Do i need to use a fuel system cleaner

[Giraffe76]

Hi all,

I have a toyota yaris hydrid and was wondering if i needed to use a fuel system cleaner that i would add with the fuel when i fill up?

Hope this makes sense

Kind regards Mark

[FROSTYBALLS]

Down to personal choice.

[Bernard Foy]

Not sure what you mean by "a fuel system cleaner" . just put petrol in the car and drive away, no need for cleaners.

[TonyHSD]

That’s right, you don’t have to but if you prefer yes you can. Cleaning benefits perhaps minimal however some good quality additives can deliver surprising results and resolve some issues. Wynns makes good additives that works, very important to follow strictly instructions from the label. 
Using top tier fuels from clean and well maintained garages is more important. 

[jthspace]

I buy 4 bottles of Redex from ALDI and add it to my 1993 MX5 (with 148,000 kms on the clock) adding one whole bottle per tank on fill up. It also needs E5 petrol.

My Yaris gets E10 Esso or Shell by preference wherever possible and the odd supermarket brand but never added anything extra. 

[MikeSh]

Given that the HSD engines largely get to run their own way, rather than being beholden to the regimes forced by drivers on engines attached to a manual box, they are probably the least likely to need anything beyond the correct fuel and oil.

[anchorman]

It depends what fuel you use.  I only ever use high grade fuel in my car but if I had to use supermarket fuel on a regular basis, I’d put some Wynns or other branded injector cleaner in.  If I bought a car second hand not knowing the history I’d but several lots through it (one per tank).  High grade fuel has double the quantity of detergent to help keep injectors clean (read the small print)

[Cyker]

Fuel system cleaners can help but for most people aren't generally needed.

The biggest things to benefit are old cars that have always run on supermarket fuel - You can get some "shocking"*   results on older vehicles where all the crud gets cleaned out and you suddenly have 20 more HP, but on a 2019 Yaris, hybrid or not, you'll be lucky to notice even 1HP gain  

If you don't use the car much it's of more benefit, but even then it's not something that you should need to do regularly. If you feel the car is getting a bit sluggish then it's worth a shot of the stuff, but otherwise leave well enough alone as they say.

Definitely don't over use them, as some of the stronger ones especially have fairly harsh detergents and that can have a detrimental effect on some pipes and seals if used too often.

Regular fuel additives are fine, but you may as well use super unleaded then...

 

 

 

*(Sorry anchs I couldn't resist  )

[Jimota]

I used Wynns many, many years ago when I could only afford old high mileage cars.  It seemed to work well in those days but I don’t think I would use it in a modern car like the Yaris Cross.

[Russ Taylor]

Young lad at a Toyota main dealer was upselling fuel system clean and oil flush. In his experience these were wise actions at its main service! I am sure this is really not necessary on our 2 year old Yaris Cross Hybrid. Internet advice from Car Care Nut, Toyota Maintenance and Scotty Kilmer is clear that this is not needed for many years. If it was Toyota would have it on the schedules!

[Big_D]

5 hours ago, Russ Taylor said:

Young lad at a Toyota main dealer was upselling fuel system clean and oil flush. In his experience

I think the key words here are “young”, “lad”, and “experience”.

As a grumpy old git, I have owned many cars over the years. In the older ones, mostly pre-owned, I did use Redex to flush the fuel system when I got them.
 

8 hours ago, Cyker said:

The biggest things to benefit are old cars that have always run on supermarket fuel - You can get some "shocking"*   results on older vehicles where all the crud gets cleaned out and you suddenly have 20 more HP, but on a 2019 Yaris, hybrid or not, you'll be lucky to notice even 1HP gain  

As @Cyker says, performance can be improved when the crud is cleaned out. How much crud could there be in a two year old car.

It’s all about upselling and earning commission on the sold products

[anchorman]

You don’t have to buy from the dealer, you can get it quite cheap on Amazon.  If I could only get supermarket fuel I’d perhaps use this 2 or 3 times a year.  In my mechanicing days, we had to deal with gummed up injectors quite a lot and decent additive would often clear them almost instantly.  
 

 

[Roy124]

Remember many years ago it was normal when the attendant was putting in a couple of gallons "any shots Sir?".

I often heard "5 shots please."  Penny a shot IIRC.

[Cyker]

3 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Remember many years ago it was normal when the attendant was putting in a couple of gallons "any shots Sir?".

I often heard "5 shots please."  Penny a shot IIRC.

Whisky or Scotch...?   

[MikeSh]

6 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Whisky or Scotch...?   

That was for the attendant after winding the manual pump for 5 minutes.

(So you could get petrol even if their was a power cut. Gosh we've gone backwards these days 🙁 )

[Roy124]

Even with a manual pump you would not be able to pay.

How could he work out 10ltr at £1.469/ltr, and the change from a £20 note.

Or even recognise a £20 note.

[Andrew56]

19 hours ago, Russ Taylor said:

Young lad at a Toyota main dealer was upselling fuel system clean and oil flush. In his experience these were wise actions at its main service! I am sure this is really not necessary on our 2 year old Yaris Cross Hybrid. Internet advice from Car Care Nut, Toyota Maintenance and Scotty Kilmer is clear that this is not needed for many years. If it was Toyota would have it on the schedules!

Interestingly my service book suggests that it is necessary in certain eastern European countries. Perhaps this is due to the local quality of the fuel.

 

 

 

[TonyHSD]

I can tell that fuels in Europe are in many cases better than here in UK. 
Like anything else in England it is made to look the best only on paper, in reality things are very different. 
Here some interesting experiences from my driving 

 

[Roy124]

2 hours ago, Andrew56 said:

Interestingly my service book suggests that it is necessary in certain eastern European countries. Perhaps this is due to the local quality of the fuel.

Having driven through Turkey I can understand that.   The only way to stop the engine was pull full choke to cut off the air.

A thousand miles later we had to remove a load of redish flat stuff,like lentils, from the carburettor. 

[MikeSh]

4 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Even with a manual pump you would not be able to pay.

How could he work out 10ltr at £1.469/ltr, and the change from a £20 note.

Or even recognise a £20 note.

But surely you'd tell him to keep the change as a tip.