What the heck is a "Fuel induction service"?

[jimincalif]

Took Vibe #2 into the stealership today for the PCM recall. Apparently it does not have one of the units that needs to be replaced.But dealer recommended a "fuel induction service" to the tune of $185? I've never heard of such. Vibe #2 has about 24K miles. Any idea what they are referring to, except money?

[808 Vibes]

If it reeks like B.S., it probably is.

[star_deceiver]

That's the service in which you put your wallet on the counter, turn your back on it while the "service" manager tells you all the wonderful things your car needs then. You are then sent on your way after $200.26 is charged to your CC. Your receipt says the following services were performed:$4.99 bottle of GM fuel injector cleaner added to gas tank$180 Labor8.25% tax$200.26... Have a nice day and thank you for choosing GM!

[Salsa Guy]

^X2 That's what it sounds like.

[jimincalif]

Thanks all, that's what I thought. Fortunately my wife's BS detector went off as well and she declined it.

[djkeev]

EDIT: Sorry so long, this answer just needed a lot of words!!Let me first say that IF you are running quality fuel, major brands, Chevron, Shell, etc and staying away from Johnny's cheap gas in the old Mobil station crap, you can bypass at least part of this service.Modern fuels have all the additives and cleaners that you will ever need already in them. That's why you are spending 5 cents a gallon more for the fuel.Without cleaners in fuel you will get deposits and build ups in various places, most notably in the fuel system and on the intake and exhaust valves.Does this service system they are pushing actually clean things? Sure it does. The service is a fuel additive, similar to Techron, and also other cleaners they feed into your intake throttle body.If you've ever taken an intake manifold apart in any modern car you will find that it is caked with black deposits, rough crusty gooey carbon. Why? Air isn't dirty like that and it even is filtered before it enters the intake manifold, why all the dirty Black deposits??Due to the Federal Emission mandates our cars must run "clean" putting out minimal emissions. One way of doing this is to introduce burned exhaust gases into the intake in measured amounts at higher speeds.This is done to lower the levels of NOx which are created at high temperatures of combustion. By introducing used exhaust gases you have created a controlled vacuum leak using an inert gas. This is the EGR valve and piping you've heard so much about. This inert gas is available for free and in unlimited quantities in the exhaust your car makes and reduces the combustion temperatures at high speeds to under 2500 degrees thus greatly reduces the NOx you car spews out of the tailpipe.Sadly this free inert gas that is literally piped into your intake manifold is also laden with the carbon of combustion and it does indeed build up inside your intake over time. This is the Black crusty gooey gunk inside of your intake manifold.Is this layer of black intake carbon "bad" for your car? Well, therein lies the debate. If you remove it, it will quickly return. A dirty surface certainly does alter how air flows through a pipe so a clean pipe is a good thing.The bigger question is not so much as if this cleaner works, it is what does all of this now dissolved carbon do to your rings and catalytic converter after is it sucked into the combustion chamber and spewed out of the exhaust pipe. Sure, a little carbon goes through constantly but having a giant "blob" of carbon soaked in chemicals suddenly introduced into the combustion chamber and then into the expensive emission parts downstream one wonder if it is clogging things up or creating any damage? Do the chemicals used to dissolve the carbon damage emission components downstream? How does it react with the ceramic pellets or ceramic honeycomb in the catalytic converter?In my experience, some intakes have a SUBSTANTIAL build up of carbon in them, so much that you can literally scrape it away. I've seen it sitting in the lower intake manifold recesses almost 1/8" thick in some older cars.Only you can decide to do this service or not. If you car has lived an unknown service life, maybe it might help. Maybe not. Does this carbon create a problem sitting in the intake manifold? Probably not but we American's like things really clean don't we?Here is a link to a manufacturer of the products used in this cleaning system. http://www.bgfindashop.com/bgservices/fuelair.htmI'm not endorsing,I'm not shooting down,But I will say I'm not a big believer in magic additives to fix automotive woes.I also give my 90,000 mile Vibe a steady Diet of Shell except in rare situations when a tank of Exxon crap (not a fan of Exxon but that is another story) or Mobil or Sunoco was introduced. NEVER has A TANK OF OFF BRAND CHEAP GAS has been put into this car.I'm sure my intake manifold is loaded with black carbon. Car runs great and I've no plans of cleaning the gunk. IF I ever do decide to clean it out, I'll get new gaskets, remove the intake manifold and do a proper cleaning in my auto parts cleaning tank, I won't be pouring "snake oils" into my throttle body.BTW, just the chemical kit for this service is around $60. Add an hour or more of time to run the chemicals through the engine and you're quickly up to well above $100 depending upon your area's hourly labor rate. The original poster is in So Cal, I'll guess they are at least $100 per hour at the shop used! I've seen in other areas this service offered for $110 more frequently around $150 or so where labor rates are much less.Based upon what I know about this cleaning system, a can of Techron in the fuel tank and a can of Seafoam slowly fed into a running engines intake and you should accomplish about the same thing for maybe $30 or less......if you always run crap gas and really wanted to clean the intake manifold out.Dave