Changed my mind about using a fuel additive in older engines

I had an '88 Ford 7.3L come into my shop in Boise last month, running rough and smoking. The owner swore by a certain brand of injector cleaner, but I've always been a skeptic, thinking they were just a band-aid. To humor him, I ran a full treatment through a tank of fuel. After about 50 miles, the smoke cleared up and the idle smoothed out way more than I expected. I learned that on some of these really old units with gummed-up systems, a good cleaner can actually do a solid job before you start tearing things apart. Has anyone else had a specific additive work well on a pre-powerstroke engine?

2 comments

2 Comments

emma_perry6d ago

Yeah, the "gummed-up systems" part is key. I read a forum post where a guy with an old IDI diesel said a specific cleaner with PEA actually freed up a sticking injector. Sometimes the old stuff just needs a good solvent.

david1236d ago

My neighbor's 1992 Chevy truck had that same rough idle for years. He kept putting off a full tune-up, but a bottle of cleaner in the gas tank actually quieted it down for a whole summer. It makes you wonder how much gunk builds up over decades, right? We're so quick to assume old things are just broken for good. Sometimes they just need the right kind of clean to get back to how they were meant to run.