Oil additive recommended by dealer is it bs?

The 3.5 does not get carbon build up in the heads due to the fact that it has both port and direct injection. They are selling you snake oil (and they probably know that).

 

I don't know anything about the BG oil additive stuff, but their injection \ intake system cleaner stuff really worked well. I think it was called BG 44 or something like that and it helped keep my old e27 BMW 3 series running like a top! .

 

That's the beauty of the engine in the Tacoma, it has two types of injectors per cylinder, the main injector goes directly into the cylinder, the secondary injector is upstream of the intake valves and keeps them clean.

 

As others have stated the BG cleaners are a profit center for the service department. That said if you use engine oil which meets the standards set forth by Toyota and you use a top tier rated fuel you will never need any cleaners at all. The only reason any engine would develop coke is never getting up to operating temperature. I have used one BG product that works well and this is AC cleaner deodorizer

 

Where's all the "Muh Sea Foam yo" users?

 

Dealers just want your $$$$ ! It has been proven that Tier 1 gasoline will help reduce carbon build up (Due to the detergents) and using quality synthetic oil and good oil filter. If you're concerned with carbon build up Liqui Moly has an Additive Kit LM20002KT - It includes Engine Flush - cleans out any build up in the crankcase (I use this every other oil change), CERA TEC coating every 25k miles, and a Fuel System Cleaner every 25k to freshen the fuel system up. It might be overkill and snake oil as some may call it. But in the end it helps me sleep well at night. We pay a lot for our vehicles and I'm going to do whatever necessary to get as much out of this vehicle as possible. Poor maintenance is the demise of any vehicle!

 

How do you know it worked really well?

 

The 2GR-FKS engine in your truck has a D-4S fuel injection system in it. What this means is, you have a dual fuel injection system, port and direct injection.

These two systems combine to provide improved fuel economy, power and cleaning. The port injectors, when injecting, clean out carbon that would build up in the intake ports, intake valves and combustion chamber that is typical on a direct injection only style engine.

In other words, you do not need oil additives to clean out carbon. Also any modern engine oil already has all the additives your engine needs to provide a long service life as long as it is changed within the recommended service intervals.

Just another note... typically carbon build up is on intake ports, intake valve and combustion chambers... oil is not flowing through these areas, so an additive will not help. Some carbon does get past the rings and into crankcase, but this is easily collected by the engine oil additives and not an issue unless you never change your oil.

 

Snake Oil = Fake Oil usually
I wouldn't even consider some weird oil additive, unless I had a heavily gummed up engine, and nothing to lose by taking chances.

 

By your question, I assume you never owned an old BMW. The BMW e27 straight 6 engine was notorious for heavy carbon build up on the injectors and intake system over time. You had to clean the intake system about once a year or so to keep it running and idling due to the heavy carbon buildup.

We would use an intake vacuum line to suck the B44 directly into the intake manifold and then let it soak for a few hours. Then the fun part, starting the engine and watching the smoke plume from the exhaust! After the soak cleaning, the engine would run and idle like new for another year.

 

Did you visually inspect before and after? That's what I meant. A lot of the engines notorious for carbon buildup have to be physically cleaned by walnut blasting or something along those lines. If it worked for you, great. I was just curious if you put your eyes on it before and after.

 

My neighbor has been trying to convince me to dump Motorkote additive in my oil, power steering, etc. since I brought my truck home. He gave me a bottle as a Christmas present. He’s convinced that it is the best and that his family has used this brand product for years in all their farm equipment. I haven’t used it yet. Really don’t think it would make any difference. I don’t usually use additives.

 

Thought my response was pretty clear? The car would start to run / idle like shit due to the carbon build up. This was a well known issue for this early straight 6 BMW engine. After the intake soak cleaning, it would purr like a new born kitten. Make sense?

 

Yes, it makes sense that you didn't see a before and after with your eyes.

 

Whatever dude!

 

It was a simple question that you refuse to answer. Your treatment made your car run better for a year or so. That's great, I'm glad you got a subjective improvement. One might conclude that the product worked to some degree. Just enough to see a brief improvement? Completely clean with 0 carbon?

If you could tell us that you saw with your eyes a drastic improvement, I'd tend to agree that the treatment was great. But like you said, there was tons of smoke afterward, which makes me wonder the damage you were doing to your exhaust system and sensors. I'd argue that walnut blasting would have gotten better results that would have lasted longer.

 

That goes in my 2 stroke chainsaw.

 

Notice how your exhaust smells funny? All the buildup that gets dislodged by the cleaners poisons your catalytic converters. Sleep well!

 

I do own 2 bmws, 1997 z3 and a 2002 530i. Both run great.