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Car Forum / Subaru Cars / July 2006Fuel Injection Cleaning Recommended - worth it?
I took my '97 Legacy Outback into a local gas station for an oil change today, and the mechanic noticed something that has been happening to me for a while. Sometimes when slowing down to a stop or speeding up from a stop, my enginer will shudder slightly and I experience a drop in RPMs. On occasions it even feels like I am driving a stick and not giving it enough gas. Also, even when just driving, you can feel that the engine is not exactly running smoothly. Maybe the best way to describe it is that it feels like my enginer has a heart murmur. The mechanic at first thought one of the cylinders wasn't working, but he came back and said he thought it was firing. Since I had my spark plugs replaced a few months ago, he recommended a fuel injection cleaning (I think). He said it was a 3-part process involving the gas tank and two other things. He said he could do it for $85. Not really knowing anything, I need some advice as to whether this is worth it. There is definitely something wrong...it's not terrible, and I wasn't too worried about it, but I do have a little money to burn. I know nothing about the car prior to January '06 when I bought it. Since then I have replaced the belts and water pump along with 2 oil changes. Any tips would be appreciated...thanks again. Thomas > I took my '97 Legacy Outback into a local gas station for an oil change > today, and the mechanic noticed something that has been happening to me [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > Thomas Do you have a CEL and have the codes been read? You could have a TPS or IACV problem or??? If you want to try a 'mechanic in a can' I suggest Techron. It is one that seems to actually work. Might even be worth a coupla atempts. Does the mechanic gurantee the car won't have the problem when he's completed the cleaning? Carl  Signatureto reply, change ( .not) to ( .net) >> I took my '97 Legacy Outback into a local gas station for an oil change >> today, and the mechanic noticed something that has been happening to me [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > Does the mechanic gurantee the car won't have the problem when he's > completed the cleaning? What he said. Also consider changing the fuel filter. No guarantee on cleaning fixing the problem....no CEL. The car also shudders pretty heavily when it starts. > If you want to try a 'mechanic in a can' I suggest Techron. It is one > that seems to actually work. Might even be worth a coupla atempts. Hi, Be sure to get the "real" Techron--they have one that's $6-$8 a bottle locally that works well. There's also one for about $4 or so that I think's a reduced strength version. The more exspensive one works far better according to everyone I know who's tried both. Also, Berryman's B-12 Chemtool products have done well for me. About $3-$4 a bottle most places around here. Full blown "injector service" or "doctor in a can?" Those of you who remember carburetors probably remember hearing "your carb needs to be rebuilt" coming out of the mouths of MANY mechanics, and somewhat frequently at that. In the early '60s my grandfather had somewhere around 120k miles on his '59 VW Bug and had never even had the carb off for cleaning! Pretty unusual for the time. His old, German, mechanic told him to put a can of GumOut (I think it was almost the only brand around back then) in the tank every 1000 miles and he wouldn't have to go thru the "rebuild" drill often, if at all. I've taken my grandfather's approach, that "prunes are easier to take than an enema", and put a can of "stuff" in every 5-10k miles on most of my cars, and never really needed anything fancier. $85 will buy about 10 bottles of "real" Techron, so you can do the math for yourself! Rick >>If you want to try a 'mechanic in a can' I suggest Techron. It is one >>that seems to actually work. Might even be worth a coupla atempts. [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > Rick I'd say we're close to agreement here - I TRY to use a bottle of Tecgron every 2 years or so. Of course I also TRY to only buy gas from fairly busy, medium/high end retailers. I have yet to have a 'known' injector problem. Of course, the OP may be dealing with a used car of questionable history or a one time purchase of 'bad gas'. Indeed, if this problem JUST occured, maybe something as simple as 'gas dryer' would help. Carl Signatureto reply, change ( .not) to ( .net) > I have yet to have a 'known' injector problem. Of course, the OP may be > dealing with a used car of questionable history or a one time purchase of > 'bad gas'. Indeed, if this problem JUST occured, maybe something as simple > as 'gas dryer' would help. > > Carl I think certain cars are more susceptible or sensitive than others. The worst I had was a 1984 Nissan 300ZX with a manual transmission. I usually fed it Union 76 at the corner station, and after a few months the clutch would start to seem grabby. I'd ignore it a while (being basically lazy) and it wuld reach the point where coming away from a stop was really annoying. Either a tank of Texaco or a bottle of injector cleaner in the tank made it better within about 100 miles and silky smooth again by the time the tank was used up. Recently my son's '94 Acura was doing the same thing and I suggested injector cleaner. He used Techron and got the same results I had been getting, although the grabbiness never went away entirely. Mike >I took my '97 Legacy Outback into a local gas station for an oil change > today, and the mechanic noticed something that has been happening to me [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > Thomas The symptoms suggest that, yes, fuel injector cleaning could help. His $85 price is awfully steep, though. A bottle of cleaner in the tank has always done the job for me. A lot of people favor Techron, but I'm happy with Pyroil... cheap, but so far it has made me happy. Whatever you use, you will probably notice an improvement within a hundred miles or so. By the time it is time to refill the tank the idle should be better. If not, time to do the tune-up stuff. Mike I recommend the Techron Fuel System cleaner concentrate rather than the weaker injector cleaner. Techron has been an outstanding product for me. Ed FYI, those symtoms are also consistent with that of a failing O2 sensor. (Which happens a lot on some Subarus, and to mine. It got fussy in humid weather, wouldnt go from a stop unless I was VERY gentle on the gas, lurched on downhills (coasting) and all sorts of other wierd stuff.) So use a bottle of cleaner, and DONT get an expensive treatment of the injectors. But you might want to check for O2 codes or manually check that sensor or just get the sensor replaced. If you haven't replaced it yet you will need to anyway so might as well get a good one in there that will last a year or two. I think the O2 sensor was around 250 including labor. Having it go bad when you are 25 miles from home would be a long, slow, dangerous limp back. (It will go, but you wont be able to compete on a busy freeway....) >>I took my '97 Legacy Outback into a local gas station for an oil change >> today, and the mechanic noticed something that has been happening to me [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > > Mike > FYI, those symtoms are also consistent with that of a failing O2 sensor. > (Which happens a lot on some Subarus, and to mine. It got fussy in humid [quoted text clipped - 45 lines] > > > > Mike |
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