fuel injector cleaning question

2001 ford f-150 has 70,000 miles........have never had fuel injector
cleaning, and am wondering if it is necessary. Truck runs well, is there an
additive/cleaner that will do the job? TIA

I can't speak to in-port fuel injectors, but I've run a throttle body injection unit (2 injectors spraying into a carburetor-like body) for 358K miles without ever once cleaning it until last week. It seems to run fine. When I disassembled it I found nothing in terms of buildup on it, which contrasts sharply with some opinions on the internet. ("You'll be amazed at how much crud you'll find.") I can't explain this; fuel quality? I buy the cheapest fuel I can. There's no way I know of to quantify exactly how good your spray patterns are, though people have installed removed injectors in a benchtop manifold and taken flash photos of the spray pattern, which will show obviosuly bad patterns, caused by partially clogged nozzles. In the absence of such an exercise, it seems like guesswork to me if fuel injector cleaning is needed. A chemist friend used to tell me, "without data, you're just another person with an opinion".

wrote:
> 2001 ford f-150 has 70,000 miles........have never had fuel injector
> cleaning, and am wondering if it is necessary. Truck runs well, is there an
> additive/cleaner that will do the job? TIA

I pulled the injectors out my old Pontiac at 150k miles to
replace leaking O-rings. The injectors had a slight discoloring
to them but otherwise were clean.

On Tuesday, March 11, 2014 11:48:36 AM UTC-7, wrote:
>
> 2001 ford f-150 has 70,000 miles........have never had fuel injector
> cleaning, and am wondering if it is necessary. Truck runs well,

Somewhere, I a tech bulletin issued by Ford in the early 1990s that
says they switched to clog-resistant injectors around then and that
cleaning isn't necessary. I don't remember if it says cleaning isn't recommended. Also in the mid-late 1990s, gasoline got better (more
or better detergent additives) because of EPA requirements and demands
from auto makers, making injector cleaning even less necessary.

If you want to use an additive, get a bottle of Chevron Techron, but
don't use it too often.

wrote:
> On Tuesday, March 11, 2014 11:48:36 AM UTC-7,
> wrote:
>> 2001 ford f-150 has 70,000 miles........have never had fuel
>> injector cleaning, and am wondering if it is necessary. Truck runs
>> well,
>
> Somewhere, I a tech bulletin issued by Ford in the early 1990s that
> says they switched to clog-resistant injectors around then and that
> cleaning isn't necessary. I don't remember if it says cleaning isn't
> recommended. Also in the mid-late 1990s, gasoline got better (more
> or better detergent additives) because of EPA requirements and
> demands from auto makers, making injector cleaning even less
> necessary.
>
> If you want to use an additive, get a bottle of Chevron Techron, but
> don't use it too often.
>
>
>

"Clog Resistant" belongs in the same BS bin as "Affordable Health Care"

What it amounts to is a different screen and tip design. They still
develop problems. The thing is that most chemical cleanings only work if
the deposits in the injectors are something that the chemicals can
dissolve. Rust, dirt, solid particles won't come out. For those it's
rebuild or replace time.

The alcohol in the fuel these days frees up a lot of crap, but usually
you won't notice because the filter catches a lot of it, then the
screens catch some. They can flow more fuel than the injectors so until
a major blockage happens things don't change much.

--
Steve W.

Steve W. > wrote:
>"Clog Resistant" belongs in the same BS bin as "Affordable Health Care"
>
>What it amounts to is a different screen and tip design. They still
>develop problems. The thing is that most chemical cleanings only work if
>the deposits in the injectors are something that the chemicals can
>dissolve. Rust, dirt, solid particles won't come out. For those it's
>rebuild or replace time.


Two problems:

1. Gunk building up at the tip. Used to be a problem, isn't anymore.

2. Gunk building up in the screens. Never used to be a problem, is now.

On the older Bosch injectors for the BMWs, pulling them apart and cleaning
the screens isn't that big a deal.

Some of the fuel system cleaners are solvents that dissolve gunk, some of
them are detergents that help them unstick. For the most part the solvent
kinds don't do much good if they are mixed with gasoline rather than run
directly into the injectors.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."