Fuel injector cleaners vs. Complete fuel system cleaner vs. Gas Treatment???

[boxcartommie22]

i use anyone one of these and they are all complete fuel cleaners and upper cylinder lube...synergyn's preventalube...redline's complete fuel system cleaner and lucas's upper cylinder lubricant and injector cleaner.als bg's 44k.

 

[Dr. T]

Seems like all companies sell all 3. The "complete fuel system cleaners" are usually 2-3 times more expensive than the "fuel injector cleaners" or the "gas treatment". What is the difference between the 3 products? Does one need to use all 3, the first 2 or only one exclusively?

 

[Bror Jace]

Dr. T, these are mostly marketing terms. They all try to accomplish the same thing but for a variety of (advertising) reasons, the phrases have changed over the years. Don't let that throw you.

So, assume they all (at least try to) do the same thing.

--- Bror Jace

 

[Dr. T]

That's what I thought too..and some are B.S. like "Fuel system cleaner with octane boost" or "Synthetic Fuel injector cleaner", but otherwise the products from the same company DO smell slightly different and have either different concentrations or differing chemical compositions. I was just wondering if one is moer effective than the other eg. usually the "complete fuel system cleaners" seem to have a stronger smell, probable higher concentration, larger bottles, so most of these cost twice as much and the label only recommends 3k intervals...whereas the standard is "at every fill-up".

 

[Bror Jace]

Dr T., I can't really say much about these anymore than I did. However, there are many ways to arrive at detergency: alcohol, esters, certain petroleum distillates. The octane boost from some of these might only be a tenth of a rating point when dumping 12oz. into a full 10-15+ gallon tank. They are usually a VERY cost-ineffective way of raising octane.

I don't know if you can make judgements about the verbage on the label and then back your way into choosing one which works. Other than anecdotal testimony, I'm not sure how to judge them. It isn't easy.

--- Bror Jace