Scam Alert: 5 Maintenance Procedures You Don't Need

5 MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES YOU DON'T NEED

I saw this article in Popular Mechanics Sept 2007 issue (vol 184 no.9) and wanted to share it with everyone. sorry but it's kinda long.

Your service manager, friendly soul that he is, has recommended an expensive addition to your routine maintenance-even though your truck/car is running fine. Should you agree to it?

1. ENGINE FLUSH ($100-$200)
An engine flush uses a big, expensive machine and proprietary chemicals to purge your engine of sludge. An engine that's running too hot or one that's neglected can sludge up, and if so, a flush is indicated. A quick peek into the oil-filter cap should let you see any deposits. It's not a normal maintenance item.

2. FUEL-INJECTION CLEANING ($125-$200)
This is a fair price for this service,which uses another impressive machine-but only if your fuel injectors are actually dirty,and you have drivability issues because of it. If your Check Engine light isn't on, and your truck/car is running fine, Pass.

3. OIL ADDITIVES ($5 AND UP)
There are all kinds of tiger milk on the market, from stuff that's supposed to cut friction and increase fuel economy, to products that promise you can run your engine dry of oil without damage to the bearings. Right. Trust me, if it was that good, it would already be in the motor oil from the petroleum company and in your crankcase when you bought your truck/car new.

4.GAS SAVERS ($10-$400)
We've tested a bunch of gadgets-from magnets to vortex generators to water injectors and (I kid you not)ectoplasm traps-that claim to improve fuel economy for various pseudo-scientific reasons. None have helped, and some have actually hurt preformance. Your shop may unscrupplous, or just misguided-but you've been warned. Any device that purports to increase mileage won't. The EPA has tested more than a hundred, and their results mirror ours.

5. LONG-LIFE ANTIFREEZE ($4-$8 PER QUART)
Okay, some GM cars come factory-filled with five-year coolant, and we suggest that owners of these cars stay with it. Your car may not have been designed around GM Dex-Cool's additive package. Almost every manufacture specifies some proprietary additive package nowadays, and cooling systems can develop corrosion problems if they don't get it. Pouring the wrong coolant into a car engineered for a specific type is asking for truoble. Mixing two kinds without a complete flush in between practically guarantees it.- M.A.

 

Flushes are a good thing, it's called preventative maintenance

Obviously the oil additives and "gas savers" are crap though..

 

I would assume that all the additives that the oil companies put in their Gas that there would not need to be a fuel system cleaner?

 

I've used STP and Duralube additives myself occasionally and injector flushing just once because I had no choice. The engine was missing like hell and the dealer suggested it and on completion the problem went away.

As for engine flushing, I think otherwise. On older engines you can open up a big can of worms. Not necessary on new engines. They do and will have a negative effect on the seals. I would not go there.

 

yeah, i agree that flushes are bad and can actually do harm to an engine. fuel injection cleaning is a good idea, maybe like once a year but more than that i think would be a waste of money. our tacomas come with long life antifreeze/coolant, but i think in certain climates, it may need to be changed at certain intervals accordingly.

oh, and i use a bottle of techron every oil change.........it actually makes a difference, imo!!

 

Always use gasoline that contain "TOP TIER" detergents and you wont have to waste $$$ on injector cleaning and you'll have enough money to Eat Steak.

 

I use an injector cleaning additive every few months to make sure that any bad gas I got doesn't gunk up my injectors or leave deposits on the cylinder heads. I use the STP fuel injector cleaner (~$4 @ autozone).

 

why do you need to purge the engine when you are using synethic??

ain't it suppose to be da bomb?

 

I am not purging the engine. I am cleaning the injectors. Oil never touches the injectors (or it shouldn't ). Synthetic oil takes care of everything outside of the combustion chamber - cams, valves, drive shaft, lifters, etc. Inside the combustion chamber, if you have carbon buildup or water, the only way in/out is through the intake or exhaust. The stuff I use cleans the fuel system all the way to the tip of the injectors. This buildup on the tip of your injectors can cause an inconsistent spray. That causes carbon buildup in the engine which hinders the performance of your engine.

I am curious to see how Volkswagen's new FSI engines handle this. They are supposed to be direct injection (the injector is in combustion chamber instead of in the intake).

 

I used to use the STP injector cleaners and then I had a few parts guys tell me that it doesn't really work that great so I tried a couple they recommended. I ended up sticking with the Lucas injector cleaner and I know that it works by the improvement I've seen on all the vehicles I used it on. The best technique is to put it in a near empty tank at the gas station then fill your tank completely up. Then get on the interstate a drive out the whole tank!

So what I normally do is use a bottle of Lucas whenever I going on a trip so that I know that I will go through a full tank. My guess for not letting the injector cleaner sit in your tank for a while is that it will break up all the junk at the bottom of your tank and that will get into your fuel pump, fuel filter, or even clog your injectors...

 

will someone please google top tier fuels and all will understand why fuel additives are needed...All the gas around me is junk....I use

$25 BG 44k Fuel System Cleaner Power Enhancer 11oz.

BG 44k every 6 months and cf5 every tank period.....I also use an oil additive with amsoil series 2000 in the crank case...Call me paranoid but I have had injector issues from poor quality fuel on past vehicles..Coked up intake valves act like sponges when cold and jug deposits can cause ring ping or detonation from actualy adding compresion..I recomend good fuel additives unless your fortunate enough to have a top tier fuel provider...

 

I just tried a new (to me) injector cleaner called seafoam it is by far the best I have ever seen, you guys should try it.. I was also told that you could pull the brake assist vacume line and suck up about half a bottle of seafoam to de-carbon your motor I tried it last night and it worked great, you just suck it up and let your motor die.. when you restart it it smokes like a house fire but cleans you out...

 

I know seafoam is GREAT in older motorcycles. I've used it in my various rebuilds and it absolutely helps get the really fine junk out of the carbs.

 

I've rebuilt a few engines. I always run Valvoline. My engines are always very clean on the inside. I do not run pennsoil or quakerstate because it is all pennsylvania oil (which according to a petrolium engineer I know is molecularly different that coastal oil (arab oil, mexican oil, california oil etc.

His basic explination is that Pennsylvania oil is sticky and coastal oil isn't. So the valvoline washes crap away from engine surfaces and it comes out in the oil change, but Pennsylvania oil sticks and allows carbon to cling to surfaces causing a dirty prematurely worn engine.

The worst engine I even rebuilt was my cousins vw bug motor it had 10000 miles on it and he gave it to me when he got a mitsubishi. There was carbon "mud" in the crankcase, in the heads, around the valve springs, the whole thing was a mess. I ran a bug motor 60000 miles (and ran it very hard too) over heated it, over reved it, etc. and when I opened it up there was a very thin layer of carbon "mud" (more like a film) in the bottom of the crankcase. The heads were spotless everything looked great.

My '89 Tercel had 215K when it died. I pulled it apart and it was in great shape. (It had run quaker state for the first 60K miles, when I started to use valvoline I noticed that the oil coming out was dirtier, i guess it was cleaning it's self out.) The motor was clean like my bug motor.

 

Seafoam is awesome! A while back, my CEL pointed to my EGR value on my Prelude. I removed it & cleaned it out and even replaced it, but the CEL kept coming back. Finally, I put the old one back in and used Seafoam.

I put about 1/3 of the Seafoam can in a container and sucked it up using the the PCV value hose. The engine would get close to dying so I would let it get some air for a second and then resume. Finally it sucked all of it up and I shut off my car to let it sit for a while. When I started it up, white smoked bellowed out of the exhaust and my car sounded horrible so I 'got on it' and burned it all out down the road. That solved the problem!

Recently I had another CEL light come on for a different problem. Seafoam to the rescue again!

 

should do fuel induction service every 15000 or so helps gas milage and keeps carbon build up to a min also your flushes are scheduled maitnance and in most cases are required for you to keep your warranty

 

OH man! I'm coming up on 15,000 miles! How do I service my fuel industion? Where is my fuel induster? Can I just dust it off or do I need to use solvent?

 

Can't believe they didn't mention synthetic blinker fluid. That stuff's a waste of money.

 

There is no mention of engine flushes or injector cleanings at ANY service interval in the toyota manual. Unless you actually have a problem that was caused by bad fuel or not changing your oil for really extended periods the only thing these services will do is make the dealer richer and you poorer. I drove my last toyota for 14 years and over 170,000 miles with none of these "special" services and its still running great. (I sold it to a friend.)