Fuel Injector Service

[tengiday]

I just received a Toyota dealer's booklet including many coupons. One of them is the fuel injection service. It said "recommended every 24 months/30,000 miles". I checked my car's maintenance, which doesn't say anything about this service. I would like to know whether our cars really need it.

The coupon says: Recommended every 24 months/30,000 miles
- Machine flush injectors
- Adjust throttle switch, if necessary
- Test system for performance
- Increases fuel economy
- Enhances engine performance
$25 off (regular price: $150)

My car: 2008 Camry LE I4 : 43,100 miles
- The 5K-mile service was done at 41,300 miles in May.
- I will be in the road trip next week and 2 more trips next month, which add up to 2,500 miles more.
- Since I had the car, 95% of the time I've used premium gas (Chevron and Shell), 5 times with Arco premium.

Thank you very much!

[Mike Gerber]

"The coupon says: Recommended every 24 months/30,000 miles"

This is recommended by your dealership, not by Toyota corporate. It's a way to increase dealership profits. It doesn't hurt your car, but you can do pretty much the same thing yourself by adding a bottle of a quality fuel injector cleaner to your gas tank every 10,000 miles. I have heard good things about Techron by Chevron as an injector cleaner.

Also, stop wasting money on premium gas. You car will run perfectly fine on regular gas. Your car is not receiving any benefits from using premium gas; no increased fuel mileage or better injector cleaners. Consumer Reports has stated that most major oil companies use the same additive package on all 3 grades of their gas. Click and Clack, the two brothers who do the Cartalk radio show Saturday mornings on public radio have also mentioned this numerous times.

Mike

[arabianobsession]

To be completely honest, a bottle of fuel injector cleaner won't do nearly as good of a job as the 3 step process the dealership does. It honestly makes quite the difference, I used to do it once a year on my last car (I got mine done at Walmart for $20 when I worked there, and I did it myself), and always, every time I did it, I got a better throttle response and better mpg (only by 2 ish, but still). Mind you, it was a 12 year old car with 150k+ miles, but I would never get the same results from a bottle on the shelf.

I don't think it's necessary on a newer car, and it's not really necessary on an older car, but I did it because it showed an improvement after the fact.

Also-I agree, if your car doesn't call for premium (the gen 6 Camry doesn't), then don't bother using it. It won't help you at all.

[workerant]

^ sure it does help, it help them think they paid more for more.

[JohnGD]

Regular grade gas from a Top Tier gas station will be fine. Otherwise IMO it's just a waste of money.
http://www.toptiergas.com/

An occasional use of Chevron' Techron fuel system clean should help too. Sure, these won't clean like the strong cleaner used in fuel-rail type service, but if you don't have driveability issues then I personally would hold off on that type of service. Or maybe give it a try and see if it's worth the $125.

[tengiday]

Thanks everyone for helping me!
I understand the premium gas may not help my car in any way, but my mom wants me to put it in. She pays for the gas though. She said if I use other grades of gas and there is something wrong relating to the engine, I have to be responsible for everything. Well, it's her money, so if I don't do it, I will end up paying more than the amount I actually save. I only drive about 12,000 miles per year, so I don't think I'm going to save much.
The reason I mentioned about the type of gas I'm using is that I heard Chevron and Shell add cleaning additives in their premium gas, so I would like to know whether my car really needs the fuel injector service (or whether gas companies actually add additives in their premium gas as someone mentioned above). I will be on a long trip, so I expect my car to be in the best condition. My car is running great now, I think. How do I know if my car needs a fuel injector service?
For the mileage, honestly I'm getting about 24-25 mpg. My daily commute (20 miles each way) contains 70% of freeway, but traffic is REALLY bad. Also, there are a lot of mountains and hills here, so to keep up with the flow of traffic, I need to keep the engine around 2,500 rpm to go up the hills. I tried driving on flat freeways, and the mileage was about 31-32 mpg.

[supton]

Low 30's seems about right; it's what 33mpg on the highway? If you take your foot out and cruise to low 30's on the highway, then everything sounds like it is ok.

Premium runs something like 20 cents more per gallon, I think (seems like it was 10 cents jumper to go from RUG to mid to PUG for years). 12k/25mpg is 480 gallons; times 20cents per is 96 bucks. Not a big deal, you're right. If mom is paying for gas, and something *does* go wrong, and she finds out you were using RUG, I guess you're on the hook--even though it would have nothing to do with the issue.

[JohnGD]

There are other problems that cause rough idle, no start, hard start, engine misses and higher emissions. Today's injectors do not require interval maintenance cleaning, but if you have problems like the above then the OBD-II fuel trims should be checked with a diagnostics tool (for example the $20 one shipped from eBay and ScanMaster software). But spark plugs, wires, and coils can cause the same problems are more often the causes.

You are getting good mileage and the car is running smooth. I'd say don't put harsh cleaning chemicals in there. If there is a problem and it's isolated down to the injectors then do a service cleaning. But no interval maintenance cleaning to the fuel rail is my view. The only preventative maintenance in my view would be Chevron Techron additive. Of course others' views vary.

As a reference, there are TN members who have used this type of injector service. Click on the "Fuel Injector Cleaning" tab on the left and get an idea of what's done. It's not as convenient as fuel rail cleaning but IMO this is the better method with flow rate and patterning so you know for sure:
http://www.rceng.com/

Techron additive:
http://www.chevron.com/products/prod...tives/tcp.aspx

A fuel rail injector cleaner used by garages:
http://www.otctools.com/products/fuel_injection_cleaner

Cleaning chemical for the above tool:
http://www.otctools.com/products/pro_inject-r_kleen

[DOHCammer]

One part of the injector cleaning service that actually does some good is the throttle body cleaning. You would be surpised at how much gunk gets built up around the throttle blade even at 30k miles. Everytime I've cleaned a throttle body I noticed a difference in idle quality and throttle response. I would recommend periodical TB cleaning (every 30k) and an occasional bottle of injector cleaning additive. Toyota makes some awesome pour in fuel system cleaner, but the best I've used is BG 44K. It's expensive but well worth the money. You have to buy it at a garage or dealer that carries BG products, it's for professional use and not available to the general public.

[Dave-o]

A lot of people will tell you today's gasoline is extremely clean compared to way back when. At my dealership I do this service for customer's cars cause it IS a way of increasing our profits... benefit wise, I honestly don't think doing it once a year does anything at all

[arabianobsession]

Like I said, to each their own. I did notice an improvement in my old car (and I did follow it closely, not just, "Oh it made a difference!") but I won't really bother with it in the new Cam.