Fuel Injection Service Recomendation

[ryanO]

Top Tier fuels contain the chemical that is branded Techron. There may be some fuel cleaners or injection service that shouldn't be used on Ecoboost engines, but I've seen nothing to make me shy away from Techron.

As for octane, I run premium when I'm towing or otherwise operating at higher loads. That said, my current understanding is that boosted engines ALWAYS benefit from higher octane

Good to know. Sometimes it's hard to decifer fact from fiction.

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[Dre' Dawg]

I had a 2017 F-150 Limited and had the fuel injector service at 110K miles. It did make a difference in the power/acceleration. I was told the service included a chemical flush where the technicians hook up specialized equipment to run a professional-grade detergent through the fuel rail and injectors to dissolve built-up grime. I was skeptical but it helped with performance.

I don't think at 20K miles it is really needed. If you buy top tier gasoline
(https://stationfinder.toptiergas.com/) you shouldn't have to have that done.

If you are running non-top tier gasoline I would recommend adding a can of Chevron Techron Concentrate Plus every 3,000 - 5,000 miles or 2-4 times per year. It has a cleaner developed by Chevron called Polyether Amine (PEA) that helps clean deposits from fuel injectors, carburetors, intake valves, and combustion chambers. I was a big Seafoam user but discovered it does not have this additive, I still use it for gasoline storage.

To each his own.

 

[rocsteady]

From another thread on the topic:

https://www.ranger6g.com/forum/threads/induction-service.14719/

"I was watching a video about the ZO6 Corvette and came across this quote that I thought was pertinent to our discussion here, "Another consideration is carbon buildup from DI systems and according to the engineers, this is less of a problem assuming you are driving this car at its limits and not just cold starting the car every once in a while in the garage."
(SavageGeese on YouTube - 2023 Corvette C8 ZO6 / Making Cars Great Again)

Granted, most of us are probably not driving our Ranger Raptors like a ZO6 on a track day, staying up at the top of the rev range for prolonged periods, but I think the point transfers: get on it regularly, enjoy the power that it has to offer and you'll be doing the engine a favor. That's the way I'm going to explain it to my girlfriend anyway. "Spirited driving" if not downright Hooniganism for us Ken Block fans." - me

 

[d.sand2.7]

I have heard that it is more effective to use the cleaner when doing short trips around town, where the chemicals linger in the intake longer between trips. Cross country is more like one shot.

 

[ZilWin]

At ~20k, there shouldn't be any issues with you injectors. That said, depending on what gas you use, there may already be PEA (the techron detergent) in the gas.

Mine is a 24 with the 2.3 Turbo. I run strictly regular gas and not necessarily a particular brand. I'm sure a can of Techron thru the tank wouldn't hurt anything.

 

[Lion77]

Carbon buildup comes from three sources and is accelerated heavily by one driving condition: 1. fuel / combustion process 2. oil vapor that accumulates on the valves via the PCV pathway and some of which gets burned in the combustion chamber 3. dust contamination via the filter or lack there of (with OE paper filters, this should be VERY low). 4. Short trips (5 to 10 miles or less) where the engine never fully comes up to full operating temp.

1. Use Top Tief fuel brands, they showed 19x less carbon buildup in AAA testing, not just on intake valves, but on injectors and the piston heads. Top Tier fuels have cleaner burn process and better detergent package. By reducing the carbon from the combustion process and with better self-cleaning of the fuel induction system, there's simply less carbon to build up on the valves period. People claiming Top Tier fuels do nothing for DI clearly are ignorant and don't understand how combustion works, the intake valves are ONLY one part of that whole process! Fuel washing of the intake valves is not the ONLY mechanism of valve cleanliness!

2. Use synthetic oils, they have lower NOAC (vaporization rate) than blends, they also have far less sludge buildup from breakdown, so as the oil ages and vaporizes, it has less carbon buildup than blends because of its better purity. I just stick with MC FS, it's now GF-7A spec. with the latest batch I used to change back in Dec. 25'

3. Stick with OE paper filters, if you allow higher dust contamination of the upper cylinder group, it compounds the buildup of the intake valves, the oil vapor that sticks to them now holds dust just like the oil in a K&N filter! A lot of the carbon buildup in those intake valves isn't just carbon, it's often dust contamination from heavily soiled filters, filters that weren't sealed correctly and Aftermarket filters that don't filter as well.

4. Avoid short trips as much as possible. The combustion process is rich during the warm-up phase, so there's a lot of extra fuel that can break down and gum up from sub-optimal burn, especially at lower RPM's and loads where there is a longer dwell time in the upper cylinder group. Once you're up to temp, it self-cleans better. When fuel vaporizes but doesn't combust, it leaves deposits! Then on top of it your pistons and rings don't seal as well, so you get a lot of fuel washing that further thins out your oil, causing higher vaporization rates once things are up to temp and it gets run harder (fuel dilution is commonly tested for by Black Stone and other labs). This is more of an issue also with long periods of idling (high temp, long dwell times and low air flow rates, a situation rife for building up deposits!).

5. Once again, I'm going to make my plug for In Situ DLC films. This can help reduce fuel washing, but more importantly it promotes better ring seal through the formation of DLC films on the rings and cylinder walls via heat and pressure which can help reduce oil vaporization as well. Formation on cam lobes etc. occurs the fastest since they get a lot of oil lubrication, but rings see little oil from the oil cooling jets and what sprays out form the wrist pins as the piston goes up and down, then drains back into the pan via the oil control rings, so it takes a while to form on the rings, but it will. This slows the additive package usage rate of your oil as well because the locations of highest wear are now wearing on the film which synergistically competes with ZDDP and MoDTC EP additives. Take a look at the below thread for those interested in the tech.

Informational - Science / History Behind In Situ DLC Coatings for ICE and Transmission / Gearbox Applications | Ranger6G - 2024+ Ranger & Raptor Forum, News, Owners, Community (6th Gen)

TDI engines aren't less reliable than NA PI or TDPI engines, but they are less forgiving to maintenance neglect and some sub-optimal driving conditions. That's the biggest issue people run into with Ecoboost or any other turbo engine reliability, is lack of consistent maintenance.

There are plenty of high mileage Ecoboost engines out there now, but most of them made it to that mileage through good, regimented maintenance and not over modification with a bunch of long-term unintended consequences.

Dual injection is more about fuel economy than its about valve cleaning, while it does have that effect, dual injection isn't cleaning your valves under higher loads since it shifts to DI. PI is used at lower RPMs and lighter loads for better fuel economy. DI is better for cooling the combustion chamber and making power. Both have their merits, dual injection takes advantage of both!

 

[Dre' Dawg]

Very informative ... a post well done!

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