Do gas tank additives such as "injector cleaners" actually work? And if so, how can you tell?

(Should see some improvement in Gas Mileage...)

I'm trying to improve my gas mileage to get a little better than 15.0 mpg.on a trip, I have been told I should be getting a lot better than that for a 5.4L triton engine.

I have thought about having a mechanic remove the injectors and clean them, but if I can't see a improvement in mileage I'm not gonna.

A member had the same problem, but never said if he actually "did something" to get a noticeable improvement...

97 EB 4X4... 137,000 running great! Man what a hog...

cobrah

 

This is somewhat vague. 15 MPG in a 5.4L is pretty decent, depending on variables. How fast will you be driving on this trip? Are you towing anything or have the truck loaded down? If you drive 55-60 you might get a little better than 15MPG. If you drive 65-75, you will likely get much worse than 15MPG. IIRC, the stated (sticker) highway mileage numbers are based on a 50 or 55MPH average speed.

As to your question, the folks here that I've read lean much more to the side of hand-cleaning the injectors, or using a product that can be directly applied, rather than the gasoline-additive type.

 

Saltzy...

Thx. for your acknowledgement, I feel a little better about 15mpg . No, on the trip I was carring around 350 # passenger weights... travel speed varied from 60/70 mph.

In your opinion can you give me a "fair price" for a mechanic to clean up the injectors? I want to be prepaired for price gougers!

cobrah

 

I would love to get 15mpg! I average around 13.5 (combined highway/city driving).
How old are your plugs? If they are old, replacing should give you an increase. Have you looked into the product called SeaFoam? It is a carbon remover / fuel injector cleaner type petroleum product that works wonders. Do a search on SeaFoam (I've written steps that I took that improved my 5.4L enough to notice a nice improvement).
Good luck!

 

15 MPH is great the the exp's

 

Your mileage really isn't all that bad. That's what I get on long trips at 70-75.

As far as cleaning the injectors, unless you have a noticable stumble at idle or acceleration I wouldn't go through the expense of having them removed and cleaned, unless you were to do it on your own.

In addition to the expy I also have an injected F150. I was having a stumble at idle and attributed it to dirty injectors. A mechanic on another board suggested this as a step to try before removing the injectors. I have dual tanks so I let one run dry. Then put 2.5 gallons of premium in and added three large bottles of the Gumout brand cleaner (cheap stuff at wally's). Then drove vehicle about 10 miles with that mix. Let sit overnight. Next day the stumble was gone. I would drive on my regular tank and before I would get home I would switch over to the tank with the cleaner for about five miles or so before shutting down the engine. I ran the entire mix through the system over a period of about a week and it did wonders for the stumble.

It would not be as easy to do without the dual tanks but you could get a jerry can and run your motor dry then add the mix to it and let it sit for a few days before filling it up again.

I was concerned about the concentration of cleaner.(way stronger than on label) but was assured it wouldn't do any damage. My mileage has increased and it saved me about 500$......... or at leased delayed the expense for new injectors to a later date.

Scott

 

I guess I'm overconcerned... I kinda thought 15mpg was bad. Maybe I'll try the "seafoam" and hope I pick up a mile or two on mpg's.

If I don't get any better...nutun lost right? My plugs have around 30,000 on em so I shouldn't be concerned there.

Thx. for the many good ideas...heck you never know, could come up with something that could add mpgs. If I do I will certainly pass it on.

cobrah