DI and premium fuel cleaners?

Joined
Jul 20, 2015
Messages
283
Location
NC
I have a 2018 Honda Odyssey and I started to get concerned about long term DI carbon build up. I know fuel doesn't reach the valves but I also know of some new Honda DI motors clogging up injectors under 30,000 miles. My thoughts are wouldn't the 10x more cleaning power / additives of premium top tier fuels like Shell or Mobil help somewhat? I have a local Shell station that moves allot of gas. They have one tank for regular and one for the V Power premium stuff. When you purchase mid grade they just pull from both tanks something like 38% premium and the rest regular. That would keep me at 89 octane but get a dose of that premium cleaning additive on every fill up. Anyone think there could be some DI engine value by doing that? Again I get that there won't be any valve cleaning but injectors are still an issue with DI from what I gather.
 
Around these parts it's like 40cents a gallon more to get mid grade, so like an extra $5-8 a tank in most cars. For that price you'd probably be better off adding a few ounces of techron or redline SI1 to every tank if you're concerned about it. Plus Shell doesn't say exactly how much detergent is in any of their gas they just say their premium has like 7x the government mandated minimum, and they say their regular contains at least twice as much, but it could contain the exact same amount it's just down to vague marketing, all grades are top tier. From what I've read using 1oz of Techron concentrate per 10gal of fuel should put as much detergent in the gas as you get at a Chevron station, and Redline has a similar concentration of PEA, so use 2-3oz of techron or Redline to a tank, most cars have what a 15-20gallon tank , and that'll probably give you more detergent than you'd get in a tank of premium at a significantly lower price point
 
Fuel injector issue you're referring to has nothing to do with DI - it is a well know manufacturing defect with a lot of 3.5L engines in pilot/ridgeline/oddyses for ‘16-18MY. There's a TSB out there that dealers are aware of. Issue with the injectors is metal shaving clogging them up. Me personally, i run costco 87 all the time
 
Originally Posted by blufeb95
Around these parts it's like 40cents a gallon more to get mid grade, so like an extra $5-8 a tank in most cars. For that price you'd probably be better off adding a few ounces of techron or redline SI1 to every tank if you're concerned about it. Plus Shell doesn't say exactly how much detergent is in any of their gas they just say their premium has like 7x the government mandated minimum, and they say their regular contains at least twice as much, but it could contain the exact same amount it's just down to vague marketing, all grades are top tier. From what I've read using 1oz of Techron concentrate per 10gal of fuel should put as much detergent in the gas as you get at a Chevron station, and Redline has a similar concentration of PEA, so use 2-3oz of techron or Redline to a tank, most cars have what a 15-20gallon tank , and that'll probably give you more detergent than you'd get in a tank of premium at a significantly lower price point


Thanks good info
 
Originally Posted by parshisa
Fuel injector issue you're referring to has nothing to do with DI - it is a well know manufacturing defect with a lot of 3.5L engines in pilot/ridgeline/oddyses for ‘16-18MY. There's a TSB out there that dealers are aware of. Issue with the injectors is metal shaving clogging them up. Me personally, i run costco 87 all the time


Good to know about the injectors
 
Think the main reason for TT and occasional chug of PEA is that injectors in DI engines are more expensive to clean or replace than older injectors. Nothing going to get on the backside of an intake valve on a DI engine unless you do an induction cleaning.
 
Keep those injectors clean, so that you have proper atomization of the fuel which leads to proper combustion which minimizes deposit formation, which would coat the valves.

You can go with the once every couple thousand mile "shock treatment" or you can do a maintenance dose with every fill up.
 
Originally Posted by UG_Passat
Keep those injectors clean, so that you have proper atomization of the fuel which leads to proper combustion which minimizes deposit formation, which would coat the valves.

You can go with the once every couple thousand mile "shock treatment" or you can do a maintenance dose with every fill up.


That's what I was thinking. So my logic was by putting in some premium top tier I would get the extra cleaning ability but I might also consider just using a bottle of Techron every oil change like others have recommended
 
Originally Posted by Jake777
Originally Posted by UG_Passat
Keep those injectors clean, so that you have proper atomization of the fuel which leads to proper combustion which minimizes deposit formation, which would coat the valves.

You can go with the once every couple thousand mile "shock treatment" or you can do a maintenance dose with every fill up.


That's what I was thinking. So my logic was by putting in some premium top tier I would get the extra cleaning ability but I might also consider just using a bottle of Techron every oil change like others have recommended

As long as you do as you're suggesting (TT fuel and a techron before oil change), you're doing pretty much everything you can to keep those injectors in top condition. I recently learned the hard way about using unbranded, old fuel. Plus.. I'm not convinced you absolutely must run Shell fuel if you're gonna be doing a Techron system cleaner at oil change time. Don't get me wrong, their premium V power Shell is good stuff right up there with Chevron's, which I personally consider the best. But I think you could get away with using any TT fuel... Costco, 76, ARCO, Valero and many others have TT level detergents. But if you're brand loyal to Shell.. there's absolutely nothing wrong with that/their fuel. I personally run 76 99% of the time as it's the closest to me but from time to time I'll fill up with a tank of premium Shell or Chevron.
 
It's possible Shell and Chevron premium gas nay have more detergents than other TT gas suppliers - I use Quick Trip TT gas and their stations move a lot of gas ! My OCI is 4K miles on a DI engine , so the tank of gas before I change the oil gets a 20 gal. bottle of Techron along with a full tank of Quick Trip premium gas (otherwise I use regular 87 gas) which gets the best gas mileage in my DI engine versus 89 or 91 gas .
 
Originally Posted by Jake777
Originally Posted by UG_Passat
Keep those injectors clean, so that you have proper atomization of the fuel which leads to proper combustion which minimizes deposit formation, which would coat the valves.

You can go with the once every couple thousand mile "shock treatment" or you can do a maintenance dose with every fill up.


That's what I was thinking. So my logic was by putting in some premium top tier I would get the extra cleaning ability but I might also consider just using a bottle of Techron every oil change like others have recommended

As long as you do as you're suggesting (TT fuel and a techron before oil change), you're doing pretty much everything you can to keep those injectors in top condition. I recently learned the hard way about using unbranded, old fuel. Plus.. I'm not convinced you absolutely must run Shell fuel if you're gonna be doing a Techron system cleaner at oil change time. Don't get me wrong, their premium V power Shell is good stuff right up there with Chevron's, which I personally consider the best. But I think you could get away with using any TT fuel... Costco, 76, ARCO, Valero and many others have TT level detergents. But if you're brand loyal to Shell.. there's absolutely nothing wrong with that/their fuel. I personally run 76 99% of the time as it's the closest to me but from time to time I'll fill up with a tank of premium Shell or Chevron.
I believe Costco has more cleaning additives than any other retailers. They contracted with Lubrizol for their additive package which they add to every delivery at each station. They have a computer controlled additive system at each station. For some reason Costco didn’t trust the tank farm delivery systems.
 
Every top tier fuel station has top tier fuel across all their grades (except diesel). Their different grades of gas all have the same top tier cleaners. So if your Honda minivan calls for regular 87 octane then just use regular 87 from a top tier station. I don't know where people get these ideas that high octane fuel has more cleaners than regular or mid-grade. When Shell advertises "Shell Premium with V-power nitrogen enhanced cleaners," this does not mean that their other fuel grades don't have the same cleaners.
 
Every top tier fuel station has top tier fuel across all their grades (except diesel). Their different grades of gas all have the same top tier cleaners. So if your Honda minivan calls for regular 87 octane then just use regular 87 from a top tier station. I don't know where people get these ideas that high octane fuel has more cleaners than regular or mid-grade. When Shell advertises "Shell Premium with V-power nitrogen enhanced cleaners," this does not mean that their other fuel grades don't have the same cleaners.
Vpower does have more detergents than regular 87 at the same pump, but tipping in an ounce of techron or redline SI-1 per 10 gallons of fuel in a tank of 87 should match or exceed what's in the vpower, there's no reason to pay for 93 octane because it's got more detergents if you don't need 93 octane especially considering vpower is 80 cents a gallon more around here for a decent sized tank, you could buy a bottle of PEA fuel system cleaner cheaper than the difference between a tank of 87 and 93.
 
Every top tier fuel station has top tier fuel across all their grades (except diesel). Their different grades of gas all have the same top tier cleaners. So if your Honda minivan calls for regular 87 octane then just use regular 87 from a top tier station. I don't know where people get these ideas that high octane fuel has more cleaners than regular or mid-grade. When Shell advertises "Shell Premium with V-power nitrogen enhanced cleaners," this does not mean that their other fuel grades don't have the same cleaners.

There could be a higher level. Several fuel retailers claim to spec a higher concentration in their premium fuel. When Chevron's bulk additive can't be added at the fuel depot, there's a schedule for how much to add, although the only assumption that can be made is about the minimum concentration. The minimum requirement for premium is 1 bottle per 450 gallons of fuel, but 1 bottle per 550 gallons of any other grade.

 
My wife’s 19 Pilot tries to use Exxon 87 with Amsoil PI every three months. If you haven’t already deactivate the VCM with a SVCM muzzler. Keeps the engine running on all six cylinders.
 
I run only SHELL in all my vehicles, 87 for my 83 Silverado,89 in the 08 Malibu and 91 in the 17 Regal GS, Berryman B12 has been my go to cleaner, like to add a can prior to long road trips. ;)
7040112_bry_0116_pri_larg.jpg
 
Back
Top