Which fuel system cleaner do you use or think is the best? There are >25 brands out there and all claim to be the best. When gas was >$4.50 per gallon, I went to 89-91 and occasionally ran Sea Foam thru the tank and vacuum system. The lower grade was not the best for the car. Now at <$2 per gallon, I get the sweet stuff (91-93).

Thanks in advance.

 

they all suck. if you're getting abnormal gas mileage, get a tuneup.

 

I use BG44k like every 8k

 

I have heard Seafoam can damage your o2 sensor.

 

to make it a bit more understandable:

i'm fairly certain it's all napthalene distillates, or some such. The number of different bottles/brands of this stuff is, indeed, boggling, but if you read the "ingredients" part of the bottle, it's the same base component. Even comparing "different uses" products like intake/valve cleaner vs. fuel injector cleaner- they use the same chemical.

What i can say for sure though, is never buy the cleaners that remove carbon deposits on the interior of your engine that may have built up.
If the carbon residue gets in the oil, it could clog the oil pump screen filter, which could easily keep your vehicle from getting oil to the engine, which can cause a bind. This can all happen in a pretty quick manner. Of course if the pieces of carbon are not large it will be less of a possibility, but still not great to be circulating through the system, as oil passages can eventually clog up over time.

93 octanes are considered "premium" and contain many additional detergents not present in 87 octane. This allows gradual cleaning of the injectors, thereby avoiding any chunks working loose and causing problems elsewhere. Basically, you're already running a constant system detergent, and if you're one of those few that i've read don't on here, switch, or at the least occasionally throw in a tank of 93.

5150ds, to clarify, none of them actually induce damage to your car or to your cars parts, the damage is more a byproduct of your use. also, 5150 is the last for digits of my #, and ds is my initials. surrender your name as soon as possible.

 

Don't waste your time with any of them on these cars. I've never heard of any VQ motor with fuel system issues and I've been working on them since 1999.

 

This is sounding like the ongoing grounding kit debate:
grounding kit = smoke and mirrors and now--
fuel system cleaners = nada (zippo) value).

 

 

http://www.toptiergas.com/

 

I have used sea foam on my 2004 Tahoe, in the gas, oil and injectors. I standby the product, and when used properly, can be beneficial

 

if you vechile has over 100k miles then run seafom thought it, run it though the PCV valve and get ready for a smoke screen

 

brake booster vacuum line works as well, you need to let it soak for awhile though

 

im sure in an application where you're not running the cleanest gasoline, it can be. also, you had an SUV, which typically are run harder and dirtier than a car. chances are also good that you take better care of your g than you did your tahoe. further, unless you had dyno and emissions results to back the claim(and i mean independent ones, not seafoam or their vendors results), i doubt there were any benifits other than those in your head.

 

I actually own both vehicles currently. And both are driven equally hard.

Yes I do run 87 octane in the Tahoe and 93 in the G, but you cant tell me that 93 octane = no carbon build up.

As far as results, I have tracked every single full up in the Tahoe since 34k miles, and currently have 73k. The past year, prior to the seafoam, I averaged 13.56 MPG mixed driving (Jan 1st 2008 thru july 24th 2008, 29 fill ups.) After the seam foam, has been 10tanks of gas, I have averaged 14.168, that's a .608 MPG increase, not too bad for a 7 dollar bottle of seafoam. You think .608 MPG is not a big deal? Over the 10k miles I drove the Tahoe this year thats 34 gallons of gas savings, everylitte bit counts

Dyno results are useless, even if cleaning up the internals gave up 1HP, the difference would be negligible.

 

I used to pull a cup of seafoam into the manifold vacuum line on my acura every six months. I loved seeing the "carbon buildup" fly out of my exhaust. I wasn't sure what to believe, but judging by offtrac and snotf, I'm guessing it wasn't much benefit, eh?