Last year my husband purchased my father's truck since he could no longer drive due to complications with Parkinson's Disease.

The truck is a 1999 Ford F250 Super Duty, Triton 10 in excellent condition with 151,000 miles on it.

Recently my husband decided to put fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank prior to filling the tank. We drove approximately 10 miles or so and then the truck started running very rough. Gas pedal to the floor, no power. Release the pedal 1/2 way, some power restored. I didn't think we were going to make it home. It sounds like it is "starving for air", no back firing. The engine light came on as we approached our driveway. We know that we have to get it to a mechanic, but in the interim, any ideas? Can fuel injector cleaner cause that kind of an effect or is it bad gas, or just a conincidence completely? Possible clogged PCV or EGR valve?

Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Have a fabulous Friday,

Patricia

 

I would change the pcv, and check the hoses connecting it to the throttlebody, next time put that stuff after filling the tank. Check all electrical connections as well. Are you running any codes? Could also reset the ECU/PCM after recording the codes if you have some and share them with us. Good luck

 

What brand and type of "fuel injection cleaner"?

 

The fuel injector cleaner was STP.

My husband just left the garage, not sure of the "specific codes", but mechanic told him that it is "running rich", but 2 bottles of dry gas in to start. Said it's possible that the fuel pumpl was affected.....smh.......

 

so sorry to hear that.

Have the mechanic help your husband document everything.

Save receipts for all work, related expenses, towing, and of course, the receipts for purchase of the STP. Send your story and copies of related evidence to STP and see how they respond.

Some fuel injector cleaning product companies promise to refund you twice what you paid for the conditioner... so maybe you'll only get about 6 bucks out of STP. But maybe they will not want the bad publicity?

I'm wondering how many more people have been similarly effected?

The instructions on some bottles of fuel conditioner I've read say to pour the fuel conditioner in first, then add the gas, so that the velocity of the incoming gas into the tank stirs the mixture around a bit. I have not read any instructions that say only add the cleaner after the tank is full.

I just bought some O'Reilly's brand gas treatment and fuel injection cleaner, because it was the cheapest on sale. I'm thinking of taking it back now. Should probably stick with Techron from Chevron.

 

I used seafoam on mine twice, first time it helped, second time I put with a few gallons then filled up cleared my idle issues up,

If your running rich the o2 sensors might be faulty or some type of misfire

 

I would swap out the fuel filter. Then check fuel rail pressure. Then suspect the screen at the pump suction. [in tank]
How long did the truck sit before you aquired it. Also what are the actual codes the truck has stored. Its quite a crap shoot with out them.
All the best

 

Ditto what Zedrive said above.

You are facing one of two issues, the incident is related to the fuel or fuel injector cleaner, or it's not.

If the issue is not related, then the codes will lead on to more diagnosis. The mechanic should give you the codes taken. If he doesn't he isn't good, take it somewhere else. Post them here, and we can help. Otherwise you can go to any autoparts store and have them read for free (vs the $60-$90 fee the mechanics charge). Although, good ones will include actual diagnosis with that fee too. Since, the codes don't mean what they are, sometimes other issues cause them.

However, I'm betting the issues are related to the fuel fill-up or injector cleaner. Primarily, because of the proximity to when you filled up. As a poster said above, document everything, keep all receipts. If it is bad gas you can get reimbursed from the station, your insurance, or maybe STP. I've never had a problem with STP, don't think its the best, but it's cheap enough.

What most likely happened (this is my opinion) is that the fuel injector cleaner dislodged gunk in the bottom of your tank. This would be worse if the truck was sitting at all for very long periods due to the ethanol in the gas nowadays that leads to varnish build up on rubber and water concentrate otherwise if it sits longer than 1-3 months. This gunk may have clogged your pickup screen (bottom of fuel tank), led or leading to fuel pump failure and/or clogged your fuel filter. The worst case scenario is gunk or carbon clogged an injector and it isn't working or stuck open.

As you can imagine this causes lots of codes and may throw alot of false readings. First thing to do, is replace the fuel filter. This is cheap ~$8. When you or your mechanic does it, put the tank outbound line in a recovery tank and see if fuel comes out when the key is turned on (don't start!). Be safe, a quick 2 second turn on is all you need. This will tell you if it's related to the gas tank being severely clogged, this doesn't tell you much, but it helps. Put the fuel filter on and start up and see if symptoms return. If they do, put a fuel pressure gauge on (can rent from auto parts store otherwise $50) and see if values match published readings. If not, fuel pump or screen is clogged. Need to drop tank, clean out, and possibly replace/clean screen or replace sending unit (~$250). Injector is worse primarily due to labor and I wouldn't think about that right now.

Finally, I've had this happen before, I believe with STP or seafoam. It was the fuel filter, plugged solid from gunk in the tank. I replaced the fuel filter and cut the old one open is how I knew. $8 later and I was cruising down the road.

 

Thank you so much for your responses. The truck has not sat for any length of time. We have had it for just a little over a year, driven daily. Our mechanic is literally in the process of moving to a new shop so he was quite busy, but took the time to put computer on it.
What puzzles my husband is that when its in park and apply gas, it is fine, RPM's are fine. When in drive and applying 1/2 throttle problem starts.
We are going to start with fuel filter today.
I may be back on for more advice :-)

 

Hi guys,
Just wanted to let you know the outcome was a bad tank of gas. Mostly water -22 gallons of it.
We discovered this when we were changing the fuel filter.
Drained it & put 93 octane in. So far, so good.
Thank you for your knowledgeable advice.
This forum ROCKS!!!

 

How does 22 gallons of water wind up in a gas tank?

 

wow thats allot of water!!!!! to bad it wasent one of them trucks that run on h20!

 

Well, at least the combustion chambers are steam cleaned now.

 

I still want to know HOW?

 

Nasty gas station and haven't pumped their tanks dry in a while. The water will pump up just like gas....

JC