Happy 1977, My personal feeling is that if you use any standard brand of gas and do routine oil changes the use of a fuel induction service is just a waste to time and money. We had a 2000 RX with about 93K or 97k when we traded it on the 2011 and never did any of that and we never had a problem. I should also mention that other then the first 5000 miles we used regular gas in it and averages almost 19 mpg across the board.

 

I thought so, I use shell for the life of our vehicle and if I remember correctly, there was a thread where this dude had his engine repaired and took pictures while it was taken apart and it was hella clean. All he did was use top tier gas and regular oil change.

 

Thank you cruiter and cafpaf.

Off to costco again for gas.(by the way they do not sell additives in their warehouse here), may be that's the reason.

Walleyeguy.

 

I have owned 2 ES 350's and I have only used Chevron 87 Octane which I was told to use by one Lexus dealer and also by a Toyota dealer as I also own a Toyota Rav 6 cyl..

 

One thing to keep in mind when adding any fuel injector cleaners, please ensure you do this right before you fill up (preferably AT the gas station), and that the tank is nearly empty.

The reason for this is because the fuel injector is very dense and will sink to the bottom of a full tank of gas and therefore get sucked into the engine. It's not gasoline, so it will cause misfiring problems. The rationale for adding it right before you fill up and on an empty tank is because after you add the fuel injector cleaner and then you add gas, the gasoline flowing in from the gas nozzle will have enough turbulence to mix the fuel injector cleaner and gasoline properly within the gas tank, therefore ensuring your fuel injectors get cleaned AND your engine gets the adequate fuel mixture.

I routinely add Techron fuel injector cleaner, which is sold at several local Costcos in my area. It is also part of the recommended MAJOR service, but of course, if you didn't know better, the dealership makes it sound like SUCH a labor intensive job. I usually opt out and tell them I'll do it myself.

 

Hi I would stick only with the Chevron fuel system cleaner as it is the only one that does not contain MMT, in the lexus manual it says no to put any aditive that has the MMT (Methylcyclopentadienyl Manganese Trycarbonyl) compound, the same applies to any gasoline brand that uses MMT. This will kill your cat converter and damage your oxygensensors, and the warranty won't cover it. P.596 of the owners manual

 

To answer the question directly, use a funnel with a long neck!

 

The injector cleaning that a dealership does taps into the fuel line and put RAW injector cleaner thru the injectors rather than a 1/100 mik you get with a bottle from Costco; if you have really dirty injectors it works wonders, but if you use quality gas and change filters, I don't see the need!!

 

My experience with these fuel additives is that you could use them for 10 + Year OLD cars. Last time, I heard a similar advise for knocking on my infiniti and used his bg44K crap and ended up losing my O2 sensor and an ignition coil. Unless, you put in the most dirty gas around and the car is really old and clogged with carbon, I would NOT use these. My 5 cents...

 

Half the people in this forum don't want to put premium in their cars even though the manufacturer calls for it. Now we are being told we need to add fuel additives?

 

I agree, Im so confused. So should i use fuel additives or not?

 

Your book does not say you need to add fuel additives. But dealers will try to boost profits by convincing you to buy them during a service.

They are in the gas you buy.

 

our RX doesn't have DI engine so its not listed as part of the maintenance cycle but good practice to maintain on all vehicles. Technically there is no such thing as “dirty” and “clean” fuel since all are regulated by the Fed to meet basic standard guideline. “dirty” fuel can come from old tank that leak and lack of line maintenance so all fuel are very much equal in quality.

success is to start early in vehicle service life. I have been following 10k/yr oil change interval for past 10+ years with full synthetic and never had issues on Asian, European, and Domestics vehicles. I pour in Techron gas additive about 500 hundred miles before the oil change. Since little fuel mixes make it into the crank I don’t want the additive mixing with engine oil for long time [overly cautious]. It is also not recommended for over using the fuel additive which can actually be harmful to fuel system.

This is in the same category as “regular vs premium”, “3k/5k/7k/10k oil change interval etc. owner should follow what is recommended by manufacture to reassure individual comfort.

For those thinking the fuel delivery trucks have same fuel for all stations, that assumption is incorrect. For certain brand/types will have different additive/content makeup depending on the brand being serviced. Close friend’s dad drives fuel delivery truck as independent driver so he uses the same truck and sometime the same tanker but fuel comes from different reserved tanks for different delivery.

 

for those who want to do a little extra good for their engine, use a tank of premium every oil change or so and you will get all the benefit of using that fuel additive without any risk. And you will even get 10-20 mor HP for that tank of gas. Who knew?? Relax, enjoy and be thankful this is not the 3rd world (yet).