I recently took my 2002 Buick LeSabre (65,000 miles) in to the dealer for a normal lube & oil change. Accompanying the bill was a recommendation that I also get a fuel injection flush. I looked in the owners manual, under recommended maintenance, and can’t find that anywhere. Is there such a thing, and should I need that for this car?
Congratulations for reading the owner’s manual!!! Too bad more people don’t do that. Fuel injector flushing is what is commonly known as a “profit generator.” It is worthless, but most people don’t know that, because they don’t read their owner’s manuals.
All gasoline sold in the US contains fuel system cleaners by federal law. You don’t need any additional fuel system cleaners, either gas tank additives or dealer flushes.
Same goes for transmission flushes. When it comes to your car, skip anything with the word “flush” in it. Assuming your car is running smoothly, ask yourself this question: “If you allow the dealer to do this fuel injection flush, and you detect no difference in the way the car runs afterward, how would you know if they did ANYTHING?”
Skip this flush, and all such suggestions in the future. You don’t need it, your car doesn’t need it, and your wallet doesn’t need it.
When fuel injection became common in the late 80’s,the fuel injectors sometimes got clogged with gasoline “residue”. It may have made sense back then to periodically put injector cleaner in gas tank, but gas is better now and this problem doesn’t rear it’s head anywhere near enough anymore to necessitate routinely cleaning injectors- much less w/a flush as opposed to putting a can of injector cleaner in
tank. Just for jollies I would love for you to get a pencil and pad and call the service mgr or shop foreman and ask for 5 good reasons why they should do this “procedure”, and also to grill them regarding what you brought up about this "flush’ not being listed in O/M’s routine maintainence scedule- and then post back to us! I can’t stand this money-grabbing kind of crap, unless there’s the outside chance in this
case that it makes sense- but the biggest longshot at Hialeah probably wouldn’t put a penny on that. mc’s term “profit generator” is corrrect. So is “sales gimmick”, and “money clip”, but they all spell B-O-G-U-S.
There is such a thing but I would guess only about 5% of all the flushes done are needed. It is a profit center.
99% agree, brake flush is the exception.
You can just spend $3 every 3000 miles and buy fuel injector cleaner. But your vehicle is relatively young and as long as it runs well don’t even waste your time and money. Why do you take your car to the dealer for an oil change anyway? Find an independent mechanic.