It is the steam that helps lift the carbon off the piston not just the water itself. Ever steam clean anything? Works pretty good doesn't it?

James

 

Of course I won't. My body soap doesn't work well without scrubbing/agitation I wish I could put on soap and not have to scrub, then I could just rinse away

 

SRV1-

Somebody got their button pushed. Take care of your car how you want, I'll take care of mine how I see fit. These threads come go in all the car forums. Just because you may be in the industry for x years is not a qualifier. There are enough doctors in the medical field who have lengthy degrees. They may manage to have long practices but aren't necessarily good either.

Over the years there are plenty of brewed methods that manage to pass as "maintenance". Hit it wrong, it can lead to more repairs than necessary. Like many of these threads, it seems that the combined engineers, designers of these manufacturers don't know what they are doing. There is a recommended approach then there is the there is thought about out thinking the engineers.

I gave my view, accept it or not, doesn't matter to me.

 

There are also those cleaners that don't leave water spots. Well, for the most part.

 

Guys,,, this topic is getting a little out of hand. Both of what you are saying does have credible and valid points based on the points of view of information presented. We are all here to try to help one another.

RA-- you have been a valuable help for many years here, and have helped members, including myself with information that I would not have thought to look into..

SRV- - your qualifications and field experience do make you a credible source from the "backyard mechanic" perspective, but there is always more than one way to accomplish things as well.

Bottom line,,work together and not against one another and many will benefit from your experiences. BTW,,,I have/still use the ATF method in the gas tank, but only on my work trucks (tractor trailers) and there have been zero issues. Haven't done so in my gas cars, but may be worth investigating.

 

Hey I'm all for opinions and I can accept them all but when someone comes in and has probably no experience telling someone else that they are wrong is where I have the beef with. It is like an intern telling a doctor in how to do his job. Backyard comment was not necessary either.

James

 

1-stop taking things personally, if you cant deal with an opinion, dont comment.
2-you have no idea who this person is that you're attacking, and what their qualifications are. what's that adage of assuming making an.....
3-even the best doctors dont know everything there is to know in their field, and are prone to making mistakes on the rare occasion. if a "lowly" intern was to point something out to a doctor and prevent him from making said mistake, i assure you that 99% of the time the doctor will be THANKFUL, and not just pull rank about how many years more experience he has.

chill, if he thinks you're wrong, he thinks you're wrong. deal with it.

 

I'd hate to see this thread being closed due to personal attacks. Let us try to keep it open and add more valuable input. Thanks!

 

Folks, sorry to rile everyone up. I'd more interested in cleaning the throttle body than injectors. (As an aside I have used ATF in the crankcase to loosen up sticky tappets)

Comments on BG efficacy regarding throttle body cleaning, and if it has any further benefits would be appreciated

Chip

 

Why not just take out the intake piping and manually clean it from there? That is unless you're trying to clean whatever is in the intake manifold too? I haven't found any cleaner that will remove the buildup within the intake manifold mainly because there is so much in there that the amount of detergent you normally use is not nearly enough. I've always used CRC Throttle Body Cleaner and a rag to clean my throttle body.

 

Backyard is a fitting descriptor, it wasn't directed at SRV1. There are many possibilities attempted to cure-fix-remedy some issue. Is it proper, that is debatable. Would the engineering team who with years of development suggest that approach, likely not.

We've read the acetone, toluene and oil additive threads. Most this stuff won't come into play till much later. By then the originators of these methods won't be concerned as the car is in the hands of another. Looking at the age of our cars now and seeing the many issues arising it becomes more questionable. Do these practices add or decrease the longevity of said parts.

The chemical composition of ATF is not meant for combustion. The by products of it remain suspicious. Hence my reference from Texaco's site about not adding it to the gasoline mix. With the emission systems being sensitive, does having that burned in the combustion chamber pose a risk to other emissions controls?

If say some warranty issue arises and it is discovered Marvel Mystery Oil, ATF, Toluene, Acetone were fed through the fuel system or some other non designed chemical were put into the lubricating system...what is the outcome going to be? In good faith-honesty, would you disclose this to the service writer? I not than the practice is suspect to negligence and or intentional damage.

Like eating a pound or so of bacon or live off fast food. No big deal when you young. Hit 40-50-60+...was it a good idea to consume such quantities with consistency? One doesn't even have to wait that long to see the effects of poor body maintenance.

With the car...your maintenance decisions determine how many trouble free miles or how few you'll get. We know the LS's are well designed so the risk factor with outside maintenance practices is questionable. The BG intake cleaning may be a toss of $$ though it falls within the guidelines of an acceptable maintenance practice. ATF?

That is my view.

 

If a mechanic manually scrubs the throttle plate clean, it will take him about 15 minutes and so all he could charge is maybe 1/2 to 1 hour worth of labor. The BG system enables him to charge twice as much money for the same 15 minutes worth of work and with less effort, so naturally he will recommend BG over manual scrubbing.

Pistons and intake valves DON'T need cleaning to maintain top power and fuel economy, only the throttle plate needs cleaning maybe once every 50,000 miles.

 

I've considered that Gsteg. The mechanic said this would do as good/better job on the throttle body and have other postive effects from the valves on dowen

 

I have 88k on my 99 ls and I got fault for idle speed too low, I bought 2 cans of carb leaner, old toothbrush, took off throttle from the intake and cleaned up everything with the toothbrush. Dried out and everything works just as it was before. Cost was maybe $10 and 1 hour with break for beer in the meantime . That's the best what I can advice. Brake cleaner contains acetone, which may be harmful for the gaskets and doesn't clean the carbons as well as carb cleaner.

 

44K is not part of BG "Service" so this thread is kind of all over the road map currently. In an effort to straighten this out:

There are BG Additives/Chemicals & BG Service (with BG Chemicals) & there is a large difference between the two in terms of how they are applied to your auto.

I will leave it to the crowd to compare the merit of the Consumer Products.

In terms of service BG has 2 types that utilize a specific Injector apparatus..
(#9210) that is not intended for end users.

1)BG has an Air Intake System Cleaner(#206) that they claim cleans the throttle body & plenums.

2) BG ISC (#211) is an induction System Cleaner which connects directly to the manifold under pressure & purports to clean the fuel injectors & remove carbon deposits from the ports, valves & combustion chambers.

An end user with some brains, any companies comprable injector & an air compressor could actually do either one of these chores. I have seen nice injectors in the $125.00 range.