Best Fuel Injector Cleaner

Most cars these days come with a fuel injector, rather than a carburettor. Fuel injectors control the supply of fuel with the help of a computer program. They also ensure that only clean fuel flows through the fuel lines and that too in a steady flow. Due to the impurities in the fuel or a process called coking, fuel injectors tend to get dirty prematurely. Fuel injector cleaners help to alleviate many fuel injector problems by removing the accumulated debris in the injectors. There are many types of fuel injector cleaners available in the market.

Fuel Injector Cleaner Comparison

As mentioned above, fuel injectors tend to get dirty due to a process called coking. When you turn the engine off, the coolant system stops the circulation of the coolant. As a result the temperature in the fuel injector rises. The little fuel which is present at the tip of fuel injector evaporates as a result of this. This leaves a carbon deposit on the fuel injector. Similarly, debris in unclean fuel can also get accumulated in fuel injectors and eventually hamper its performance. Fuel injector cleaners work at various levels to unclog the fuel injectors.

There are two different modes of fuel injector cleaning. One is on-car cleaning and the other is off-car cleaning. On-car cleaning can be performed by the car owners. It is done using a fuel injector cleaning kit which comes with a pressurized solvent cleaner can and tubes. The tubes are to be attached to the fuel lines and the engine is to be run until the pressurized solvent can exhausts completely. Off-car fuel injector cleaning can be done by professional mechanics only. You need to take your car to the mechanic's shop where he takes the fuel injectors out and cleans them using a fuel injector machine. This machine uses ultrasound technology for cleaning the fuel injectors. The off-car method of cleaning fuel injectors allows you to monitor various performance parameters of the fuel injector cleaning. This is not possible with a cleaning kit.

Another approach to keeping your fuel injectors clean is using additive cleaners. These additives are to be added with the fuel. They can only be used as a preventive measure against clogging of fuel injectors. These additives do very little to remove already clogged injectors. The most they can do is clean mild build-up.

Best Fuel Injector Cleaner

Depending upon the above comparison, choosing the best fuel injector cleaner is pretty simple. It invariably has to be off car cleaning, as it is 100% safe, effective and also allows for performance monitoring. Fuel injector cleaning with a kit can damage your injectors as the strong chemicals in the solvent erode them. Hence, frequent cleaning with kits is not recommended. Additives contain chemicals in a diluted form hence are least effective.

Among the many fuel injector cleaners available in the market, Chevron Techron Fuel System Cleaner is the best one. STP Fuel System Cleaner is another good alternative. Kits are recommended only to people with good technical know how. One should not clean the injectors with a kit more than twice or thrice in the life of the injectors. If the problem persists even after that, it is best to replace them altogether. The best way is to take them to the mechanic who only charges you $40 towards the fuel injector cleaning cost.

Interestingly, the best fuel injector cleaner happens to be the fuel itself. If you always make it a point to fill good quality gasoline in your car, you will rarely need help with fuel injector cleaning.