you, negotiate to have the induction service done as well at no extra cost.

Important: make sure the service(s) is actually performed as fuel injector maintenance is a common scam across the industry....Learn More

Lastly, fuel injection maintenance is often presented in a sales-like-fashion as if it is the magical cure for all your car's quirks--it's not!

When in doubt, don't do it.

For further discussion, visit www.bgprod.com and check out the video "The Results Are In...It Worked." Just remember that the "condition of the vehicle" is the KEY factor in positive results!

For a good video of the benefits of the induction/injection services click the following link and choose BG Fuel/Air Induction Service

Final note: for vehicles "in need" of fuel injector cleaning, using premium gasoline on a consistent basis can, in time, produce similar fuel-saving results--to a degree.

Top