DerrickW

So with all this fuel tank talk going around the one universal on this forum seems to be the Techron recommendation. I know some of you are hardcore garage junkies, master mechanics, there's at least one chemical engineer somewhere in this bunch & lots of guys who've owned lots of performance cars. I've always favored Seafoam Motor Treatment in the past but frankly I think I, like probably most consumers, take it all with a healthy dose of blind faith. Trying to pick a gasoline additive in the local auto parts store is like standing in the cold & flu remedy isle at the grocery store trying to pick one of those things. You have 74 zillion options all claiming to do everything under the sun and you don't truthfully know which is cream, which is crap or if any of it makes a difference. Is Techron the legit stuff & the universally recommended product for good reason?

DECON BLUE

All I can honestly say is I was a Line Mechanic at a MB dealership for years. We added a bottle of Techron at each minor and major service. Having torn down many MB Diesel engines I can tell you that it does drastically reduce carbon buildup on valves, combustion chambers, and injectors. I’ve used it many years and will continue too.

rpiechowski

Techron does the job for fuel sensors.....

DerrickW

Really good insights.

FatsWaller

Here's an article to read https://www.wheels.ca/news/new-gm-se...ner-promising/

It is rumored that the GM cleaner is Techron, just rebranded for GM.

In any case Chevron claims that Techron can remove sulphur contamination from fuel level sensors https://www.chevronlubricants.com/en...m-cleaner.html

It's not that expensive that it isn't worth a try, but you need to get it into both tanks, so you need them to be close to empty. Pour in the Techron and then fill up. I hope it works if you try it.

FWIW, I pour in a bottle as my final step when I gas it up before putting it to sleep for the winter. So far, so good.

DerrickW

Coolio, Foolio. I just ran to Autozone and they had a BOGO going on for the Techron Fuel System Cleaner, ironically not for the Fuel Injector Cleaner (wonder if there's really a difference) but anyway, I got two for $8.99 + tax. In thinking about it, I may run back down there and stock up since this is going to become a regular part of my automotive maintenance routine and its not like this stuff has a use-by date or limited shelf life in my garage.

Texan79423

How often should you use a bottle?

FatsWaller

See post #19 here to see what Chevron had to say https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...o-i-clean.html

Purple92

I have used it for a number of years - not sure if it's really doing anything - but I have heard 3rd hand accounts of it freeing up balky sending units.

I run a couple of cans a year in DD's and a can a year in the fun stuff.

Now - if I understand correctly - there are several versions of Techron. There is Complete Fuel System Cleaner, and there is Fuel Injector cleaner. They are supposedly similar - but are not the same thing.

The following is supposedly from a Chevron engineer (posted on Bob is the Oil Guy). "Thank you for your inquiry. It has been forwarded to us here at Chevron Fuels Technical Service. The ProGard and Techron products contain the same chemical additive. There is but one grade of the Techron product, while there are four grades of Pro-Gard. The Pro-Gard products are "Clean-up", "Fuel Injector Cleaner", "Fuel Injector Plus Intake Valve Cleaner", and "Gas Treatment". The ProGard products give lower, less effective concentrations. These lower-concentration packages often sell for less. They have less "keep clean" and "cleanup" properties. They are also not concentrated enough to clean combustion chamber deposits. There are only subtle differences amongst the Pro-Gard products, mostly having to do with concentration. Techron Concentrate Fuel System Cleaner is the most concentrated and will clean combustion chamber deposits. There is approximately 100% more active ingredient in the Techron Concentrate than the Pro-Gard Fuel Injector Cleaner. The active ingredient is Poly Ether Amine with a solvent carrier. A bottle of Techron Concentrate Fuel System Cleaner, when added to gasoline according to the label instructions, results in an additive concentration roughly 10 times stronger than the dose in Chevron gasolines. If you always used Chevron gasolines, you should be getting enough of a dose of Techron such that you should not have to purchase the Concentrate.

Iceaxe

BOOM!!! Looks like I'm golden as I only run Chevron in my specialty cars.

gsflyer2011

Ditto for that. I only use Chevron on all my cars and been doing it for the last 30 years at least. Never had a fuel, injector, sensor or gas tank related problems and my intake valves on my 180k mile volvo was as clean as the day installed. Mechanic was amazed, he said he has never seen that before. Although i do not need to, i still add a bottle of concentrate once a year.

LDB

Techron is a good additive, brilliantly marketed. While other oil companies have changed the names of their additives from time to time, Chevron has kept the name Techron even though its composition has changed over the years as additive technology in general has improved.

But while Techron is a good additive, if you use top tier gas, no supplementary additive beyond what’s already in the gas is needed. Adding a can of Techron (or other additive) now and then doesn’t hurt anything, but it doesn’t help either. Adding a can often can actually make things a tiny smidgen dirtier because the additives themselves leave a tiny smidgen of detergent residue behind. The best analogy I can think of is that suppose you used triple the normal amount of detergent every time in your laundry. Intuitively, you should realize that such a heavy dose might not rinse out quite as well, leaving a smidgen of detergent reside behind in your clothes. If you did that once in a while for a load of extra dirty clothes, no big deal. But every time? Not smart.

Back in the 60’s and 70’s when additives were good but not great, some additives performed best in one area (like valves) while other additives were best in other areas (like spark plugs or combustion chambers). Thus, knowledgeable people would rotate their brands of gas so that they’d get the best additive for every different part at least some of the time. But as additive technology improved, there’s no need to do that anymore. All of the top tier additive packages are extremely good in all areas.

The last area of interest is the fuel gauge issue. Sometimes, when a fuel gauge sender goes bad, adding heavy concentrations of additives like Techron can correct the issue. Since additives are cheap relative to cost of replacing the sender, if your sender fails, it would certainly make sense to try a heavy additive dose. Some people use occasional doses as a preventive measure to protect their fuel gauge senders. I don’t have hard data to say whether that’s a good idea, but my intuition says it probably doesn’t help. My reasoning is that most fuel gauge failures come in clusters, presumably caused by a short term problem in the fuel itself. There can be refinery operational problems or some type of contamination in the distribution system. It’s rare to have an isolated case with no known association with a cluster. So if most failures are caused by short term exposure to a bad batch of gas rather than long term exposure to normal gas, then the strategy of using an extra dose of additive now and then wouldn’t help. That said, as long as you don’t do it too often, it won’t hurt either.

For what it’s worth, I don’t use extra additives in my own cars and have never had a fuel gauge failure. While I rotated brands back in the 70’s for the logic earlier in the post, as that advantage faded I used mostly my company’s gas until very recently. Since all top tier brands are now very good on cleanliness, I’ve switched mostly to a newly-built Costco near my house because they are also top tier and don’t charge the obscene premium to get premium gas. Even Costco charges more than it’s worth since it only costs about 8-10 cpg more to make premium gas, but the marketing departments of the majors have gone nuts on their premium markups.

dr_gallup

You can say that again. Used to be 20 cents/gallon spread between regular premium. Then a few years ago it started ratcheting up. Most stations only post regular and diesel prices so it's a crap shoot how much extra you pay for premium. I mostly go to QT as they 1) are top tier, 2) have the lowest non-membership prices, 3) "only" charge 50 cents/gallon premium for premium and are plentiful around me so I don't have to drive to find one. The 7-11 at the end of my street charges 70 cents/gallon extra for premium and there are brands that are worse.

c5arlen

What's the easiest to find, Seahawk foam or Techron?

Purple92

Both are quite easy to fine. Most chain auto parts stores carry both.

unkled20

This may seem like a silly question, but because these cars have two tanks when/how do you use the additive properly to ensure it gets into both tanks? What I mean is, how low do you let your fuel get 1/2 tank, 1/4 tank? Do you add it before you fuel up or after?

FatsWaller

See the attached for how the fuel tank system operates. It was recently posted. Based on that info, I'd have both tanks as empty as possible, add the Techron, and then fill up. That should distribute pretty equally into both tanks.