I use premium fuel on my 95 LT1. Does anyone also recommend using a fuel additive like Octane Boost?

 

No. If you aren't knocking or having some other problem, no reason to go to higher octane. No gain to be had. Besides, last time I looked the actual octane boost from a can of that kind of stuff was microscopic.

 

A 20oz bottle of Techron added a few times a year (depending on mileage) seems to keep 'things' in running order.
It's not a boost, just a cleaner.

 

What do you all say about the injector cleaner by several top names in car products?

 

Waste of money. Today's gas has all the cleaners you need.

 

Never bothered to use them. Every 3 years I send the injectors out to be tested and cleaned. Gives me an idea of how much contamination, if any is there and lets me know that it is clean after the job is done and should be clean way after the next cleaning is due.

IMO, they are like cleaning a room in the dark. You don't know how much dirt you cleaned out or what exactly was done and what wasn't. When they come back from Jon at FIC, I know it is clean and flowing within a little of each other.

 

When electronic fuel injection first came on the scene, a friend of mine at NAPA told me they sold fuel injection cleaner buy the cases to rental car companies. Some time later, the gasoline producers started putting cleaner in their fuels and soon thereafter, he said, these same rental car companies stopped buying the cleaner.

As far as my own personal experience goes, I have a '91 Lincoln with 185K miles and an '02 Mercedes with 50K miles. I have never added cleaner to either and the injectors have never been touched.

Don't waste your money.

 

Octane boosters you see in the store do not work.

When they say they raise the octane by 3 points they mean say, from 93 to 93.3 not 96

I use this stuff it works! And has lead in it. For those of you with cats cant use it. Toxic though watch out dont handle the bottle without gloves on
. Real stuff though cheaper than race gas

http://www.wildbillscorvette.com/OctaneSupreme01.htm

 

None of the $2.99 fuel additives do much. Its just a small dose of paint thinner...Too little to do anything not enough to hurt.

There ARE real EFI cleaners and lubes that will clean and lubricate the injectors and help keep the system clean internally. Lucas, slick-50 and techron are all good products. Bottom line, if its less than $10 don't bother. You're better off buying a qt of xylene or alcohol from the paint dept at home depot...

I use the lucas inj cleaner/lube and it DOES make a noticeable difference in throttle response and the over-all performance. Engine idles smoother, revs smoother and starts easier.
Fuel injectors are precision parts that must have a very fine, mist or fog like spray. If they get dirty they spray wet. Wet fuel does not burn as well as mist will, so the end result is a less complete/powerful combustion. The better fuel inj cleaners clean the gunk out of the inj screens and nozzles, pintles are free so the inj can operate efficiently . Techron also has been used successfully to cure some fuel level sender problems with film or deposits on the sender contacts.

In addition...
I forgot to mention Marvel Mystery oil as a cheap, effective system lube/cleaner. MM will help dissolve gunk and burn it out, it provides some top end lube and helps clean the valve train as well. Not to be dosed constantly since it IS oil and WILL clog the cats eventually, I use it 2 or 3 times a yr to clean and lubricate the fuel system and help guard against gum and varnish build-up. Around here there are LOTs of generic fuels being sold and there is no way of knowing if your fuel has anything like techron or nothing at all.

 

I'm not sure about the lubricate injectors part. Those "cleaners" are supposed to dissolve gunk and what not but I am kinda skeptical since I won't know how much is left and if there is anything else wrong. I would think that I'd be better off not guessing and sending my injectors for testing and cleaning. That way I have a report and can see that it is getting fouled up after say 5 years so I schedule cleaning in 3. With all that stuff I'd be dumping in, I think it would give me more peace of mind to have it tested for $15 a pop from FIC. I usually do it for my ATVs, Jetskis, and cars. Car and truck injectors are done every 100K since they are diesel and that has proven to be a reasonable schedule at this time. Gas vehicles are done ever 3 and can be stretched for 6 without much ill effect. Gas stuff, I shut down over the winter so it is easy to take your time to do it.

 

 

X...4 now? Anyway,

I just did a head gasket on my beater/DD. 200,000 miles. While I had the head off, I changed the valve seals, which meant the valves came out...

You know those "before" and "after" pictures of intake valves showing the results of using gasoline w/detergent and gasoline w/o?



My cars' intake valves looked like the valve on the right. 200,000 miles, and I use the cheapest gas I can buy for that car.

All gas has detergent in it, and it works.


"In the late 1980s....in a move supported by the auto industry, the federal government mandated specific levels of additives. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced the minimum gasoline detergent standard [1] in 1995."

- http://Top Tier Detergent Gasoline -...e encyclopedia

Most gasoline additives are elixirs...the ones that really work aren't necessary unless you have a bigger problem. If that is the case, fix the bigger problem.

 

I have never thought that additives to raise octane were worth it. If you don't have a pinging problem, then you don't need it. If it is pinging on regular, then buy premium gas.

Cleaner additives may be a little different for some specific issues. On the C5 forums people seem to love Techron. There are a lot of posts that the fuel gage stopped working correctly and by adding Techron it cleared up the problem. I have not heard many good reports from other cleaners.

 

Again, no gain to be had by raising your octane level for most (stock) C4s.

 

When Chevron/Exxon started the Techron additive, I saw an immediate mileage increase. Their product works to clean injectors, valves and combustion chambers. For my DD I'll add one bottle every 3/4 months.

As for Octane boosters and snak oils, IMHO its a big waste of money.

 

Jon did find some stuff on my injectors and a partially collapsed basket filter on my injectors. Filter needs to be replaced but without the testing we'd never know. A can of that Techron was used but there was still crud.

 

While we are sort of on the subject...what is the deal with ethanol in gas? I hear it is bad for the injectors in the older type cars.

Most gas around me is 10% ethanol.

 

10% ethanol won't hurt most cars. Higher concentrations tend to dissolve certain kinds of rubber, such as in hoses and seals.

There were some years where the fuel flowed around the coil in the injector (to keep it cool) and the ethanol tends to dissolve the insulation used on the coil wire, which shorts out the injectors. Multec is the name of these guys. Used from '89 - '94.

 

so do 89-94 vettes have these injectors??

 

IIRC, they do.