Fuel additive and oil flush

[yfin]

Just dropped my car off at a Perth Honda dealership for its 40k service (euro). They had agreed on the price before I arrived on the telephone.

After I arrived to drop off the keys they tried to "upsell" me to an engine oil flush and fuel treatment. They said it is highly recommended - and an extra $58....

Now at this point I thought about it and said - "no thanks". I remembered some comments on this site about not flushing oil (could be wrong). Anyway - the service guy insisted "we do recommend it". He then made me feel like a tight ass by saying "oil sludge is a big issue these days.. blah blah - $58 is a small price to pay. "

Anyway - I left without getting this done - service guy was a bit cheesed.

Putting aside the oil flush - what is this petrol treatment Honda dealers use? Maybe I can get it at Supercheap for $8 or something (i have seen injector cleaner treatment there, etc). Or is this a waste of time.

[bennjamin]

injector treatment IMO is a big waste of time and money ~ mainly for older engines with crud buildup maybe but hardly warranted for your newish euro.
Keep the thing serviced as per schedule and always use OEM fluids and it should be good for 200,000k's + liek the rest of us hondas

[sivic]

yeah new car like yours shouldnt have enough sludge in the fuel tank to warrant a fuel treatment. nor should it need a flush if it has been serviced regularly as there shouldnt be oil sludge.
anyway, an oil flush and fuel treatment shouldnt cost $58.
this wasnt honda north by any chance?

[Weq]

engine flush is pretty good. most places will do it free of charge though (ultratune). It just cause all those cheap generic oils those service places uses breaks down quickly. Never take ur car to kmart auto...

[aaronng]

Don't flush if you can, because most flushes involve 0w-20 oil and running your engine with it to loosen deposits. Loose deposits floating around into your bearing journals are bad.... And fuel injector treatment is Wynn's brand. Buy it from Supercheap auto. One dealer I spoke to used Wynns. hahahaha... they charge so much for something you just pour into your fuel tank.

But kudos on not falling for their trap. Haha, yfin - 1, dealer - 0

[EuroAccord13]

He then made me feel like a tight ass by saying "oil sludge is a big issue these days.. blah blah - $58 is a small price to pay."

Right, then the Honda FEO oils they use must be bad ..

Good on ya for not falling into their buy more crap.....

[Limbo]

engine flushes are fine. Your oil filter should be picking up anything that large and also you shouldn't have anything that large in your engine. You'll normally just see darker oil when you use the flush cos its taking the grime off the walls of the engine.

Injector cleaner help but not that much. Put a bottle from supercheap for like $8. Engine flush costs like $10 at most. So i don't see how $18 --> $58 is justified. Also this is me buying from your general mechanic, image how much they get it for!

[aaronng]

Large pieces at worst just scour your walls. It's the fine sludge that poses a problem as it gets into the bearings.

[LowEk]

the guy was pissed cos he prolly gets a comission on what he upsells to you like extra stuff that you didnt ask for he prolly gets like $5 extra for selling you something per item. it all adds up if you can sell 1-3 per car and you service say 20 cars a day thats a bit more money in the salesmans pocket.thats how it all works i can tell you most dealerships do this the one i used to work for did this.

cheers.

[wynode]

I've heard the engine flush can remain within your journals and cause excessive wear. As for the fuel/injector cleaner......i'm pretty sure they just pour it into your fuel tank

The only way to properly clean injectors is to take them out and have them ultrasonically cleaned.

Glad you didn't fall for the 'upselling'

[crx_boy7]

STOP oil flush is very similar to disel feul its very thin and collects all the sludge and debry stuck within the engine while the thinnes of the product dose minimal to no damage (when used properly at idel) wat it can cause is debre to move into sensitive areas such as jornals and cause premature wear to the internals but scince your car has been regularly serviced(every 10000k - 7000K RIGHT!!) this should not be an issue at all as u dont need oil flush

injector cleaner dose absolutely nothing!! and u dont need it as injectors only seas up with extremely bad feul or months of not starting the engine(in engines 150000km and higher) to clean the injectors take them to a shop where they will most likely blast them with solvent

[yfin]

this wasnt honda north by any chance?

No it wasn't. I ended up buying the Wynns petrol treatment for $9 at Supercheap.

I don't think I will be going back to this dealership - got the car home and noticed that my strut brace was completely loose. Not sure why they had to remove it (checking valve clearances was an item on the service - so maybe that is why) - the least they could do was put the strut brace on properly.