Fuel additives - do they work?

[Meeka]

Sea foam and Lucas etc. fuel injector cleaners, do they work or snake oil?

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[todd92]

Gas already has detergents in it that prevent the fuel system deposits.

 

[sanpablo]

Sea foam and Lucas etc. fuel injector cleaners, do they work or snake oil?

I realize the question is about fuel additives. Sorry to go off topic
I usually think most of them are snake oil. With that said I used two that seemed to work well.
CRC intake valve cleaner on my wife's 2015 Honda CRV, GDI engine. I used it for the first time at 30,000 miles. Got a huge cloud of smoke out the tail pipe so it sure cleaned something! Used it again at 40,000 miles and no smoke at all. I figure every 25,000 miles seems to be a good interval.
Before that I used Blue Devil gasket sealer on the wife's 1999 Ford Windstar, 165,000 miles. Had a small head gasket leak. The Blue Devil worked. I was going to replace the head gaskets but the van was rusting away. Would not have cost much to do but a bit of work to do with a vehicle that would not be on the road much longer, lol

 

[oysterville]

Use Top Tier fuel.

 

[Tbone289]

You should use Top Tier fuel as mentioned above, but if you want additional treatment you should select a PEA (PolyEtherAmine) additive such as Chevron Techron Concentrate Plus and Redline SL-1. These are the only ones I'm aware of that consistently show results.

 

[paneubert]

You should use Top Tier fuel as mentioned above, but if you want additional treatment you should select a PEA (PolyEtherAmine) additive such as Chevron Techron Concentrate Plus and Redline SL-1. These are the only ones I'm aware of that consistently show results.

Agree. I buy a multi pack from Amazon of "Red Line 60103" once a year and treat our vehicles.

 

[happyfer22]

You should use Top Tier fuel as mentioned above, but if you want additional treatment you should select a PEA (PolyEtherAmine) additive such as Chevron Techron Concentrate Plus and Redline SL-1. These are the only ones I'm aware of that consistently show results.

AMSOIL PI (best)

 

[budpalumbo]

Some do, depending on what you're going for.
If its GDI deposits you're after, top tier fuel and varying where you buy as they all use slightly different additive packages and quality synthetic oil (there are some on market made for GDI engines) seems to make a difference, at least the last papers I read.
Engine design including the pcv system, and driving habits are still the biggest factors. I haven't been doing nearly the amount of cleanings as when they first came out.

 

[Lump lump]

My dad who was a mechanic used to tell me to use additives instead of using premium gas

 

[ripperAZ]

Sea foam and Lucas etc. fuel injector cleaners, do they work or snake oil?

PEA products like the Chevron Techron bottles are the only ones that have ever been tested to show some benefit. Hyundai and Kia recommend them.

 

[Tim d]

Sea foam and Lucas etc. fuel injector cleaners, do they work or snake oil?

I swear seafoam makes all my small engines run better i.e. lawn mowers,snowblower, dirtbike,snowmobiles , boat etc. Have not used it in any vehicle yet.

 

[Sovande]

Sea foam and Lucas etc. fuel injector cleaners, do they work or snake oil?

Direct injection engines like the 2.0 Ecoboost will benefit from some kind of intake cleaner as they will have carbon buildup in the combustion chamber. In my old Jaguar I used BG44k every 5000 miles or so and the intake was very clean. I may do the same with the Ecoboost as the cost is pretty low - $25 - and the peace of mind pretty high.

Or I may not. It's a cheap truck and I'm not overly convinced it will last long enough to matter.

 

[REMUB40]

I put BG additive in once a year. Use the provided funnel with the hybrid or it will spill all over. Don't ask me how

 

[DHFerguson]

My brother used to work at a contract engine/transmission/emissions testing lab. Occasionally they would test comparable items from the 'STP aisle at the auto parts store'. He said the only one that consistently did what it said it would was Chevron Techron Fuel System Cleaner.
I put >200k miles on 2 - Gen 2 Ford F-150 Lightnings. As they got older they would develop a rough idle and maybe a miss at high (supercharger) boost. I would wait until the tank was >1/4 tank full and put in a 'treats 12 gallons' bottle of Techron. Within a very few miles it would be running as it should. My brother said the cleaned-out products would end up in the oil, so, I developed a habit of putting in a bottle of Techron just before every oil change. Worked great.

 

[Ozarkbeard]

Gas already has detergents in it that prevent the fuel system deposits.

TopTier gas.
https://stationfinder.toptiergas.com/

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