injector cleaners - to use or not to use?

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by hewking

just bought xc60 d5 2012 150k milesand would like to take care of it hence questions regarding injector cleaners- are they helping or harming?
people claim that they clean various deposits also from the rubber but others claim that the cleaning process can clogg injectors as well.
Could you pls share your opinion?
my mechanic mentioned that wurtz diesel verbesserer is quite good but i forgot to usk whether for me or him

Is there a reason for believing that your injectors are blocked and actually need cleaning? I suspect that most cleaners (particularly the ones added to the tank) will neither help nor harm.

Standard fuel (normally containing a variety of cleaning additives) passes through the injectors in a series of pulses at huge pressure (almost exactly a thousand times the pressure in a tyre) so I'd expect that alone to keep them pretty clean. All injectors on my previous car (a Honda Accord) were surprisingly clean at 150k miles when I removed them to access the cam cover. In fact the official workshop manual specifically warned against any sort of cleaning.

Fouling of the intake side of diesel engines due to EGR is a far bigger concern in my experience. My Volvo has so far needed a new EGR valve, a new EGR cooler (twice!) and a new intake manifold assembly due to soot and crud building up. My Honda had similar issues.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Is there a reason for believing that your injectors are blocked and actually need cleaning? I suspect that most cleaners (particularly the ones added to the tank) will neither help nor harm.

Standard fuel (normally containing a variety of cleaning additives) passes through the injectors in a series of pulses at huge pressure (almost exactly a thousand times the pressure in a tyre) so I'd expect that alone to keep them pretty clean. All injectors on my previous car (a Honda Accord) were surprisingly clean at 150k miles when I removed them to access the cam cover. In fact the official workshop manual specifically warned against any sort of cleaning.

Fouling of the intake side of diesel engines due to EGR is a far bigger concern in my experience. My Volvo has so far needed a new EGR valve, a new EGR cooler (twice!) and a new intake manifold assembly due to soot and crud building up. My Honda had similar issues.

Completely agree there, on a 150k miler, the best “tune up” you could do would be to strip and clean the intake tract downstream of the EGR mixer....

[hewking]

volvo forum is simply amazing- so much valuable advice and helpful people
thank you very much!

[hewking]

What about EGR cleaning itself - is this valve too fragile to be cleaned? Somebody mentioned terra clean - i need to check if this can be used for egr cleaning
Regards

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by hewking

What about EGR cleaning itself - is this valve too fragile to be cleaned? Somebody mentioned terra clean - i need to check if this can be used for egr cleaning
Regards

I'm still unsure if you are trying to repair an actual problem with your engine? If not then probably best to save your money and leave it alone!

If I had a definite running problem and really needed to clean my EGR valve (or - more likely on a VEA engine - the EGR cooler) then I'd dismantle, physically clean and test. I definitely wouldn't waste money on trying to do this using Terraclean or a fuel additive, etc. I'm doubtful that this could ever fix a real problem, other than possibly as a short-term bodge.

[hewking]

i am propably over excited about this car and overplanning

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by hewking

i am propably over excited about this car and overplanning

It's nice to be excited about your car. Enjoy it!

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by hewking

What about EGR cleaning itself - is this valve too fragile to be cleaned? Somebody mentioned terra clean - i need to check if this can be used for egr cleaning
Regards

The EGR can be cleaned. Its not a particularly clean job though, so make sure you have plenty of old towels handy!

If you haven't got a problem with your EGR, then you don't need to bother doing anything with it and/or spending money - I agree with Zebster totally.

Bring the car for a motorway drive every so often, use decent fuel & keep the car serviced. I wouldn't advise putting injector additives in a car with that mileage on personally.

Enjoy your new car, but don't fix things unless they actually need doing. I'd more more worried about the cam belt, auxiliary belt & aux belt tensioner on a D5 engine (have these been replaced?). EGR would be at the bottom of my list, particularly as it sounds it isn't giving you any trouble & this is more of an enquiry rather than an actual issue.

[hewking]

thanks for reply - i am going bit over the top and yes i need to get cambelt and other belts done before summer. The car drives really nice - i thought my s60 d5 163 was quite fast but my wife's XC60 d5 with 215 horses is always eager to put a smile on my face. I need to check the fuel consumption on the steady motorway drive but during city drive it is so tempting so drive vigorously

[Bashy]

Originally Posted by Kev0607

use decent fuel

I wouldn't advise putting injector additives in a car with that mileage on personally.

Ya cant have both, which is it?