Valvoline Fuel System Cleaner or Gumout Gas Mileage Improver

[J Piroth]

Pep Boys has a coupon in the paper whereby both are free after rebate. so...



Has anyone used either?

Did they do any good? Any harm?



I've always thought these pour-in "system cleaners" were probably a waste of money. But since they're free, I'm considering giving them a try.



Thoughts?

 

[troy malone]

LUCAS oil makes a fuel additive that comes in a 32 oz bottle for about $9.. i used it in my 01 4X4 last weekend and drove over 500 highway miles and averaged 20 mpg.. was getting around 17..

 

[OFF TRAC]

I second the Lucas fuel additive, my father uses it on his 1997 Peterbuilt with Cat Engine and I use it on my 2002 ST. Improves engine response, supposed to help fuel burn more efficient cleans out the intakes and such and has given me constant on the highway mileage of between 20-22 on a speed average of 75 mph.



I also use Lucas Motor Oil additive in place of 1qt of oil every oil change mixed in with Mobil 1 Syntec or High mileage clean 5000 and Lucas Transmission and gear additive My ST has 116148 miles on her and no engine, fuel, gear or transmission problems.



My father also has used such additives on his PETE/CAT and has had no major problems, went well over 1 million miles before a "complete engine refub" done as a "tune up", not because it needed to be repaired/fix.





Edit: I must note that I do have a free flow custom exhaust & K&N filter which may play a part in the constant 20-22 highway miles average, but I do notice a differance of about 1.5 or so on trips I don't use the Lucas Fuel additive and the truck seems not to pur as smoothly when just running on the 87 oct.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

Use the Royal Purple Fuel System Treatment; Great stuff.

 

[Jeremiah Morgan]

Chevron/Techron...The best I have ever used...

 

[Richard L]

Fuel injector cleaners only work if your fuel system and injectors are dirty. Simply buying good quality gasoline with detergent additives will help keep your fuel system and injectors clean. It is a good idea to run a dose of fuel injector cleaner every year just to clean up any deposits that may have formed over the previous year.



...Rich

 

[Deleted deleted]

ditto RichardL.... I have NEVER bought any of those add-in cleaners. Buying quality gasoline will do the same job.

 

[Jerry G.]

I'm reading all this good stuff and thinking at the same time about reading in my owner manual that ford does not recommend using any additive cleaners and only recommends 86 octane regular gas .I think its 86 LOL. Regular gas anyway . My friend is a auto mechanic and he uses a injector cleaner in his truck but it's not a ford . I have 84,200 miles on my 07 and it runs great ,only thing is i need to run it on the highway once in a while ,right now just around town and I know that isn't too good my mileage is down from 15 and 16 to 14 but it seems to run just as good as before .

 

[Johnny O]

Chevron/Techron...The best I have ever used...

A large bottle of Chevron Techron at every oil change. Ethanol F's up your injectors. Since I had to have that fixed with much pricier BG CF5 and BG Water Remover I went to Techron at every oil change at 5000 miles and no problems for several years since.

 

[Jerry G.]

A large bottle of Chevron Techron at every oil change. Ethanol F's up your injectors. Since I had to have that fixed with much pricier BG CF5 and BG Water Remover I went to Techron at every oil change at 5000 miles and no problems for several years since.

I have an 07 S.T. and my owners manual says dont use any additives to gas and only use regular gas . I wondered about adding something to keep the injectors clean but because of what I read I have never added anything . I also once read in a publication that a guy added STP injector cleaner and it created some injector problem. In that case I figured his injectors must have been very gummed up and the cleaner loosened it up and then plugged up the tiny spray holes . I have 91,000 on mine and it runs very good and I get the crappy mileage they say I should be getting which is 15 city and about 18 or 19 hwy. After posting this I see I have already posted the same thing LOL but I'll just leave it now .

 

[Johnny O]

I have an 07 S.T. and my owners manual says dont use any additives to gas and only use regular gas . I wondered about adding something to keep the injectors clean but because of what I read I have never added anything . I also once read in a publication that a guy added STP injector cleaner and it created some injector problem. In that case I figured his injectors must have been very gummed up and the cleaner loosened it up and then plugged up the tiny spray holes . I have 91,000 on mine and it runs very good and I get the crappy mileage they say I should be getting which is 15 city and about 18 or 19 hwy. After posting this I see I have already posted the same thing LOL but I'll just leave it now .

That's only because Ford doesn't want to be liable for telling you to put something in it. I went the first 60,000 miles with nothing added and then my injectors fouled because of the ethanol, check engine light, it barely ran, all started very suddenly. Shop cleaned the injectors with the BG products I mentioned above. Ever since then I put a large bottle, or two small bottles, of Chevron Techron in at every oil change. A bit of research tells me that it's the best injector cleaner other than the pricey BG stuff. Also remember that the owner's manual tells you to change the fuel filter every 30,000 miles. It's likely that the person who said injector cleaner made his truck run bad didn't change the fuel filter and the cleaner loosened up some crud that plugged the filter.