I want to know if I should have my fuel injectors professionally cleaned, of if I will be just as good using the fuel injector cleaners I have been buying at local auto parts stores. I have a 1995 Jeep Cherokee and it is idling rough.
What’s The Difference Between Professional Fuel Injector Cleaning And Using Products Bought In Stores?
5 Responses for “What’s The Difference Between Professional Fuel Injector Cleaning And Using Products Bought In Stores?”
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Excellent first answer. Note that your normal maintenance schedule in your owner’s manual does not include fuel injection cleaning! I personally like Chevron gas and their Chevron Concentrated Techron fuel injection and intake manifold cleaning product available at auto stores. All Chevron regular and premium gas contains the same amount of Techron.
Don’t bother with professionally cleaning them. If you know enough about cars to diagnose a sticking/clogged fuel injector, then you should know how to remove and clean them yourself, as well. Otherwise, dump some fuel injector/carb cleaner if you really want to. I doubt it’s the fuel injectors, that’s rarely the problem. Don’t take shots in the dark. If you can’t figure it out, take it to a mechanic. Don’t just throw money at it. You might as well grab a wad of 20$’s and light them on fire.
Mark, I have to give your shop props if it goes through all of that, but most of the ones around where I live only pull the fuel injectors and clean the fuel injectors. They don’t clean the intake, throttle body, EGR or vacuum lines. That’s an extra service.
About $100.00.
Seriously, injectors should RARELY require any cleaning, if you use a good quality gasoline. I usually use a bottle of the Prestone Injector cleaner in mine about once every 6 months…and have never run into a problem.
Most often, the idle problem you describe is an ignition problem, when was the last time you replaced the spark plugs or plug wires? If either is more than 3 years old, you may consider replacing them, particularly the wires.
There ARE times it may prove necessary to have injectors cleaned, but for the most part, it’s not really necessary. However, it is very profitable for the tune-up guys, so they press hard to get you to do it.
The difference?
The results.
Over the counter fuel injector cleaner in a bottle only cleans fuel injectors. The cleaning applied by your mechanic cleans the injectors, the manifold, the throttle body, the fuel rail and the vacuum lines. And it is much more potent stuff.
As someone who has looked inside thousands of throttle bodies I can assure you it gets quite nasty in there. Several manufacturers in fact have TSB’s relating to deposit buildup in the intake. Fuel injector cleaners don’t deal with that.
Galaxie is right. You almost never need your injectors cleaned. Although I use some occasionally I have never seen an improvement in how my engine performs.