Anyone use fuel injector cleaner routinely?

I’m normally not keen on putting additives in cars. I have a 2015 Accord with 122,000 miles. My check engine light came on it was the catalytic converter system operating under threshold. I put some Lucas Oil fuel injector cleaner in, after removing the negative battery connection (reset the code, light off). I read the fuel injector cleaner can clean the oxygen sensor and/or catalytic converter and possibly keep the code from setting again. It’s been 2 weeks and the check engine light remained off. The surprise is the car seems to be running much better power-wise, and acceleration. Got me wondering if possibly using the fuel injector as a maintenance item could be useful. Perhaps every oil change? Anyway, can the injector cleaner harm an engine? My 4R is a 2023 and runs great. Don’t want to create a problem. Any thoughts ?

 

I use the good Techron cleaner one bottle a year or when I remember. For your Honda, I have had good luck with those Cat cleaner additives. We had a truck that wouldn't pass smog, did one bottle of cat cleaner and it passed-saved us $7K in new cats.
Cataclean 120007. Would only use in your Honda's scenario.

 

No need. Fuel has detergents in it already. There will be no harm if you do use it.

 

I will run a bottle of Techron through it about once a year.

 

Just use quality fuel like Chevron and Shell and you'll be fine. "Clogged" injectors are either external buildup that the additives in good gas will take care of or it's crap that got past your fuel filter and you have larger problems.

If you have the 4 cylinder Accord, it's direct injected which is a different animal more prone to injector fouling.

 

I use sea foam (and a hard drive) for cars that sit a lot. Daily driver 4Runner? Not needed.

For your situation, you might want to look at your spark plugs or maybe bad fuel.

 

Direct Injected (DI) turbo engines are a pinnacle of unreliability. You can have blow-by and oil consumption, you can have intake valves carbon buildup, you have spark plugs that tend to foul and have to be frequently replaced, you can have turbo issues. Read the code and see what it is, and even if O2 sensor comes up don't assume it is the cause, but just a symptom.

For DI, I would start with intake chemical treatment and then follow up with an oil change in 100 miles or so. From in-fuel treatments, I recommend BG44K, as you need PEA additive for it to make any difference. Out of cheap injection cleaners, I use Sea Foam but it is nowhere near as effective.

 

Waste of money on the 4R. Especially one that is so new.

 

Do you think an oil change after a BK44k treatment is also necessary, or just for intake treatments?

 

Just intake treatments, because they have a good chance to dislodge chunks of carbon and dirt that can end up in oil.

In general, with DI engines oil changes and oil quality is extremely important. For a naturally aspirated port injected engine, like V6 in our 4Runners, modern oil good enough throughout its life-cycle, not so much for DI. You have higher contamination and a chance of fuel dilution, you have carbon micro particles and chain/bearing wear, you have intake valve buildup. You simply cannot go full 10K oil change interval with DI and not cause some damage. Thing is, this damage is cumulative and it does not manifest while under warranty.

My recommendation to OP and his Accord is to diagnose this first. He needs to know:

a. How bad is intake carbon buildup? Use scope to see it, for moderate cases you can use chemical treatment and for far-gone cases you need to do wallnut blasting.

b. How bad is blow-by, do an oil change with exact volume of oil then drain it at 2.5K and see how much is lost. More oil you burn, more likely you to damage cats.

c. How much fuel is in the oil. Send used oil to a lab (I use Blackstone) and look in the results for fuel. Fuel in oil dilutes it and reduces lubrication. If it happens a lot, you get bearing damage.

If any of this comes back as a problem, you need to scope into engine to see if you have cylinder scoring before deciding to repair or dump the car.

If you are not motivated to deep dive into this, do a chemical intake treatment, change spark plugs, do an oil change right away and then do very frequent oil changes (like 3K miles) after that.

 

So why not just keep new injectors clean instead of waiting for a problem? It's cheap and easy to use a proven product like BG44K once every 15k. Also you can add 1.5oz of Techron to a tank of fuel if you use sub top tier gas like 7-11 or Walmart fuel.

 

Do what you like. It's your truck. But, I have a 2011 with 180+K on the clock, and have never used anything, and have never had problems. I'd call that hard evidence for waste of money.

 

Do you smell the cleaner in the exhaust when you use it? That stuff can burn up your catalytic converters if used often.

 

I have a '23 Limited, and run a bottle of Lucas cleaner about once a month. I also have an oil catch can, so that fuel system should stay relatively unclogged with low carbon deposits for a good long time.

 

Prolly right especially a 2023
Me though I have only recently switched solely to top tier. I didn't always have the salary I have now and filled up at many super cheapo gas stations. Every 13,000 kms I started using cleaner

 

No nothing at all. 0.1 oz of Techron per gallon of fuel is all it takes to make cheap fuel into tier 1 Chevron fuel. My average top off is bout 15 gal so 1.5 oz is a good average and I like knowing I'm getting the additive instead of hoping the truck driver remembered to pour it in the tank. Ford released several bulletins that most rotten egg fuel odors are from the local refineries adding a higher content of sulfur to their fuel, usually a fuel issue not a car issue as many believe. I drive with my back window down all the time and never have any odor at all. If you do try changing brands of fuel.

I've never been one to think oil changes are the only service needed on a car until something breaks. MANY people I've dealt with over the years only do O/F's and believe all the rest of a cars critical systems (fuel system, brake fluid, coolant, driveline,...etc.) are just magically preserved for life and never degrade or wear. Which is fine it's their car, I've always been interested to hear the logic involved.

 

^That's because you're using 1/10th as much as the instruction label says on the Techron bottle. The label says to pour the entire contents into the tank and fill with 12 gal of fuel, so 1 oz of cleaner per 1 gallon of fuel. Using the cleaner following Techron's instructions will cause the exhaust to smell funny.

 

I owned a Austin Healy with side draft carbureators and oil damping pistons when Chevron first introduced Techron to their fuel. It was remarkable how it disolved the usual black carbon inside the carbs I struggled with prior. Made cleaning them a non-issue. It is an amazing product. I do not use Chevron gas daily due to their station locations. So I use a bottle of Techron every 5000 miles in all my vehicles, usually timed with oil change and tire rotation.