Red Line SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner - 15 Ounce, Pack of 12

by Red Line

Product Features

• Cleans injectors and carbs to like-new efficiency
• Lubricates upper cylinder and valves
• Prevents fuel system rust and cleans intake valve deposits
• Reduces pre-ignition and run-on as well as effectively cleaning the emission control systems
• Stabilizes gasoline and prevents carburetor icing which effects your vehicles performance

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 12.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000T9RLT0
• Item model number: 60103-12PK
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,640 in Automotive (See Top 100 in Automotive)
  • #15 in Automotive > Oils & Fluids > Additives > Fuel System > Fuel Additives

Product Description

Red Line's SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner is a concentrated package of the most powerful high-temperature detergents available. Together, these detergents clean gasoline fuel injectors, carburetors, intake valves, and combustion chambers--and can clean injectors to nearly 100% efficiency in one treatment. The cleansing effect on injector deposits can raise fuel economy approximately 12% or even greater, depending on the condition of the injectors. SI-1 also contains detergents and a synthetic upper cylinder lubricant which will help clean pollution control valves and can reduce octane requirements by two numbers. SI-1 treats up to 100 gallons, protects the fuel system from rust, and is safe for continual use on all gasoline vehicles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best and most cost-effective product of its type, January 6, 2009

By 

Glenn Carpenter (Golden, Colorado) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Line SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner - 15 Ounce, Pack of 12 (Misc.)

Short version:

Among all fuel system cleaners I'm aware of, Redline SI-1 contains the highest quantity per dollar (based on manufacturer MSDS) of the critical fuel-system-cleaning compounds known as polyether amines (PEA). Primarily for this reason I believe SI-1 to be the best available and most cost-effective fuel system cleaner product at retail pricing. At the current price per bottle when bought by the case right here on Amazon ($5.30) it is a bargain (12/15/09 edit: the price here has almost doubled since I wrote this and it is now, unfortunately, far from a bargain).

In my case it has not been necessary to use Redline's recommended quantity of approximately 3 oz per fill-up. The effects of 1 oz per fill-up are indistinguishable in terms of tested results (see my basis for this statement below). This results in an approximate cost of $0.35/tank or less than a tenth of a penny per mile. A full case at this usage rate is enough to treat 180 full tanks of fuel or to last approximately 80,000 miles. (Figures based 15gal/tank, 25-35mpg).


Long version:

As far as I know, every effective fuel system cleaner on the market uses a class of compounds known as polyether amines (PEA), in varying proportions, to effectively clean deposits from fuel system components, and particularly from fuel injectors, which can quickly impact engine efficiency and performance when not operating correctly. My understanding is that these compounds were first developed by Chevron and sold under the Techron name, and have since been made available to other blenders of fuel treatment products. Until recently BG 44K, Chevron Techron Concentrate, Gumout Regane Fuel System Cleaner, Amsoil P.I. Performance Improver Concentrate, and Redline SI-1 (among others) listed polyether amines on their Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) in proportions varying from approximately 25% to 50%. Most of these products no longer list PEA on their MSDS, having changed their terminology to disguise the precise nature of their products' constituent components. Whether PEA is still contained in those products is a matter of uncertainty. As of this writing Redline's SI-1 MSDS still specifies that the product contains 30-50% PEA. Consequently it is one of the few remaining fuel system cleaner products that undoubtedly does contain PEA in significant quantity.

I have been able to test the efficacy of fuel system cleaners in one of my own vehicles using a method I stumbled on after having its injectors professionally cleaned while out of the vehicle. The car in question uses a Bosch engine management system that reports fuel injector data to an on-board computer, which then uses that data to calculate and report instantaneous and average mpg to the driver. I noted after the professional cleaning that the accuracy of the reported mpg, when used to measure average mpg over each full tank of fuel, improved suddenly from a prior error of around -3% - -5% (that is, the reported mpg was ~3-5% below the actual mpg, or typically just over 1mpg low) to an error as close to zero as I could measure (that is, usually between -1% and 1%, fluctuating above and below a perfect "match"). This can be explained on the basis that the engine management system will compensate for a dirty injector by holding the injectors open slightly longer during each combustion cycle, in order to admit the proper amount of fuel. The on-board computer interprets that as a slightly higher rate of fuel consumption, reporting a lower-than-actual mpg figure.

After several thousand miles - not long - the perfect mpg accuracy I'd noticed began to deteriorate, likely indicating that the cleaned injectors were beginning to suffer from some sort of renewed impedance to fuel flow. Out of a desire to retain near-perfect injector performance, and also out of curiosity, I started experimenting with various commercially-available fuel system cleaners and keeping records of the results at each fill-up.

Leaving out the long details, I'll simply say here that the results were surprisingly clear and unambiguous. Each time I went several tanks without using a fuel system cleaner (usually as a result of simply forgetting to use it or not taking the trouble), the on-board computer (OBC) accuracy would deteriorate. This would fluctuate from tank to tank, of course, as a result of inevitable measurement errors, but the trend was very clear even over a small number of fill-ups. Returning to the use of a fuel system cleaner (Chevron Techron Concentrate, Gumout Regane or SI-1, all of which at the time did contain PEA), the accuracy would improve again very quickly - within 2-3 fill-ups. I began using the SI-1 exclusively seven months ago based on its apparent cost-effectiveness and since then I have reduced the quantity I use in each tank to the current 1oz per ~15gal fill-up. The results remain unambiguous. If I use this small amount of SI-1 consistently, the accuracy of the on-board computer is excellent, with an average error of below 1%, or a fraction the error rate seen when not using such a product.

Based on the above I feel I can confidently conclude that SI-1 works very well, even at reduced treatment rates, at keeping fuel injectors clean. Fuel system types and injectors will vary, and other parts of the fuel system - for example intake valves and combustion chambers - might benefit from higher treatment rates (or, conceivably, might not benefit at all). Actual engine efficiency will not vary nearly as much as injector cleanliness, since the engine feedback system normally corrects for imperfect injector flow rates. However, as the flow is more greatly impeded, or impeded differentially among the individual injectors, mpg will be affected to some degree. I feel it is well worth the tiny cost to consistently use a small quantity of SI-1. Other benefits, such as to combustion efficiency as a result of combustion chamber cleanliness, to volumetric efficiency as a result of intake valve cleanliness, and to fuel system lubrication, probably exist as well although I can not evaluate them and have not attempted to do so. Other fuel system cleaners may work as effectively, or nearly as effectively, but I do not believe them to be as good in terms of value per dollar spent.

In my experimentation I did try some less expensive fuel system cleaners, those not containing PEA. They appeared to have no effect. I can not categorically state that only PEA-containing fuel system cleaners work, of course, but my observations did match the conventional wisdom on this point. I also experimented with using top-tier fuels only, without any additional fuel system cleaners. The results were the same as when using non-detergent (Costco and others) fuels. I don't doubt that top tier fuels contain small amounts of cleaners and will keep a fuel system functionally and acceptably clean, but the quantities involved are reputed to be tiny and my observations seem to indicate that even a small amount of additional additive is far more effective.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best fuel system cleaner - period, February 9, 2009

By 

Nutty Prof. (chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Line SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner - 15 Ounce, Pack of 12 (Misc.)

People not into racing don't know that Red line has been making racing oils for about 30 years. They have the best chemists and the best manufacturing techniques. With gas prices on the rise and the possibilty of contaminants in the gas we buy - this is cheap insurance. You cannot depend on even the most expensive gas to contain cleaners. I used to buy Shell thinking they had me covered. I got clogged injectors anyway (twice). Now I by gas from Costco or any discount place and add the cleaner myself. The bottle is marked in 10 gal increments so if you have a 34 gal tank just add 3 10 gal marks from the bottle by pouring a little at a time until you get there. You do this before you fill up so it mixes as you add the fuel. Your vehicle will run smoother than it did when it was new after a few tankfulls. The price is the cheapest I have seen for this product. Pep Boys was selling this for nearly $9. This is the best investment you can make to your fuel injected vehicle. I don't what effect this will have on carbs so if you have an older car try one from a retail store first.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strongest fuel system cleaner, June 20, 2010

By 

D. Orlando (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Line SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner - 15 Ounce, Pack of 12 (Misc.)

While this fuel system cleaner is pricey compared with many others, it has the highest amount of poly-ethyl-amine (PEA) and as a result it has a very bad smell. However, it is the best fuel cleaner on the market, and I use it every oil change. This is cheaper and is at least equivalent to the other popular fuel system cleaner by Amsoil. It is also about 3x stronger than regular Techron, and it's about the same price when on sale. Excellent product, 5 stars.