My 90 Accura has around 160,000 miles on it and it ldles a little rough and starts a little hard sometimes and I was going to run one of those fuel additive cleaners through it just to see if it helped since Im pretty sure nobody ever bothered to do it before.

Is that stuff safe for these engines? Especially such a high mileage engine... I dont want to make things worse, and is there a brand that would be better to use than others?

 

I don't know anyone who's had a bad experience with fuel injector cleaner. They're all petroleum based so there shouldn't be any crazy side effects. The most popular seem to be the shell and chevron brands. There are lots of off brands which probably won't hurt your engine but they may not help it all that much either.

You may want to consider using seafoam as well. It can be used to clean the fuel injectors when poured in the gas tank and clean out some of the carbon buildup and crap in the valvetrain and cylinders when sucked up through the throttle body. It's a little rougher on an engine than just fuel injector cleaner. Some have had problems with oxygen sensors and spark plugs getting gummed up. But used right I doubt it would hurt a honda engine with 160K. I've used it on multiple occasions and never had a problem. A lot of guys swear by the stuff. It can do wonders for rough running engines. And being that your engine is pushing 20 years old it would probably help a lot. Search for more info on the board on Seafoam if you're interested.

 

I actually read a thread yesterday about it! Im a little worried tho if I do such a heavy duty cleaning of the engine that it will fall apart because the gunk is the only thing holding it together Not to mention I dont have the money to replace anything if it gets fouled up in the process.

 

Just stick with the fuel injector cleaner then. I'd still consider it if the engine is in good shape. I used it repeatedly on my '93 Accord all the way up to 200K miles and never had a problem with anything.

 

Thats the thing I just got the car and the previous owner didnt know much about cars and said he didnt do much of anything except change the oil so who knows what leaks or whatever else is hiding in the engine and i dont have the funds to do an overhaul right now.

Either way I noticed the autoparts store had some chevron techron fuel system cleaner on sale i will give that a try.