So the owner's manual of my '03.5 sedan says not to place additives in the fluids of the car, as they may cause damage - but between you and me, I would almost swear by something like Lucasoil injector cleaner or their oil additive.

What do you think? Additives or no?

 

Infiniti tech told me to use the Chevron Techron fuel injector cleaner when he heard pinging. He says that they have an Infiniti brand over priced one, and it's exactly the same as the Chevron one but with just an Infiniti label haha.

 

Fuel cleaners are typically been okay. Although I've heard of Nissan injectors not liking it.

But oil additves are HUGE no no!

 

Any particular reason?

 

Yes. Oil is very carfully designed and is the fluid that prevents metal/metal contact. The film of oil is thousands of an inch thick.

Putting chemcials that could cause compatibility issues that might affect the film strength or other important aspects of the oil's characterists is like playing with matches in a dynamite factory

 

There was some testing done on the Lucas Oil additives if I remember correctly. They found very surprising results where during testing, the oil was whipped into a nasty foam, and the untreated oil actually preformed significantly better.

 

Most additives are designed as bandaids on high mileage worn out engines [other components] except maybe BG 44k injector cleaner. Additives like Lucas thichen the visocity of oil to reduce ring blowby. Just buy a thicker oil if you need one.

One must be careful of old style additives with Zinc as this has been shown to degrade cats [if the engine is burning oil].............even modern oils have reduced the use of Zinc additives.

 

Chevron has the best additives and they already put it in their gasoline(Chevron with techron). Just buy chevron gas if your worried about fouling injectors.

 

I swear by BG44K. I once put it in my 80K mile chrysler and felt a noticeable difference in power and fuel economy. Ever since then, i've been using it in all of our cars.

Do you guys think if you use chevron w/ techron or shell v-power that you'll never have to use a separate injector cleaner? My mom's lexus has used v-power gas for all of its 50K miles, and when i put a can of bg44k in, i could've sworn the car's throttle felt more responsive. I wasn't expecting a difference because the car had used v-power since the day it was driven off the lot.

 

Even the finest ultra premium grade of gasoline only contains a tiny amount of cleaning detergent additives!

Chevron markets Chevron gas from fungable generic gasoline by adding a splash [1 gallon] of techron to 5,000 gallons at the tankfarm........that's 2/100ths of a percent whereas 11 ounces [1 ounce of techron in a liquid carrier] in a tank [20 gallons] = 0.05%.......2.5 times stronger [higher amount of] detergents

Depending on driving style this may be inadequate to keep injectors as clean as brand new.

The best test is to use BG44k if the idle or acceleration improves in 25-50 miles it proves there was a problem.
BG44k contains ~~5 times the volume of detergents that a bottle of Techron contains so it is more cost effect. Or you could just add $35 worth of Techron.

 

If you notice the difference in just 25 to 50 miles, couldn't you just add the Techron to a bit less than a 1/2 tank of gas to do the same thing?

 

I think I've seen the msds on BK44 also. I think it contained 1 or 2 ingredients that also serve as octane boosters. So there is a reason the car might feel better. But it might not be because of the cleaning agents

 

So then, how much do you trust your injector cleaner (fuel additive) to do the job as opposed to a full injector pull out scrub n' spray cleaning? Is it even comparable?

 

I think the BK44 is good. It might help keep injectors clean or even help clean minor deposits over time.

But if your injectors are that bad, then taking them out and having them sonicly cleaned and having pure cleaner run though them is the only way.

But I doubt the G injectors are old enough to be at that point.

 

But stock G35's are tuned to use 91 octane fuel. So does boosting the octane in the fuel make a difference if you haven't tuned the engine to take advantage of the higher octane?