Injector cleaners have been the long debate of the decade and I'd like to shed some more light on it. Injector cleaners have a number of things they have to do while also doing others. For instance, something made to tackle carbon means it could possibly and probably tackle the rubber of the fuel lines, gaskets, etc. This means injector cleaner additives are extremely weak and must be used long term for them to do anything.
One test I did was putting an injector that I hadn't cleaned into a cup with injector cleaner additive in it. I waited 24 hours, pulled it out, and nothing had changed. I had dumped the injector cleaner straight into the cup so it was 100% concentration, so that tells you just how weak it is. Fuel line rubber is easily degraded so it must be extremely weak to not disturb the rubber.
The injector itself acts like a power washer because it uses such high pressure so if the insides of it have carbon buildup, a very weak additive may have an effect over a length of time (maybe a few tanks with the additive in it, maybe longer, not sure just how effective the additives are). The additive soaks into the carbon and allows it to be easily washed away.
If the injector is very coked, this could take a very very long time. This isn't to say that additives don't work, but with the constraints the fuel system rubber/gaskets put on the additive, they must be allowed a long period of time to notice any effects at all.
This might make you wonder if chemicals can even get rid of carbon. Yesterday I decided to clean my Jeep's intake butterfly thingermajigger and it had probably 1/16" of coking on it. We had a bucket of this chem dip stuff which said throw it in for 30 min, if it has a lot of build up, leave it in longer. It explicitly says to remove all rubber and gaskets before using it. It took a longgg time for it to get rid of that much carbon with me constantly checking on it and rubbing off the loose stuff. I thought hmmm, I wonder if this would work on an injector. I went out and ripped an injector out of the cummins, wiped everything off that I could until it was nothing but coked on carbon. I then threw it in and waited 30-45 min and then took it out and the carbon wiped right off. It left nothing but the discoloration of the tip of the injector behind which must come off when I use aluminum polish to clean it since I have never seen the discoloration before.
Anyhow it proves that chemicals can soak into it without any agitation and then the carbon can be wiped right off. But it is very hard core and would eat your fuel lines for breakfast very quickly. You can imagine what would happen if it were in your fuel system 24/7... Hence the reason additives are extremely weak and must therefore be used for a very long duration for them to actually work.
Additives also have a tendency to lower lubricity, which is bad for the fuel system as it needs lube to function and in the case of the VP44, the fuel is it's entire source of lube. Much like a 2 stroke engine, they cannot run without lube. 2 stroke oil lubes the fuel system as well as apparently cleaning it based on this quote I found. For this reason and because 2 stroke oil is available everywhere, it is definitely the best fuel additive. If someone reads this and has post 2007 (EGR) truck, you need to search for compatibility...
To all interested:
due to the pollution control measures of the EC diesel-oil is nearly sulphur free and contains up to 5% of bio-diesel. Sulphur has the property to grease the high pressure injection pump and the injectors. Without sulphur, the reduced greasing property of the new diesel has already shown negativ impacts on the long-term stability of the injectors and the high pressure pump. The pump manufacturers have tried to react by lining the moving parts of the pumps with teflon or other suitable material. However, the long term stability is still not achieved as with the old (sulphor contained) diesel.
The engine-research centre of a well known German car manufacurer has conducted some long term tests of diesel additives to find out whether any one of them will have an impact on the long term reliability of the diesel engine components. This introduction to explain were my information comes from.
The results of this research: any diesel additive of any manufacturer presently on the market is not worth the money!
BUT: 2-stroke oil, which we use in our motor saws, lawn mower or in 2-stroke motor engines has shown to have an extreme positive impact on diesel engines, if such 2-stroke oil is added to the diesel in a homoeophatic dosis of 1:200. In practical terms: 0,300 litre of 2-stroke oil into the 70l diesel tank. The 2-stroke oil will be absorbed by the diesel (emulsion) and grease every moving part of the high pressure pump and the injectors.
Besides this, the 2-stroke oil will keep the diesel engine clean, as it burnes cleaner as the diesel itself.
In other words, the 2-stroke oil has a much lower ash-content as diesel, when burned. This proven fact delays the DPF (diesel particulate (soot) filter) to clogg, and the "burn free" process of the DPF will be much less.
One more information: in Germany we have to present our cars every 2 years to the TUV -Technical Supervision Organisation - who will check, amongs others, the pollution of petrol and diesel engines.
The measured cloud-factor of a diesel engine without use of 2-stroke oil has been 0,95.
The same factor with the use of 2-stroke oil has been 0,47 - reduction of nearly half of the soot particles.
Besides this, the use of 2-stroke oil in the diesel will increase the milage by 3-5%.
My injector after chem dip. Only discoloration remains.
Mopar1973Man 1 post
ISX 1 post
dripley 1 post
adamey1000 1 post
Injector cleaners have been the long debate of the decade and I'd like to shed some more light on it. Injector cleaners have a number of things they have to do while also doing others. For instance, something made to tackle carbon means it could possibly and probably tackle the rubber of the fuel lines, gaskets, etc. This means injector cleaner additives are extremely weak and must be used long term for them to do anything.
One test I did was putting an injector that I hadn't cleaned into a cup with injector cleaner additive in it. I waited 24 hours, pulled it out, and nothing had changed. I had dumped the injector cleaner straight into the cup so it was 100% concentration, so that tells you just how weak it is. Fuel line rubber is easily degraded so it must be extremely weak to not disturb the rubber.
The injector itself acts like a power washer because it uses such high pressure so if the insides of it have carbon buildup, a very weak additive may have an effect over a length of time (maybe a few tanks with the additive in it, maybe longer, not sure just how effective the additives are). The additive soaks into the carbon and allows it to be easily washed away.
If the injector is very coked, this could take a very very long time. This isn't to say that additives don't work, but with the constraints the fuel system rubber/gaskets put on the additive, they must be allowed a long period of time to notice any effects at all.
This might make you wonder if chemicals can even get rid of carbon. Yesterday I decided to clean my Jeep's intake butterfly thingermajigger and it had probably 1/16" of coking on it. We had a bucket of this chem dip stuff which said throw it in for 30 min, if it has a lot of build up, leave it in longer. It explicitly says to remove all rubber and gaskets before using it. It took a longgg time for it to get rid of that much carbon with me constantly checking on it and rubbing off the loose stuff. I thought hmmm, I wonder if this would work on an injector. I went out and ripped an injector out of the cummins, wiped everything off that I could until it was nothing but coked on carbon. I then threw it in and waited 30-45 min and then took it out and the carbon wiped right off. It left nothing but the discoloration of the tip of the injector behind which must come off when I use aluminum polish to clean it since I have never seen the discoloration before.
Anyhow it proves that chemicals can soak into it without any agitation and then the carbon can be wiped right off. But it is very hard core and would eat your fuel lines for breakfast very quickly. You can imagine what would happen if it were in your fuel system 24/7... Hence the reason additives are extremely weak and must therefore be used for a very long duration for them to actually work.
Additives also have a tendency to lower lubricity, which is bad for the fuel system as it needs lube to function and in the case of the VP44, the fuel is it's entire source of lube. Much like a 2 stroke engine, they cannot run without lube. 2 stroke oil lubes the fuel system as well as apparently cleaning it based on this quote I found. For this reason and because 2 stroke oil is available everywhere, it is definitely the best fuel additive. If someone reads this and has post 2007 (EGR) truck, you need to search for compatibility...
My injector after chem dip. Only discoloration remains.