Fuel injection cleaner or fuel injector cleaner is one of those often missed steps in tuneups for cars, trucks, and other automobiles. Because of the fact that it can get a little pricey to disassemble and replace or clean a fuel injection system, it's often glossed over during regular tuneups. Either that, or a shop will charge you WAY TOO MUCH MONEY just to put an additive fuel injector cleaner into a tank of gas for you, when all you have to do is just buy a bottle and pour it in a full tank of gas yourself.
As far as fuel economy, emissions, and peak engine performance are concerned, clean fuel injectors are a must. When a fuel injector is dirty, it doesn't deliver the right amount of spray required for combustion, and the result is that the fuel economy and performance of the engine declines. This, in the long run, can be costly or can even begin to cause symptoms like a rough idle or misfires. That's why I really like fuel injection cleaner. The reason I recommend fuel injector cleaner is because it's one of those simple things a person can do without having to replace any parts or any under the hood work. Normally in a tuneup, lots of things get replaced, things like spark plugs, distributor caps, belts, and fluids. But with fuel injectors, running an additive through a tank of gas every once in awhile will definitely do the trick.
Through the course of time, all fuel injectors become clogged. It happens due to the fact that the deposits are present in the gasoline itself. Gasoline is a compound mixture of hydrocarbons, and includes waxy, heavy chemicals known as oilfins, which yield a lot of energy when burned. As long as a car is running, the fuel injectors and engine runs efficiently. The clogging occurs when the engine is shut off, and a process known as heat soak occurs. When the residual fuel in the injector nozzles starts evaporating, it deposits the oilfins, which do not evaporate, and many stick and don't get washed out, and over time get baked onto the system as a solid varnish that can and will ultimately cause clogging to the injectors.
Newer injectors are more resistant than the old ones to this kind of clogging, and additives are added to gasoline to try and dissolve some of these buildups. But vehicles that generally make shorter trips are especially in danger of fuel injection clogging, and every injector will naturally become clogged, given enough time. If the fuel injectors are never cleaned, as the car ages you'll start to notice that your car shakes a bit while idling and eventually it will either stall or misfire, and all the while your fuel economy and engine performance will suffer. I was just in a car the other day that suffered from a very rough idle, and the driver had to keep a little pressure on the gas petal while stopped to keep the car from stalling.
There are a wide variety of fuel injection cleaners, one of the most common being gasoline itself! Cheap gasoline is often lacking in the additives that breakdown clogging and, over the long haul, can cost you more money than it saves. The best tip for keeping your injectors clean is to not buy cheap gas. This however, is only a preventative measure. My guess is that for people reading this article, it's because your fuel injectors are already partially clogged and are causing problems to your engine performance. If that's the case, then you still have quite a few options. There are many cheap fuel injection cleaners that you can add to your gasoline which will act like drano on a sink pipe and will dissolve many of the clogs in your injectors. When used semi-regularly (once every few months) it will keep your injectors nice and clean.
But this may not be enough for some engines. Older engines already experiencing heavy problems may need a bigger hand. For this, you may actually need a fuel injection cleaner kit that will allow you to dismantle the fuel injection system and give it a nice clean. This, however, isn't always a possibility, and some fuel injectors are delicate and difficult to tamper with. Before trying this, I would definitely recommend running a bottle of fuel injection cleaner additive or two through a tank of gas and see if that helps at all. It's cheap and effective. There's your money saving tip of the day!
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