Injector Cleaner, Carbon remover?

[rot535i]

I just replaced an engine in a car I recently purchased and want to prevent what I found in the engine I had to replace. The intake and valve areas were full of soot. see photo. I'm looking for recommendations. Injector cleaners? Octane boosters? What works?
Mike

[ryan roopnarine]

i might get flamed for sayin' this, buuuuttt.....i find that the only FI injector that does anything noticeable in one tank is bg44k, which is around 15 per can. this isn't worth the cost for me. i find that techron, redline (&c, &c.) arent worth the money if they are used in the manner prescribed in the bottle. my personal cleanliness routine? get the cheapest 3k mile fuel injector cleaner (not the "use every other tank stuff) from walmart, for about 1.50 each. buy three of them. toss them in just before the reserve light comes on. run it to the brink of running out of fuel, doing italian tuneups the way through. repeat several times, remembering that you will have to change your oil soon after. i personally don't bother using techron anymore unless i can afford to buy two or three bottles to dump in at the same time. my mother, who notices nothing automotive, noted that she was getting a lot better gas mileage after i put two bottles of techron in and flogged it for 40 miles or so. i wouldn't do this in anything with a suspect/leaky fuel system though, would probably eat the rubber out. i drive about 900 miles per week in the e34, i do this every other tank when i get close to an oil change. i've spent too much money on these solutions in other cars not to come to the conclusion i've arrived at, its quantity, not the quality of the cleaner you put in that gets the actual cleaning done.

[RobPatt]

...used a can of seafoam in the tank and another drank via the intake, rest 5-10 finish the last half.... flog it for 40 or so.... noticable improvement. even going up a hill to work, at 20mph or so I use to get pinging...now I don't... all the places I used to get pinging I don't anymore... I always run chevron 93 and have the EAT chip.... I think I'll do the seafoam hotsoak on the remnants of a tank of gas before oil changes. M50pingmaster. -Rob.

i might get flamed for sayin' this, buuuuttt.....i find that the only FI injector that does anything noticeable in one tank is bg44k, which is around 15 per can. this isn't worth the cost for me. i find that techron, redline (&c, &c.) arent worth the money if they are used in the manner prescribed in the bottle. my personal cleanliness routine? get the cheapest 3k mile fuel injector cleaner (not the "use every other tank stuff) from walmart, for about 1.50 each. buy three of them. toss them in just before the reserve light comes on. run it to the brink of running out of fuel, doing italian tuneups the way through. repeat several times, remembering that you will have to change your oil soon after. i personally don't bother using techron anymore unless i can afford to buy two or three bottles to dump in at the same time. my mother, who notices nothing automotive, noted that she was getting a lot better gas mileage after i put two bottles of techron in and flogged it for 40 miles or so. i wouldn't do this in anything with a suspect/leaky fuel system though, would probably eat the rubber out. i drive about 900 miles per week in the e34, i do this every other tank when i get close to an oil change. i've spent too much money on these solutions in other cars not to come to the conclusion i've arrived at, its quantity, not the quality of the cleaner you put in that gets the actual cleaning done.

[John B.]

My 535i has about the same mileage as yours, has the EAT chip & I run 91 octane with no pinging problems. Before the EAT chip I ran 89 & it was happy. Every few months I'll run a can of Techron through the tank but if your car is running good & you aren't lugging it all the time you shouldn't have problems. Your old engine had lots of problems as I recall from your first post that would account for the mess you found.

[liquidtiger720]

Im using that techron fuel system cleaner. It seems to be helping it run a little smoother. I'm on my second bottle. Each bottle treats like 20 gallons, and i've only filled it up to about 10 gallons. Maybe I should do like you said and pour it in when the gas light lights up.


As per the seafoam hotsoak method through the intake- did you have any o2 sensor problems or even cat. problems?

[RobPatt]

...though I'm still on the first tank of gas and fresh Mobil 1 0W-40 .... performance and smoothness are up and no nastygrams from the check control..... I know I read about the hotsoak here on the board, and read of someone using Seafoam on a bimmer board somewhere... most likely here. Interesting thing was the seafoam actually indicated on the bottle that it could be taken via the intake manifold. I'm not hardcore sold on the stuff, Techron may have worked just as well, and usually I run some techron in the tank on the last tank before an oil change.... -Rob.

Im using that techron fuel system cleaner. It seems to be helping it run a little smoother. I'm on my second bottle. Each bottle treats like 20 gallons, and i've only filled it up to about 10 gallons. Maybe I should do like you said and pour it in when the gas light lights up.


As per the seafoam hotsoak method through the intake- did you have any o2 sensor problems or even cat. problems?

[liquidtiger720]

...though I'm still on the first tank of gas and fresh Mobil 1 0W-40 .... performance and smoothness are up and no nastygrams from the check control..... I know I read about the hotsoak here on the board, and read of someone using Seafoam on a bimmer board somewhere... most likely here. Interesting thing was the seafoam actually indicated on the bottle that it could be taken via the intake manifold. I'm not hardcore sold on the stuff, Techron may have worked just as well, and usually I run some techron in the tank on the last tank before an oil change.... -Rob.

Cool, I was planning to put the whole can thru the intake and let it sit for a couple hours then do an italian tune up, but i was worried of causing harm to the o2 sensor and the catalitic converter. Maybe I should think about it again.

[RobPatt]

on about 1/4 tank of chevron 93 plus a can of seafoam... warmed up engine, sucked half can of seafoam, soaked about 10 min, sucked remaining half of can.... drove like bat out of hell, and when couldn't go fast, drove in second gear..... much smoother now, about 200 miles later, no probs, but no guarentees either.

Cool, I was planning to put the whole can thru the intake and let it sit for a couple hours then do an italian tune up, but i was worried of causing harm to the o2 sensor and the catalitic converter. Maybe I should think about it again.

[liquidtiger720]

This is the method I was introduced with but replace Techron with Seafoam.

Basically, you go to the store and buy a 20oz. bottle of Chevron Techron fuel system cleaner. Then you go drive you car until the engine is plenty hot.
Keep the car running and disconnect the hose that goes from the fuel pressure regulator to the exhaust manifold. (this hose is easy to locate. It is the only vaccuum line that is connected on the top of the intake manifold and runs a short distance to the FPR which is a small black piece located dead smack in the middle of the engine bay twords the front of the engine. The other side of the FPR has a fuel line attached to it via a clamp.)
This hose needs to be disconnected from the FPR and left connected to the intake manifold. When you disconnect it if you stick your finger on the tip of the hose you will feel your finger get slightly suctioned onto the hose.... This way you know you have done it right.
Now make sure you have an empty bottle of gatorade or something that is clear so you can see through it and is a 20oz. bottle. Pour the bottle of techron into that clear bottle and then stick the end of the hose into the bottle and let it start sucking out the cleaner into the manifold. The car will attempt to stall so it is best to have someone sitting in the drivers seat presing the gas to hold the rpms around 2-3k as to ensure it not stalling. Once the bottle is down to about 1/4 left tell that person to take their foot off the gas and you just keep the hose at the bottom of the bottle. Let all of the cleaner get sucked out and then the car should stall. If it doesnt stall make it stall immediately.
Let the car sit for at least one hour and then start it up again. It may take a few cranks and it will idle like **** at first, but you will see tons of white smoke coming out the tailpipe. Once that smoke dies down a bit take the car for about a 20 minute drive in all different gears and varying rpms to ensure you have removed all the smoke.


* this guy is referring to a e30 though.

[rot535i]

This is the method I was introduced with but replace Techron with Seafoam.

Basically, you go to the store and buy a 20oz. bottle of Chevron Techron fuel system cleaner. Then you go drive you car until the engine is plenty hot.
Keep the car running and disconnect the hose that goes from the fuel pressure regulator to the exhaust manifold. (this hose is easy to locate. It is the only vaccuum line that is connected on the top of the intake manifold and runs a short distance to the FPR which is a small black piece located dead smack in the middle of the engine bay twords the front of the engine. The other side of the FPR has a fuel line attached to it via a clamp.)
This hose needs to be disconnected from the FPR and left connected to the intake manifold. When you disconnect it if you stick your finger on the tip of the hose you will feel your finger get slightly suctioned onto the hose.... This way you know you have done it right.
Now make sure you have an empty bottle of gatorade or something that is clear so you can see through it and is a 20oz. bottle. Pour the bottle of techron into that clear bottle and then stick the end of the hose into the bottle and let it start sucking out the cleaner into the manifold. The car will attempt to stall so it is best to have someone sitting in the drivers seat presing the gas to hold the rpms around 2-3k as to ensure it not stalling. Once the bottle is down to about 1/4 left tell that person to take their foot off the gas and you just keep the hose at the bottom of the bottle. Let all of the cleaner get sucked out and then the car should stall. If it doesnt stall make it stall immediately.
Let the car sit for at least one hour and then start it up again. It may take a few cranks and it will idle like **** at first, but you will see tons of white smoke coming out the tailpipe. Once that smoke dies down a bit take the car for about a 20 minute drive in all different gears and varying rpms to ensure you have removed all the smoke.


* this guy is referring to a e30 though.

When I replaced my engine with another used engine with 105K on it I noticed a little bit of carbon looking through the spark plug holes. I wasn't a heavy build up but something I want to clear up at some point. First I just wanted to get it in and running to ease my mind. Now it seems to be running fine ( I put about 600mi on it so far) I was shown the sea foam at the local parts store. They also recommended the Techron and Lucas injector cleaner. The Techron sounded good and the Lucas seemed more of a maintenence lube product. When reading the sea foam can it seemed to be what I was looking for but I wasn't sure If it might cause damage. After replacing the engine once, I really didn't want to do it again too soon. It sound like it should be safe to try the Sea Foam though.
Mike