Haha You can read the brochures...goss that must be the truth

 

You don't need fuel additives or injector cleaner if you buy gasoline from a top tier rated brand (ex: Shell)

http://www.toptiergas.com/index.html

The truth about some of those additives, is that they can cause oil dilution and increase wear in your engine.

Don't bother with the snake oil, just buy your gasoline from a top tier brand, and you shouldn't have to worry about this stuff.

My 06 tc has been fed a steady diet of Shell 87 Octane since I got her w/ 10 miles on it and a stupid dealer tank of "wtf gas".
35k miles of Shell exclusively, and no problems.

 

Oh, and as for air filters - Napa makes a pretty good filter called Napa Gold. The model that fits our cars is 6834, should be able to pick one up for around $15.

 

I know from personal experience that's not exactly true. With my previous vehicle, I only filled up with Chevron or Shell (as I still do now) and blew two injectors in less than 40k because they were clogged (yes, the fuel filter was changed every two years); I use to believe the same thing about top tier gasoline, and got a $800 repair bill to prove me wrong. Yes, top tier gas has been proven to be cleaner, but they still contain contaminates.

 

Wow, that's the first time I've ever heard anything like that.

If I were to use a fuel system cleaner (chevron techron), I would use it right before an oil change (as soon as tank was used up), and now I might consider it.

 

That's what I was saying is to get an oil change after the fuel system cleaner is out of your engine. Also, Chevron Techron? used it before, never did a thing. You can try it if you like, but when it doesn't work. Go find some BG Products 44K and you'll see what I'm talking about.

And about 2fast4you that's exactly right, engineers in the auto industry have agreed that with increasing emissions, the orifice to spray the fuel through an injector gets smaller and smaller. Any bit of impurity (welcome to the world, an imperfect place!) can and will clog a fuel injector up as you found out. It sucks, but deposits are a reality. Some of the marketing is snake oil, but the reality is, these injectors are more sensitive every year with more stringent emission standards.

When your injectors went bad, did you notice a loss of fuel economy? Loss of power? Idle problems? I usually have noticed fuel economy and idle issues and then I know it's time to use th 44K in the tank. so let me know how it died for you.

 

It was a catastrophic failure, so there wasn't a noticeable lose of fuel economy, but there was a slight lose of power over time. I was attempting to pass a semi on the freeway when it felt like my engine blew. I lost two adjacent cylinders on an inline-4 four, so my speed immediately dropped from 70 to 35 mph, and the engine felt like it was eating itself from being out of balance. Lucky, I was able to limp 1 1/2 miles to a well-known dealership with an annoying radio ad.... it probably saved my engine and/or a large towing bill.