A Look at Fuel Injector Cleaning Products
If you own a diesel truck, you are probably interested in keeping it running well for a long time. If you have high performance injectors in your vehicle, you may be looking for ways to maintain them. A number of experts in this area routinely recommend using injector cleaners. In essence, these are products that can clear out the pathways in the fuel system.
When you use these to clean out high performance injectors, you add the liquid to the fuel tank. They work as they pass through the fuel pumps and system to remove any gum buildup or other substances that have adhered themselves to the fuel lines. These products can work on the entire system. While your filters are there to keep larger pieces of debris from getting into your fuel injection, they cannot keep smaller bits of debris nor can they keep gummy substances out. The cleaning products themselves are combustible so they burn off when the engine is running.
The cleaners used to clean out fuel systems are often one or more of these three compounds: polyisobutylene, polyisobutylene amine, and polyether amine. These are all combustible and can be used to end the knocking people will hear from the engine and dissolve any residue that can block up the system as a whole.
How Effective Are Fuel Injector Cleaners?
These products have been used to improve performance in vehicles with high performance injectors for many years. While there is no empirical evidence to back up what people have experienced, those who use these cleaners in their vehicles say they make a big difference. The main caveat is that they have to be used per the instructions from the manufacturer. All bets are off if they are not used properly.
Another drawback is that once the buildup has gotten too bad, no chemical cleaner will be able to work through it. These cleaners need to be used before the problem with residue has gotten too bad. At this point, there are devices that can be used to clean out your vehicle’s fuel system.
What problems are fixed with fuel injector cleaning products?
Despite what fuel companies tell you about the steps they take to prevent buildup from occurring in the fuel system of a vehicle, it does happen. This is the whole reason fuel injector cleaning products were developed and are used at all. Carbon can build up on the fuel intake valve. This can impact the fuel efficiency and impact the seal. When carbon builds up on other areas of the fuel system as well. Some areas where this is an issue are the cylinder head, piston head, and intake manifold. All of these areas can benefit from using fuel injector cleaning products.
Carbon Buildup Will Kill Your Fuel Efficiency and Hurt Your Acceleration
Whether you have high performance injectors or not, when carbon is allowed to build up throughout the fuel system, it will be harder to accelerate and you will go through a lot more fuel. When the channels through which the fuel moves become clogged up, the result is that the vehicle will need more fuel and you will have a harder time with acceleration. Using fuel injector cleaning products can prevent these problems.
Use the Fuel Injector Cleaning Products Properly
As was mentioned, in order for these products to work, they have to be used correctly. There are a number of these products on the market today so you should follow the instructions that came with the one you bought. When these cleaners are too concentrated, they can do a lot of damage to the fuel system.
You should add your fuel injector cleaner to your fuel tank just before you top it off. When you go into the gas station to add fuel to a tank that has fuel in it, add the cleaning product before you add more fuel. If it is just about empty, add some fuel, put in the cleaning product, and then add more fuel. After this, you should refrain from getting more gas until the tank is just about empty so that all of the cleaning product can get through the fuel system.
At the end of the day, these cleaning products will boost performance of your vehicle.
