Omicron

Got into a debate with a friend the other day. One of us felt that injector cleaner, added to a tank of gas periodically, is a good idea. The other one felt that it's not needed with modern gasoline, which contains enough detergents to keep fuel injected engines clean.

Which of us is right?

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

It is really a function of how you drive and store your car.

Generally, modern fuel injection systems run at longer duty cycles and higher pressures with injectors that have smaller pintles with shorter throws.
It is less likely that they will gum in the first place.
Add to that the the filtration that happens before the gas even hits the pumps in your tank and there isn't much to worry about.
Also, detergents are hard on the soft lines and the combusted byproducts are pretty rotten.

The issue is really useage.
If you let the car sit for long periods of time and only drive at low RPMS for short trips on gas that has been sitting, a water dispersant can't hurt you and is probably a good idea.

My vote: Forget periodic gas treatment. Just use all your gas in a timely fashion and use your motor's full RPM range daily.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Also - nothing you can buy in a bottle or can will compare to a real injector cleaning which is done under pressure with the injector rails off of the motor.