Fuel Injector Service

[RyanMK]

I brought my car in for its 48 months service today. They recommended I do a fuel injectors and throttle body service as according to them there is enough carbon build up in there to warrant such a service. It's going to cost $175 on top.

My question is, is the service necessary? My car has done about 35000kms. I did a quick search online, and some seem to think it's a waste of money.

The service they mentioned is similar to the link I've provided below.
http://m.lubemobile.com.au/fuel-injecti ... pgod6joAZQ

[darren1011]

Have you tried the fuel additive clean? I've not had this done on my Lancer, but did with a Magna and made no difference whatsoever

[himynameisdaniel]

Some dealers are beginning to swear by those additives.
the trend seems to come and go.

I would ask if this is a breakdown and physical clean or if this is from the use of non Mitsubishi "additives"

I have not been able to find any evidence in my booklet concerning additives.

I remember putting in a bottle into my Ford Taurus and it basically blew greyish smoke for a good minute
Then a primary valve for the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) went ballistic and needed to be replaced while all my o2 sensors needed to be cleaned because they were reporting error codes.
worst 25 bucks spent.

Recommended action if you are of sound mechanical ability is to take it apart and clean it yourself manually.

[Dire]

How would they know that you have bad carbon buildup
And at only 35,000km? Pfft.
It depends on how you drive it as to how much carbon buildup you get. Give it a bit of a thrash every now and then and it'll be fine.

I'm guessing you have capped price servicing, so tell them to include it in the cost if its so important

Last service they tried to charge me $35 or something for 'intake and filter cleaning' even though I had only just put my SRI in.


And I don't see how any additive is going to clean carbon buildup. Carbon is pretty inert, I'd think anything that would budge carbon would affect other things as well.

[Tweak]

Its a scheme to generate $$$ for the workshop and at 45000km its a joke
No doubt it will be a Wynn's crap
I know its a scam cos i used to pedal this crap all the time when i was working for a dealership. Only reason i up sold it was to collectt he caps and win prizes

Go to ya local Subaru dealership and buy a can of Upper engine cleaner. Its a spray which you spray into the throttle body. This stuff does work and its used daily in most workshops and its about $20 a can.

[himynameisdaniel]

is that a basic degreaser ?

[Tweak]

Subaru Upper engine cleaner is a spray which is designed to go into the throttle body. Subaru do this on just about every car service.
Down side is it stinks and its kinda toxic. Up side is you crop dust your intire street when you turn ur car on and go up the street

[McCoy]

It's bullhonkey, don't do it.

[RyanMK]

I would ask if this is a breakdown and physical clean or if this is from the use of non Mitsubishi additives I have not been able to find any evidence in my booklet concerning additives.

The guy over the phone said what they do is pour in some kinda of liquid and then drain it off. And then use a machine to remove the carbon after. So it seems like it's more than just pouring some liquid into it?

AS far as im aware injector cleaning is a waste of money, just away for them to get more money out of you.

The funny thing is though, I don't think he was trying to get more money out of me. Cuz over the phone, the service guy told me that it's not a hurry and if I want, I should be able to get a cheaper price outside.

So it seems the general consensus is a no.

[Craker]

What they told me they do is pull the fuel lines off and run the car purely on this combustible cleaning agent for a while. Whether that's true or not I don't know but that's what they told me is involved.

[cyssero]

This is a big ticket add-on my dealership pushes every single time. I've denied it about 6 times in a row now and on occasion have quizzed them about what exactly it entails.

My research online suggested that unless they are taking the fuel rails off and running it through a UV and ultrasonic clean it wouldn't be worth it. They were charging between $300-400 on top of the normal service to do this and I confirmed they weren't taking the fuel injectors off the car.

Throttle body as other suggested can be a DIY with a spray can which is all they are likely to be doing.

When MMA call up for feedback I always pass on that they were very pushy in suggesting this service. I'm pretty sure the dealership reps work off commission for this because it's such a high margin item and the last lady who insisted I get it after I politely said "I'll think about it ... " wrote down her name on a scrap and said if I come back to let whoever know she was dealing with me. Having worked in retail sales before this is generally only done when you want the commission/spiv.

[clackersx]

At the Mitsubishi dealership i work at, they use a aerosol fuel injector cleaner. The fuel line is disconnected and the car is basically run with just the can connected to the fuel rail. The aerosol can is more expensive than the fuel additives you can get.

Also, you cant just get the aerosol can and DIY it, you need special fuel line adapters (pretty expensive adapters)

The stuff we use is Fortron branded.

Some dealerships just use the Mitsubishi branded injector cleaning additive (goes in fuel tank) and charge a heap for it.