Hello one and All,
Having heard how 'Petrol Fuel System Cleaner' Part number deleted cleans your fuel system, i decided to put half a bottle (as instructed) in a full tank of unleaded petrol. I drove the car and all was ok, then after about 40 miles it started to splutter and missfire a bit ... i put this down to lots of ... crud flowing through the pipes. I expect that after a while it would clear and i'd notice a slight increase in power.
Well, instead of what i expect the car then continued to splutter and misfire and then the Engine warning light started to flash. It continued to splutter and cough on acceleration and it now drives like a 50bhp car as apposed to it's original 160bhp (or there abouts).
Arghhhhhhhh .... the fuel cleaner has killed my car !!!!
What do i do ? Run out the petrol in the tank and fill up with clean fuel ? or do i replaced the fuel filter ? Replace the injectors ? Take it to Audi, tell them what i've done ... then sit there while they laugh ... "Not supposed to put that in this type of car mr!!"
Please help !!!
{Brand of fuel cleaner removed, as you're making an accusation that it has damaged your car - DD}
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Forty miles before anything happened? I think you have a coincidence here and fuel cleaner is in the fuel but not contributing to your problem. What could fuel cleaner do in an engine to produce the symptoms you describe?
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Sorry i nearly forgot ... It's a 53 plate on the car ... now someones going to tell me that there probably was'nt a need to put it in in the first place .. but the car has done 68k ... hmmm, HELP.
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The car was running fine at first and i can only think that the fuel cleaner might have not disperesed properly in my tank and thus a surge of fuel cleaner goes down the pipes ... either that or i discovered on internet that the audi injectors can be finkiky at times and ones just blocked .... but saying that if whilst driving down the road i apply as little right foot as possible the car tends to pick up a bit ... as soon as i apply a little bit more throttle it splutters.
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Sounds more like dodgy ignition coils.
Get the codes read, then go from there.
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These cleaners clean out all the deposits attached to the tank and fuel lines (doing no harm), the deposits are now circulating around the fuel system and heading for the injectors via the fuel filter. I was told this by a company specialising in injector cleaning and it makes sense to me.I would'nt use them.
The guy also said that the biggest problem of poor performance with injectors was mainly due to cars that did small mileages not using enough petrol to keep the injectors clean.
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2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
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Good advice, i can assure you that i'm never going to use it again. It all seems a bit of a false economy to me in the first place ... When you consider that the manufactures of this fuel cleaner recommend that you use it with every tank of petrol ... I'm not sure that makes economic sense.
I have decided to located my fuel filter and see what condition it's in .. but at the end of the day i think i'm going to have to take it in to Audi ... Which means mucho green changing hands.
I would attempt cleaning my injectors but i fear that i may .... mess it up ... and then even more money has to change hands.
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I have used it before in 4 diesles with no problems. I suggest fuel filter is bocked with deposits.
Try changing that first: cheapest solution!
madf
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Cool ... No i just need to locate it, whip it out and rinse in clean fuel. Or would it be best to change it?
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Contact the fuel cleaner company and tell them what's happened?
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I have used fuel cleaner on quite a few occasions in the past with mostly very good results.I always pour it in the tank when empty at the petrol station just prior to filling up,so it gets well mixed.
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Try filter first if you want, in theory its the first port of call for debris. A 53 plate will still be under warranty. Act dumb, and just take it to the dealer and tell them you were driving along, when the car started to splutter. Don't mention the fuel cleaner to them!
FWIW, I've never had any probs with any fuel cleaners in petrol (carb and injection) or diesels.
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That should say try filter first above! My mistake, I didn't read the post properly, car is out of warranty at 68k!
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I've never seen a dirty fuel system. thanks to petrol being such a good cleaner/solvern, everything is always pristine.
I doubt it dislodged crud, as I doubt there was any except maybe in the valves and injector nozzles, but these wouldn't have caused this problem if dislodged.
I think its a coincidence and will be the useless VAG ignition coils.
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Thanks for all the advice that this posting has given me.... As the first and cheapest option is to replace the fuel filter i have been onto Audi and ordered one.... saying that the post which stated that the fuel system in theroy should'nt be that dirty was interesting, and made me think about ignition coils ... hmm but it's very strange that i have done 10's of thousands of miles in the car with no problems and only when i put the fuel cleaner in it for the first time it starts playing up ....
I'm going to go with the fuel filter and go from there... I will post an update with respects to the resolution of this problem ... then we'll all know.
Thank you all again for your help :o)
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I've lost count of the number of people that say "ever since you fixed my a/c the -----* doesn't work".
* Fill in as appropriate - ABS, power steering, water pump, radio, exhaust rattle.
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If it was coils there would be a check engine light, have you got one? Any fuses blown?
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2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
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There's no reason for the fuel cleaner to leave anything in the fuel filter that I can see. Place my ball in the dodgy coil pack camp, although I'd have thought you could get that diagnosed at the dealer simply by having the fault codes read. How are they going to know you've put fuel cleaner in the tank?
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Oh - I should add that I used a bottle of their Engine Treatment in my diesel. Cleaned loads of carp out of the engine and fuel economy jumped from 48mpg to 55.
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Oh - I should add that I used a bottle of their Engine Treatment in my diesel. Cleaned loads of carp out of the engine and fuel economy jumped from 48mpg to 55.
All that crud that was safely stuck to various non moving parts is now where exactly, floating around your engine? I'd only use that stuff as a kill or cure last resort or before an engine rebuild
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2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
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No, it came out the exhaust for the first hundred miles after filling up. I saved it until I got tailgated by open topped cars with cream upholstory. Then the exhaust went clean even under heavy acceleration.
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dont understand why anybody would want to put an additive in a well serviced 60 odd thou mile car anyway?
i sure wouldnt unless it had a problem?????????
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Agree with oldman!
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Steve
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No, it came out the exhaust for the first hundred miles after filling up. I saved it until I got tailgated by open topped cars with cream upholstory. Then the exhaust went clean even under heavy acceleration.
You used an oil additive or a fuel system cleaner?
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2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
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Fuel system cleaner. Saw it at Halfords on special offer. Only oil additives I've seen are the flushes, although come to think of it there did used to be an ad on the tv shopping channels about an oil additive that looked pretty good.
They ran a car for hours at high speed after taking the sump off etc, and on another engine poured copious quantities of sand into the oil and the engine worked fine.
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I would say as someone else has posted, that it is full or partial blockage of all or some of your injectors with dislodged crud. I'm not sure how/if you can clear the injectors. However I have seen this on a BMW 325 and it eventually cleared itself back to normal after a couple of weeks of intermirramt loss of power and spluttering etc.
If it was me, I would push on with a fresh tank of petrol and see how it goes for a while. If it doesn't improve then try the Audi dealers
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In case anyone missed my note at the top of the page in bold, I've removed all reference to the fuel cleaner in question because of the accusation made.
I would be grateful if reference to the brand name isn't mentioned in future postings.
DD.
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These fuel injector cleaners don't clean out crud, you don't have crud in fuel systems and if you did via introduction of it, a cleaner wouldn't help!
The only time you can have this problem is if you have is on old carburettor car or single point injection cars where the fuel is mixed well before the inlet valve and you get a precipitation of brown varnish, the cleaner will dissolve this and even so, it doesn't make it stick anywhere else, it simply dissolves into liquid and gets burned. The other thing they do, is oxygenate or otherwise alter the fuel so that deposits are burned off (carbon liberated) in the cumbustion chamber.
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So petrol is 100% free of any debris and therefore petrol tanks are spotlessly clean inside? I've known outlets of fuel tanks to be blocked with leaves off trees floating around. These additives contain detergents that clean, they clean whatever they can from anywhere, it does'nt know its only supposed to clean the injectors.
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2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
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This website often has arguments about supermarket fuel and the question of aditives for cleaning is at the core of the argument. It may be that cars cannot take a strong consolidated burst of cleaner rather than a continual dribble. I use all sorts of petrol, usually the cheapest, so about every year, usually a tankful or two before I change spark plugs, I put a bottle of fuel cleaner in. Never had any problems. I can't say the car runs any better, but 'it seems smoother.' Probably all in the mind.
I would replace the fuel filter from Euro Car Parts, probably about £12-15, if only to eliminate it as a source of problems. Always a good idea anyway. If this does not solve it, go to a good auto-electrician, or Bosch service centre where a good technician (who knows much more than a VW service man) can wire up the car and check all the electrics. It is likely to be electrical.
If you take it to Audi they will spend ages diagnosing it, and replace every componant till they find it. A good Bosch man might find the problem first.
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