At 03:44 PM 6/17/2010, Richard A Jones wrote:
> From the web, so must be true:
> > There is one main cleaning ingredient in all fuel injector cleaners,
> > it's a long, quadruple word score-kind of word, it's acronym is PEA.

Phenyethylamine or polyetheramine.  One's a stimulant drug, the other isn't.

As stated, Redline SI contains 30-50% polyetheramine, balance naptha
(lighter fluid) and isooctanol (an alcohol made from octane, a
hydrocarbon with eight carbon atoms).*

Techron contains  over twenty per cent each of light aromatic naptha
(lighter fluid), Stoddard Solvent (essentially a high grade of
Mineral Spirits, and the major ingredient of WD40), and light
hydrotreated [petroleum] distillate; itself containing primarily
three different forms of benzene.

Deponent hath no opinion on the relative merits; however BASF in a
1992 patent application for a method of producing gasoline containing
PEA state that it has been long known as an effective ingredient of
carburettor/valve/injector cleaners.  See
<http://www.wikipatents.com/US-Patent-5112364/gasoline-engine-fuels-containing-polyetheramines-or-polyetheramine/Page-2>

* Methane (CH4), ethane (C2H5), propane (C3H7), butane, heptane,
hexane, heptane, septane, octane, nonane and decane are the basic
hydrocarbons with from one to ten carbons each.  Each can be
converted to an alcohol by adding an OH group.  C2H5OH is the one we
drink if we're not immediately tired of life.

>Even truer is my memory:

True, true -- our memory always improves as we get older, since
there's no longer anyone around to contradict us. ;->

>I don't know anything about "injector cleaning" vs "fuel system
>cleaning."

Carburetors (there, I spelt it the American way), injectors and
valves are the Usual Suspects.

>  Now, back to arguing about brands and gas grades....

Such fun...beats tires, for a while anyway.

Yours,
d