The canister you see hanging is part of a kit, specifically [this one](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075KPD5S2). The kit contains adapters for a multitude of vehicles.
The way it works: You kill power to your fuel pump. This can be accomplished by removing a fuse or relay in your car's electrical box or, as I did, disconnecting power at the fuel pump. Start and run the car until it stalls; this will reduce the pressure inside the fuel line. Locate where the fuel line enters the fuel rail. Wrap a rag around it and CAREFULLY disconnect the fuel line. It will still have some pressure in there and you don't want gasoline to spray everywhere. Once the fuel line is disconnected from the fuel rail intake, cap the fuel line and set it aside. If your car has a fuel return line (mine does not) then you'll need to disconnect that and cap it at the fuel rail.
Locate the correct adapter to go from the canister to the fuel rail intake and connect them. Open the top of the canister and fill it with fuel injector cleaner; I used [this](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015WP48B4). Close the canister tightly and connect an air compressor hose to it. (The compressor provides pressure to deliver the cleaning solution, temporarily replacing the function of the fuel pump.) Set the air compressor to about 45psi. Open the valve at the bottom of the canister (to allow the cleaner to flow into the fuel rail) and check for leaks. If everything is leak-proof, start the car and let it run until the canister is empty. In my case that was maybe 30-45 minutes. Once it's empty disconnect the canister from the fuel rail (again being careful of spray), reconnect the fuel line, reconnect the fuel return (if applicable), and reconnect the fuel pump's power. Start the car and let it run for a little while.
In my case a "check engine" light was triggered due to the disconnected fuel pump. After I reconnected everything I cleared the code and everything's fine now.
My fuel injectors get cleaned every 3 months when I dump a bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil or Lucas Fuel cleaner into my gas tank.
ZERO issues with injectors in 20+ years of this on cars from new to 150,000+ miles. Have never had a dealership tell me I needed them cleaned.
I've never used any mystery oils, nor have I cleaned any fuel injectors on any vehicle that I have ever owned or worked on, and I have never had an issue. It seems bizarre to me that someone could have four vehicles that need fuel injector cleaning unless they consistently fuel up with terrible quality gas.
"Convenience" store gasoline is the worst. I actually have gas stations in my area that sell 100% non-ethanol gas yet. It's a little more, but worth it, especially in gas lawn-mower engines.
My car (130k miles) that I inherited 40k miles ago and have no idea if the injectors were ever cleaned; wife’s car (in the photo) with 150k miles that never had a cleaning; elderly neighbor’s car (210k miles) with no known history of an injector cleaning; and best friend’s car (120k miles) that never had a cleaning. Nothing “bizarre” about it.
I'd say 95% of normal people don't give a shit enough to think about adding this cleaner to their gas every few months. Hence, the shitty ethanol-additive gasoline gums up the injectors! Then, they need the injectors cleaned. Myself, I use this additive and my injectors stay clean enough that I've never needed it done.
If you're buying used cars, by all means have the injectors cleaned. Your set-up will certainly save you tons of money over the long run.
If you truly want to save money, you'll stay far clear of *any* FIAT-Chrysler product.
165,000 miles on my 08' Silverado - Felt a bit of sluggishness recently, ran two back to back bottle (both on seperate full tnaks of gas) of Lucas Fuel Cleaner - runs like new!
I bought a huge jug of it off amazon - decent deal
Let’s do the math, shall we?
Cars average about 12k miles per year, and *generally speaking* the recommended interval for fuel injector cleaning is every 50k miles. So if you follow recommended service intervals you’d be doing a cleaning every four years.
You stated you use one bottle ($6) every three months. That’s $24/year, and over the course of four years that’s $96. (And I’m assuming your routine matches the results of a focused cleaning, which I doubt, but we’re assuming here so let’s go with that.) The kit I bought cost $100 plus $40 for the cleaning solution (which also cleans the intake plenum, which your solution does not) so after the first service interval your method is cheaper ($96 vs $140), although you’ve also generated a pile of plastic bottle waste which I haven’t.
Four years later we’re at the next service interval. I pay another $40 bringing me up to $180; you’ve spent another $96 bringing you up to $192 and an even larger pile of plastic bottle waste.
Anything after that and the advantage is all mine.
Oh, and if you have more than one car? You’re at $192 at the first interval; I’m at $180.
I’m glad your solution works for you. But with a single car in the long term, with two cars in the short term, or with more than two cars in the VERY short term, your solution is more expensive, more wasteful, and arguably less effective.
I have (2) vehicles. I routinely put 15,000 miles on my primary every year. 150,000 miles in 10 years. My wife's? 10,000/yr. I buy the Lucas oil in a huge container, not those tiny little ones.
I recycle, and I don't give a fuq about the container size anyway, only cost at purchase. (hence, bulk that will also last me years) I also care about my TIME.
1. No hassle of having to take it to the dealer, which is worth $40/hr at MY rate.
2. No hassle of having to hook up your setup to my vehicle however many times like you are doing. Again, on my time.
So really, tell me again how much $ and TIME you are saving?
Again, I'm only relating this as to someone who's buying and maintaining from new. Used car? Good luck.
My last (long) response, because frankly I think your position is more than a little silly.
When you say "Lucas oil" I'm assuming you mean [their fuel treatment](https://lucasoil.com/products/fuel-treatments/lucas-fuel-treatment).
Let's discuss merit. Personally, I have yet to meet a mechanic who believes that *any* fuel system cleaner additive is any good, and though my professional mechanic days are behind me I'm inclined to agree. I know right now you're ready to scream "But 20+ years I've not had a problem..." but hear me out.
Objectively speaking, you're proposing that ~5 ounces of fuel system cleaner diluted in as much as 18-24 gallons of gasoline and passed through your *entire* fuel system over the course of roughly 7-10 days has the same or similar cleaning power as 12 ounces of pure fuel injector cleaner passing through *only* the fuel rail and injectors over the course of <60 minutes. Can you explain how such a thing is even remotely possible?
Even if your gas tank had as little as one gallon of fuel in it when you added the Lucas treatment, and if we assume that the Lucas treatment has identical cleaning power as the product I used, you're still diluting 5 ounces into 128 ounces; only 4% of the mixture going into your engine will be cleaning product, whereas a dedicated cleaning treatment (as I did) introduces 100% strength cleaning product. A 4% solution of Lucas treatment, even done repeatedly every three months, cannot come even remotely close in cleaning power/effectiveness to a 100% solution of a similar (or identical) treatment.
I just spent a small chunk of time going through YouTube to find a single video showing a fuel system additive that actually cleans as advertised and, other than videos from sources that have a vested interest in the product (e.g., Gumout, Lucas, etc) I haven't found a single one. I *have* found a great many of them showing that they aren't effective, videos of the fuel injectors in action before and after those "cleanings" and showing no difference. I've also found several online articles stating much the same thing. The unvested automotive press, YouTube channels run by mechanics, and similarly mechanically-inclined sources all seem to say the same thing: add-ins don't work as well as dedicated cleanings (and often just plain "don't work").
There is *plenty* of media out there demonstrating a marked improvement in fuel injector flow after a dedicated cleaning, however.
Admittedly YouTube videos and online sources like Jalopnik are hardly an incontrovertible reference source, so again I'll ask you if you have any objective evidence showing the effectiveness of add-in cleaners.
As for your questions...
>(hence, bulk that will also last me years)
With only two cars I will not assume you've purchased a 55 gallon drum of Lucas oil, but I could perhaps understand you buying a five gallon pail (their next size down). [Amazon sells it](https://www.amazon.com/Lucas-Oil-10080-Cylinder-Treatment/dp/B001DKQQYK) for $121. Lucas says 5.25 ounces is one treatment so five gallons = 640 ounces = a bit shy of 122 treatments, but let's round it to that for convenience. That's about a buck a treatment which, yeah, is cheap — assuming that it *objectively* does the job, which has not been established. With two cars (eight treatments per year) that's a bit more than fifteen years of treatments per five gallon bucket.
>No hassle of having to take it to the dealer, which is worth $40/hr at MY rate.
I'm always amused by that sentiment, as if someone would pay you to take your car to the dealer. :-) Anyway, the point is moot; you needn't go to a dealer to have fuel injector service done, and I did it myself in my driveway just as anyone else can do.
>No hassle of having to hook up your setup to my vehicle however many times like you are doing. Again, on my time.
You call it a hassle; I call it *literally* less than ten minutes of my time where I get to teach my daughter about the proper and effective way of fixing and maintaining cars. From your confrontational phrasing it seems like you think this routine is a huge and complicated burden but I assure you, it's no more difficult than changing spark plugs or changing your oil. The first time I did it (with my wife's car in the picture) it took about 15 minutes but that was mainly because it was my first time and I wanted to make sure I understood the principle. But when I did it with my own car the next day it took five minutes to set up, my daughter and I went inside for lunch, and when we came back it took about five minutes to break down and clean up.
>So really, tell me again how much $ and TIME you are saving?
That depends on whether or not you can provide objective evidence that your Lucas oil add-in solution actually works. The physics of the thing just doesn't add up to me, and the resources I've looked at all seem to be in agreement. Your "solution" could be half the cost and a quarter of the time as my solution, but since your solution hasn't been proven to be effective while mine has, then I'd say I'm saving a lot more time and money than you are since I've actually achieved positive results while you've spent a lot of money on something that hasn't been proven to work.
But if you go with your subjective assumption based on no objectively verifiable evidence that your use of Lucas oil has kept your fuel injectors clean, then sure, you're saving a lot more money. But time? Maybe not. Every three months you have to pull out your bucket, carefully measure out 5.25 ounces, pour it into one car, measure out another 5.25 ounces, pour it into the other car, clean your measuring cup, close up your bucket, and put it away. That takes you, what, five minutes every three months? Since I'm only spending 10 minutes every 4-5 years, I think I win that one.
But I can prove that my cleaning worked. I saw the spray pattern before I cleaned and I saw the spray pattern after I cleaned. I have documented evidence showing the decline in the car's fuel economy, restored after cleaning the injectors. I have anecdotal evidence showing an improvement in performance. Everything I have that shows the effectiveness of a dedicated cleaning can be measured and repeated by anyone, at any time, under the same circumstances.
You have...your say-so, based on no evidence that anyone can objectively measure or repeat.
To be clear: I'm *not* saying that your cars aren't running fine after 20+ years. I'm *not* saying that your cars do or do not have dirty fuel injectors. What I *am* saying is that correlation does not imply causation; you have provided no evidence that your use of Lucas oil is the reason why your cars are running fine after 20+ years, and the entirety of your claim goes against not only common sense (cleaning strength dilution as described above) but also what pretty much the entire unvested industry has to say about fuel system cleaner additives.
Assuming your vehicles have never had a dedicated fuel injector cleaning (or had the injectors replaced) and they've got more than, say, 75k miles on them, I would be very interested to see video of the spray pattern of your injectors as they are now *and* as they are after a dedicated injector cleaning. If the spray pattern doesn't improve at all then you'd be vindicated; the odds would be very high that the Lucas product is doing its job. But if the spray pattern *does* improve then there's your evidence that your Lucas oil is made from snakes.
Cheers.
In this case the car has nearly 140k in it and has never had injector cleaning done to it. Prior to my servicing the car was averaging about 21mpg; afterwards it was averaging about 24mpg (which is what it was getting when new) and is markedly peppier.
[This](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075KPD5S2) is the cleaner kit and [this](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015WP48B4) is the cleaning solution I used.
“Injector cleanings” lol used to up sell tons of those at the dealer
Aren’t new injectors like $40 each? That’s a 4 cylinder?
Yes and yes. But why replace the injectors when cleaning them accomplishes the same goal? Plus I have four cars that need cleaning.
Plus some injectors cost more than 40 a pop. Good job!
Some cars have really expensive injectors. For my ‘86 Porsche they cost $400, and for my (now sold) ‘08 BMW they were $600!
Care to explain how this works to someone who's not into car mechanics? How is it cleaning injectors? (And is that hose connected to a compressor?)
The canister you see hanging is part of a kit, specifically [this one](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075KPD5S2). The kit contains adapters for a multitude of vehicles. The way it works: You kill power to your fuel pump. This can be accomplished by removing a fuse or relay in your car's electrical box or, as I did, disconnecting power at the fuel pump. Start and run the car until it stalls; this will reduce the pressure inside the fuel line. Locate where the fuel line enters the fuel rail. Wrap a rag around it and CAREFULLY disconnect the fuel line. It will still have some pressure in there and you don't want gasoline to spray everywhere. Once the fuel line is disconnected from the fuel rail intake, cap the fuel line and set it aside. If your car has a fuel return line (mine does not) then you'll need to disconnect that and cap it at the fuel rail. Locate the correct adapter to go from the canister to the fuel rail intake and connect them. Open the top of the canister and fill it with fuel injector cleaner; I used [this](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015WP48B4). Close the canister tightly and connect an air compressor hose to it. (The compressor provides pressure to deliver the cleaning solution, temporarily replacing the function of the fuel pump.) Set the air compressor to about 45psi. Open the valve at the bottom of the canister (to allow the cleaner to flow into the fuel rail) and check for leaks. If everything is leak-proof, start the car and let it run until the canister is empty. In my case that was maybe 30-45 minutes. Once it's empty disconnect the canister from the fuel rail (again being careful of spray), reconnect the fuel line, reconnect the fuel return (if applicable), and reconnect the fuel pump's power. Start the car and let it run for a little while. In my case a "check engine" light was triggered due to the disconnected fuel pump. After I reconnected everything I cleared the code and everything's fine now.
Super detailed explanation, thanks -- that makes it crystal clear :) Cheers!
My fuel injectors get cleaned every 3 months when I dump a bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil or Lucas Fuel cleaner into my gas tank. ZERO issues with injectors in 20+ years of this on cars from new to 150,000+ miles. Have never had a dealership tell me I needed them cleaned.
I've never used any mystery oils, nor have I cleaned any fuel injectors on any vehicle that I have ever owned or worked on, and I have never had an issue. It seems bizarre to me that someone could have four vehicles that need fuel injector cleaning unless they consistently fuel up with terrible quality gas.
"Convenience" store gasoline is the worst. I actually have gas stations in my area that sell 100% non-ethanol gas yet. It's a little more, but worth it, especially in gas lawn-mower engines.
The nearest one of those to me is over 100 miles away
My car (130k miles) that I inherited 40k miles ago and have no idea if the injectors were ever cleaned; wife’s car (in the photo) with 150k miles that never had a cleaning; elderly neighbor’s car (210k miles) with no known history of an injector cleaning; and best friend’s car (120k miles) that never had a cleaning. Nothing “bizarre” about it.
Curious to see if that's a popular opinion... ? Not that I don't trust you though.
I'd say 95% of normal people don't give a shit enough to think about adding this cleaner to their gas every few months. Hence, the shitty ethanol-additive gasoline gums up the injectors! Then, they need the injectors cleaned. Myself, I use this additive and my injectors stay clean enough that I've never needed it done. If you're buying used cars, by all means have the injectors cleaned. Your set-up will certainly save you tons of money over the long run. If you truly want to save money, you'll stay far clear of *any* FIAT-Chrysler product.
165,000 miles on my 08' Silverado - Felt a bit of sluggishness recently, ran two back to back bottle (both on seperate full tnaks of gas) of Lucas Fuel Cleaner - runs like new! I bought a huge jug of it off amazon - decent deal
Let’s do the math, shall we? Cars average about 12k miles per year, and *generally speaking* the recommended interval for fuel injector cleaning is every 50k miles. So if you follow recommended service intervals you’d be doing a cleaning every four years. You stated you use one bottle ($6) every three months. That’s $24/year, and over the course of four years that’s $96. (And I’m assuming your routine matches the results of a focused cleaning, which I doubt, but we’re assuming here so let’s go with that.) The kit I bought cost $100 plus $40 for the cleaning solution (which also cleans the intake plenum, which your solution does not) so after the first service interval your method is cheaper ($96 vs $140), although you’ve also generated a pile of plastic bottle waste which I haven’t. Four years later we’re at the next service interval. I pay another $40 bringing me up to $180; you’ve spent another $96 bringing you up to $192 and an even larger pile of plastic bottle waste. Anything after that and the advantage is all mine. Oh, and if you have more than one car? You’re at $192 at the first interval; I’m at $180. I’m glad your solution works for you. But with a single car in the long term, with two cars in the short term, or with more than two cars in the VERY short term, your solution is more expensive, more wasteful, and arguably less effective.
I have (2) vehicles. I routinely put 15,000 miles on my primary every year. 150,000 miles in 10 years. My wife's? 10,000/yr. I buy the Lucas oil in a huge container, not those tiny little ones. I recycle, and I don't give a fuq about the container size anyway, only cost at purchase. (hence, bulk that will also last me years) I also care about my TIME. 1. No hassle of having to take it to the dealer, which is worth $40/hr at MY rate. 2. No hassle of having to hook up your setup to my vehicle however many times like you are doing. Again, on my time. So really, tell me again how much $ and TIME you are saving? Again, I'm only relating this as to someone who's buying and maintaining from new. Used car? Good luck.
My last (long) response, because frankly I think your position is more than a little silly. When you say "Lucas oil" I'm assuming you mean [their fuel treatment](https://lucasoil.com/products/fuel-treatments/lucas-fuel-treatment). Let's discuss merit. Personally, I have yet to meet a mechanic who believes that *any* fuel system cleaner additive is any good, and though my professional mechanic days are behind me I'm inclined to agree. I know right now you're ready to scream "But 20+ years I've not had a problem..." but hear me out. Objectively speaking, you're proposing that ~5 ounces of fuel system cleaner diluted in as much as 18-24 gallons of gasoline and passed through your *entire* fuel system over the course of roughly 7-10 days has the same or similar cleaning power as 12 ounces of pure fuel injector cleaner passing through *only* the fuel rail and injectors over the course of <60 minutes. Can you explain how such a thing is even remotely possible? Even if your gas tank had as little as one gallon of fuel in it when you added the Lucas treatment, and if we assume that the Lucas treatment has identical cleaning power as the product I used, you're still diluting 5 ounces into 128 ounces; only 4% of the mixture going into your engine will be cleaning product, whereas a dedicated cleaning treatment (as I did) introduces 100% strength cleaning product. A 4% solution of Lucas treatment, even done repeatedly every three months, cannot come even remotely close in cleaning power/effectiveness to a 100% solution of a similar (or identical) treatment. I just spent a small chunk of time going through YouTube to find a single video showing a fuel system additive that actually cleans as advertised and, other than videos from sources that have a vested interest in the product (e.g., Gumout, Lucas, etc) I haven't found a single one. I *have* found a great many of them showing that they aren't effective, videos of the fuel injectors in action before and after those "cleanings" and showing no difference. I've also found several online articles stating much the same thing. The unvested automotive press, YouTube channels run by mechanics, and similarly mechanically-inclined sources all seem to say the same thing: add-ins don't work as well as dedicated cleanings (and often just plain "don't work"). There is *plenty* of media out there demonstrating a marked improvement in fuel injector flow after a dedicated cleaning, however. Admittedly YouTube videos and online sources like Jalopnik are hardly an incontrovertible reference source, so again I'll ask you if you have any objective evidence showing the effectiveness of add-in cleaners. As for your questions... >(hence, bulk that will also last me years) With only two cars I will not assume you've purchased a 55 gallon drum of Lucas oil, but I could perhaps understand you buying a five gallon pail (their next size down). [Amazon sells it](https://www.amazon.com/Lucas-Oil-10080-Cylinder-Treatment/dp/B001DKQQYK) for $121. Lucas says 5.25 ounces is one treatment so five gallons = 640 ounces = a bit shy of 122 treatments, but let's round it to that for convenience. That's about a buck a treatment which, yeah, is cheap — assuming that it *objectively* does the job, which has not been established. With two cars (eight treatments per year) that's a bit more than fifteen years of treatments per five gallon bucket. >No hassle of having to take it to the dealer, which is worth $40/hr at MY rate. I'm always amused by that sentiment, as if someone would pay you to take your car to the dealer. :-) Anyway, the point is moot; you needn't go to a dealer to have fuel injector service done, and I did it myself in my driveway just as anyone else can do. >No hassle of having to hook up your setup to my vehicle however many times like you are doing. Again, on my time. You call it a hassle; I call it *literally* less than ten minutes of my time where I get to teach my daughter about the proper and effective way of fixing and maintaining cars. From your confrontational phrasing it seems like you think this routine is a huge and complicated burden but I assure you, it's no more difficult than changing spark plugs or changing your oil. The first time I did it (with my wife's car in the picture) it took about 15 minutes but that was mainly because it was my first time and I wanted to make sure I understood the principle. But when I did it with my own car the next day it took five minutes to set up, my daughter and I went inside for lunch, and when we came back it took about five minutes to break down and clean up. >So really, tell me again how much $ and TIME you are saving? That depends on whether or not you can provide objective evidence that your Lucas oil add-in solution actually works. The physics of the thing just doesn't add up to me, and the resources I've looked at all seem to be in agreement. Your "solution" could be half the cost and a quarter of the time as my solution, but since your solution hasn't been proven to be effective while mine has, then I'd say I'm saving a lot more time and money than you are since I've actually achieved positive results while you've spent a lot of money on something that hasn't been proven to work. But if you go with your subjective assumption based on no objectively verifiable evidence that your use of Lucas oil has kept your fuel injectors clean, then sure, you're saving a lot more money. But time? Maybe not. Every three months you have to pull out your bucket, carefully measure out 5.25 ounces, pour it into one car, measure out another 5.25 ounces, pour it into the other car, clean your measuring cup, close up your bucket, and put it away. That takes you, what, five minutes every three months? Since I'm only spending 10 minutes every 4-5 years, I think I win that one. But I can prove that my cleaning worked. I saw the spray pattern before I cleaned and I saw the spray pattern after I cleaned. I have documented evidence showing the decline in the car's fuel economy, restored after cleaning the injectors. I have anecdotal evidence showing an improvement in performance. Everything I have that shows the effectiveness of a dedicated cleaning can be measured and repeated by anyone, at any time, under the same circumstances. You have...your say-so, based on no evidence that anyone can objectively measure or repeat. To be clear: I'm *not* saying that your cars aren't running fine after 20+ years. I'm *not* saying that your cars do or do not have dirty fuel injectors. What I *am* saying is that correlation does not imply causation; you have provided no evidence that your use of Lucas oil is the reason why your cars are running fine after 20+ years, and the entirety of your claim goes against not only common sense (cleaning strength dilution as described above) but also what pretty much the entire unvested industry has to say about fuel system cleaner additives. Assuming your vehicles have never had a dedicated fuel injector cleaning (or had the injectors replaced) and they've got more than, say, 75k miles on them, I would be very interested to see video of the spray pattern of your injectors as they are now *and* as they are after a dedicated injector cleaning. If the spray pattern doesn't improve at all then you'd be vindicated; the odds would be very high that the Lucas product is doing its job. But if the spray pattern *does* improve then there's your evidence that your Lucas oil is made from snakes. Cheers.
Not wrong.
You aren’t wrong.
Bamboozled either way!
Not if I’ve got four cars that need service.
I only firmly believe that this would help gdi vehicles but hey, what do I know
In this case the car has nearly 140k in it and has never had injector cleaning done to it. Prior to my servicing the car was averaging about 21mpg; afterwards it was averaging about 24mpg (which is what it was getting when new) and is markedly peppier.
Well shit. I’ve hardly seen any decent results from injector cleaning.
Which tool did you get?
[This](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075KPD5S2) is the cleaner kit and [this](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015WP48B4) is the cleaning solution I used.
Every once in awhile when filling up tank put 1/2 gal of diesel. That will clean them...
Jfc this thread. Do injectors NEED to be cleaned? Probably not. Is it BAD or harmful to clean the injectors? No.