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Fuel injector cleaner in the tank: the case of the missing photos

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by pasadena_commut, Aug 2, 2024 at 2:15 AM.

  1. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Southern California
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
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    My son gave us a membership as a present to Sam's Club a while back so that we could partake of their cheap gas. Which we did for a year. Then I discovered much to my chagrin that unlike all the major gas stations and Costco it wasn't top tier gas. Oops. So, remembering back to the bad old days when gas wasn't full of detergent and injectors would often work poorly, it seemed like a good idea to put some injector cleaner through. Poured a bottle of Techron in and hoped for the best. (Both cars were running OK, if they were gummed up, it wasn't too bad.)

    Then when I thought about it, I realized that in all the "injector cleaner in the gas tank" videos, web pages, advertisements, and blog posts I have come across, there was one thing I had never, ever seen. That is: before and after pictures of the spray pattern for an injector which has been treated with a bottle of injector cleaner in the tank. Also missing: measures of the flow rate before and after. There are lots of pictures of the tops of pistons, which is all well and good if one cares about a little carbon on top, but doesn't really say anything useful about what happens inside a gummed up plastic injector at vastly lower temperatures and much higher solvent concentrations. There were before and after pictures from injector cleaning services, but their cleaning conditions are usually very different, like running normal gasoline through an injector while it turns on and off tens of thousands of times in an ultrasonic bath.

    These products have a reputation for being snake oil, so if I was a manufacturer trying to sell this product, I would be sure to present this information to the consumer. But they don't. Perhaps because it really is snake oil, or at least, is only useful for keeping the injectors clean but will not clean a dirty one?

    Anyway, if anybody has a link to the missing photos cited above, please post it!