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Fuel Injector Cleaners and Polyether-amine

by Andy Published on Friday, September 2nd, 2022

In 2007 I revealed to the public the importance of PEA (polyether-amine) chemistry in fuel system cleaning. As a result of this revelation, it appears that polyether-amine is now a hot topic of discussion on most automotive websites. Nobody had even heard of it at the time, and now everyone is an “expert.”

Polyether-amine is critical in the quest for rapid fuel system cleaning and carbon removal from the combustion chamber and valves. Cleaning is fast, with improvements in vehicle running evident in just a few miles, particularly if the fuel injectors were suffering from deposit build-up.

In fairness, the lower-cost treatments do a reasonable job cleaning old petrol or diesel injectors as any solvent-based cleaner. However, they fall short with modern high-pressure fuel systems, carbon removal, and removing deposits from the combustion and post-combustion areas. Unfortunately, high-quality polyether-amine (PEA) is considerably more expensive than polybutene-amine (PBA).

The introduction of gasoline direct injection (GDI) and generally higher pressure fuel systems on gasoline and diesel engines meant more development was needed. Products such as Oilsyn Petrol Doctor contains three detergent packs that work in synergy. They handle the needs of port injection, GDI, and carbon removal with the assistance of polyether-amine. This is also driven by changes to engine oils and how the lower viscosity oil vapor finds its way into the engine via the EGR system and other mechanisms. This results in a varying composition of deposit formation that requires a different approach.

When purchasing a fuel cleaner or conditioner, ensure it contains multiple detergent functions that address the different types of deposits and fuel system types.

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