I have a question about BG Products and their 44K Fuel System cleaner.
I have a friend who has used 44k Fuel System treatment and he actuallhy works for BG Products. He swears by this stuff. Said that he ended up rebuilding an engine that had used this and everything was very clean and shiny, that is, the cylinders and the combustion chambers. He gave me a bottle to try. I guess it’s $26 per bottle so this stuff better work!
I happened to talk to a co-worker about fuel system treatment products and he had a '93 Z-28 with the 5.7L. He told me that after he used this stuff, he lost the No. 1 cylinder. He thinks the stuff was too strong or cleaned the worn rings TOO well and I’m guessing ended up with a lot of blow-by. Then again, he did admit that his Camaro actually had almost 200,000 miles. He still warned about using he. We debated that it may only be good for newer cars and not a good idea for ones with higher mileage. I find it VERY ironic that this friend ended up “rebuilding his engine”… was it too good for his stuff I wonder?
I was wanting to use it on my wife’s '99 Expedition that has a 5.4 Triton with almost 150,000 miles. I sure don’t want to lose ANY cylinders!!
Has anyonen tried these products? Something this potent, would it be okay to use in her truck? If you guys need more info I can get the can and type the info/warnings/disclaimers and all that good stuff.
Thanks in advance!
JP#3
Yes, I’ve used it countless times although I’ve never bought any. The BG rep laid the sales pitch on our near completely clueless service manager who then proceeded to buy this stuff in quantity and insist that all cars coming into the shop get the BG treatment.
It’s a good product but it’s way overpriced for what it does and it’s just flat not necessary to even use this stuff. It won’t hurt but it also won’t help anything.
Best thing to do is ignore anything said by your friend who works for BG. The sales reps are trained in this kind of sales spiel.
" Said that he ended up rebuilding an engine that had used this and everything was very clean and shiny, that is, the cylinders and the combustion chambers."
So why did the clean and shiny engine need rebuilt if this stuff was so good for it?
It may be great. However do you need it? Will it extend the life of the car or engine?
Unless you have some special need, like maybe driving it as a race car, I doubt if it will provide any meaningful benefit, unless you really like knowing that when your engine needs replacement, that some parts may still be almost like new, rather than half way to needing replacement.
How many times have you had to replace internal fuel or engine parts because they were not clean and shinny? When was the last time you looked the internal parts of your engine?
Don’t worry about fixes for a problem you likely will never have.
Most of the time an engine dies, it is due to abuse or lack of maintenance as recommended in the owner’s manual.
It works about as well as a $6 bottle of Techron from Walmart. No need to buy BG instead. Shouldn’t hurt, you probably won’t notice the difference compared to not using it at all.
The “BG Product” treatments would not be nearly as widely used as they are if it weren’t for their skilled marketing. It always amazes me how the motivation of profit can create the aura of a need for products like this.
99% of the time, these products are a solution just waiting for a problem.
Save your money.
When you have your injectors professionally cleaned, chances are, they pump BG44K directly into the injector rail. When used as a gas additive, with the fuel tank below 1/4 full, it will indeed clean deposits out of injectors and perhaps off intake valve stems…
But if you don’t have dirty injectors, and few people do, it has little to offer…Basically, it’s a chemical that destroys the adhesive bond that allow deposits to adhere to combustion chamber surfaces…Chevron Techron does the same thing but it’s not quite as effective…
I have an old ('92) Crown Vic that burns a lot of oil (valve seals) and when it developed a bad misfire at idle I determined it had two plugged injectors…A dose of BG44K and in 5 minutes, the misfire was gone and never returned…
Marketing is key here. 40 years ago you could not buy a 20 oz bottle of water for $1 but now you can…thanks to marketing.
My first thought was similara to Jay’s. He swears by the stuff but had to rebuild his engine? I myself am additive-averse and in over 40 years of car ownership I’ve never had to rebuild an engine of mine…and I’ve owned some vehicles for a few hundred thousand miles and more. One was still running well when it got totalled at 338,000 miles.
A fuel system cleaner is only a petroleum based solvent, nothing more. It does not make the gas more “potent”, if by that you mean cause the gas to explode either more readily or with more force. All it does is clean residue. Modern engines run extremely clean and burn the gas as completely as can be done, creating virtually no residue in the cylinders or exhaust valves etc. Unburned hydrocarbons (gas) and carbon monoxide (gas not fully burned) are extremely low in modern engines. And modern gasolines all contain additive packages to keep the fuel system clean.
Additional cleansers in a good running engine do no good. I’m unaware of any that does any harm either, but they all do no good.
If you feel you must use an additive then a 3 dollar can of Berryman B-12 will work just as well or better than that 26 dollar can of overpriced BG.