ecotec4 wrote:When you pour the cleaner in the fuel tank, all the crud and junk in the tank gets pushed all the way up the fuel filter and the injectors.
Isn't the micron size of the holes in the fuel filter and the sock filter in the tank smaller than the micron size of the holes in the injectors? So if anything gets past the filter it should be small enough to go through the filter and be burned up in the combustion chamber.
I'm pretty certain it's only the cleaners with methynal that harm the injectors.
Also the Chevrolet dealer I worked at when I lived in Alaska sold Techron to their customers as a preventative maintenance measure and they still recomend using a bottle every 6000 miles. Chevron has been adding techron to their fuel for years. If it caused a problem i don't think they would put it in their fuel. Also the dealer I bought my cavalier from fills up every car they sell with Chevron gasoline with Techron. here's an article where they're saying to use techron to solve injector problems from gas with sulfur in it.
Original URL:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/jan05/291186.asp
Clogged injectors traced to sulfates
GM says it has found cause of malfunctions in thousands of area cars
By RAQUEL RUTLEDGE
rrutledge@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 7, 2005
It doesn't explain the who, when, where or the why, but General Motors officials say they think they know what is responsible for recently clogging thousands of fuel injectors around Milwaukee.
Fuel Injector Problems
Quotable
We have not seen anything to indicate or suggest there was a problem at all.
- David Harvey,
Citgo's manager of fuel technology and technical services
Tip
Motorists can avoid problems by having fuel injectors professionally cleaned annually and by adding injector cleaner regularly, an expert says.
Sulfate salts. Tiny inorganic salts that generally form when sulfur is exposed to water.
GM officials said their chemical analysis showed that sulfate salt deposits were found on the internal mechanical components of the injectors, causing them to malfunction.
"GM has investigated this situation and believes that what is occurring in the Milwaukee area is an anomaly and is not related to the normal performance of GM vehicle fuel injectors," the company said in a written statement.
Company officials familiar with the investigation were not available for further comment.
GM investigators said last month that they believed one gasoline supplier may have been responsible, but they would not release the company's name because of the investigation's early stage. The latest statement says GM is working with "fuel companies" to try to pinpoint the source of the sulfates.
Fuel experts say most, but not all, sulfur is extracted from the crude oil when it's processed into gasoline at refineries. The remaining sulfur takes many forms and can form crystal-like salts that are not soluble in fuel if exposed to water or oxygen over time.
Officials from Citgo, where many motorists in a Journal Sentinel online survey said they bought gas before their injector problems, said in an interview that they were aware that sulfate salts were a likely culprit, but they had no idea how or where the salts might enter the fuel supply.
"We're fighting that issue right now, where the source of that may be," said David Harvey, Citgo's manager of fuel technology and technical services. Harvey said all Citgo's tests showed nothing wrong with its fuel.
"We have not seen anything to indicate or suggest there was a problem at all," he said. "There's nothing that would indicate that there is anything different today than there was five years ago."
Citgo officials said all their grades of gasoline on the market either meet or exceed EPA standards for detergency. They would not provide details. The EPA standards have come under fire recently from auto manufacturers who say the standards are not rigid enough to keep injectors and intake valves clean.
Citgo officials said detergent additives wouldn't remove sulfate salts anyway.
Fuel injector experts disagree.
"Then why can we fix 80% of them by flushing them when we chemically clean them?" said Bill Fulton, a fuel injector expert with Ohio Automotive Technology.
Fulton says motorists can avoid fuel injector problems by having injectors professionally cleaned annually and by adding injector cleaner regularly.
"All a consumer has to do is religiously put a can of Techron injector cleaner in their tank every three months and they won't have that problem," said Fulton, who trains mechanics on injector issues around the country. "It's absolutely preventable."
Fulton said there are about a dozen decent injector cleaners on the market, none of which will cause any harm to vehicles made in 1994 or newer.
The Wisconsin Department of Commerce, which regulates petroleum in the state, could not trace the problem and turned over its investigation to the Environmental Protection Agency.
John Mooney, a fuels specialist with the EPA's Region 5 office in Chicago, said the EPA is doing further tests on the fuel, talking with suppliers and manufacturers, and will analyze the more than 700 complaints compiled by the Commerce Department since October.
The EPA has mandated reformulated fuel in Milwaukee and five surrounding counties since 1995. Mooney said the EPA's authority on the issue also extends to fuel injectors as they relate to emission systems in vehicles.
"Clearly, we have some responsibility here, and we'll be pursuing it as diligently as we can," he said.
U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold said he wants to be sure the issue is addressed. Feingold (D-Wis.) wrote a letter to the EPA on Dec. 14, after receiving a complaint from a motorist.
"Please send me information on the EPA's investigation of this matter and how the agency plans to resolve the problem," he wrote.
Motorists and mechanics around Milwaukee began reporting a surge in plugged fuel injectors beginning mainly in September, when the area switches to its winter blend per EPA mandates, and continuing into December. More than 300 drivers complained to the Journal Sentinel in an online survey. According to the data, roughly 75% of the problems occurred in GM vehicles.
Sorry about the long post I just wanted to save everyone from having to give the paper their email so they could read the article.
josh
