I'm about to do something I never do....recommend a product. But I only do this because of two recent experiences with it and
maybe this will help some of you. I had a slight "pinging" problem with another car of mine. A knowledgeable friend of mine said I should try a bottle of Chevron TECHRON Fuel System Cleaner in the gas. He said it was his own experience that this is one of the few products strong enough to actually make a difference as far as cleaning the fuel injectors, combustion chambers, valves, etc. in the engine, and that my detonation problem might be a result of some built up carbon, etc. from not driving it much. I was a disbeliever to say the least. I have never put anything in my gas, as my thinking has always been " they put the additive in the gas.......why should I spend money to put the same thing in....what a ripoff!"......but, once again, I was wrong. I bought a bottle of this stuff at the local auto parts store, let the gas run almost completely out of the car, put the stuff in, added 12 gallons of new
gas, and drove the car for about two or three days. PINGING GONE. Now, before you say it was old gas or stale gas in the car, and just filling it up with new gas cured the problem.......that wasn't it. I had already put new gas in the car and it still did it.

Still a disbeliever myself, I decided to buy another bottle and put it in my C230K. The car runs OK, but for the past 10-20K miles has had a rolling idle. Just slightly, but not steady. OK. I had almost forgotten about it it's so slight. But, after putting the stuff in and driving several days, it's GONE. Completley gone. Maybe it was a dirty fuel injector. After all, the car has 121,000 miles on it.
Anything could be dirty, right? Now I'm convinced. This stuff works and is a good product. As I said, normally I would never even
use something like this or recommend it. In this case, I will. If it helps you, great! If it doesn't, maybe it will keep your injectors clean and prevent a future problem. Here are the details:

Chevron TECHRON "Concentrate Plus"....Fuel System Cleaner (Exclusive Synthetic Formula)...12 oz. bottle (black bottle).
Should be about $8 a bottle. CAUTION: They make several. Some are cheaper. Don't buy those. Not powerful enough I'm told.
Follow directions or it won't be as effective....run down the gas in the car as much as you can. Add contents of bottle to tank.
THEN fill NO MORE THAN 12 GALLONS of new gas. Drive it until most of the gas is gone. Good luck and I hope this product helps
somebody or benefits some of you. Worked for me.

PS> I have no affiliation with Chevron or anything like that. Had to say that.

 

Pinging is basically due to over-advance timing. You could remedy it either by reducing the ignition advance or by increasing the octane rating of the fuel you use.
The additive you refer to could have just done that (increased the octane rating).

 

The Techron is a decent product and has been around for years.

It can reduce pinging if your car has deposits which effectively raises the compressino ratio. Once the deposits are eliminated, compression ratio is reduced and the need for higher octane fuel goes away. (You should be running the octane fuel called out in your OM.)

BG and RedLine's fuel system cleaner are two very good products.

 

I'm already using the highest octane available at the pump. I don't want to add an octane booster to the fuel for a couple
of reasons. The car was meant to run on premium unleaded and it always did well with it until recently. I am referring to my
other car, not the MB. I wouldn't run less timing since it would hurt performance. Carbon deposits may also likely be the culprit.
I am keenly aware what causes detonation. Different cures for different cars. But this product worked for me, so.........

 

Techron is the only fuel system cleaner that is recommended by BMW. Fact is that Chevron developed the stuff at BMW's request. Unless you spend a fair amount of time at or above 5000 rpm, it is not uncommon for the injectors and ports toget gummed/carboned up. Remember that these cars were initially designed to run on the AUTOBAHN at speeds over 160kph as opposed to the 55-65mph snails pace on our dumbed down American highway system. I have had good results with Techron as well as Lucas and B&G products. The old timers (myself included) were and are right about the need to blow the carbon out from time to time.

 

OK then Will, I'll meet you on the Autobahn.
But I won't be driving the C230K........heh heh.

 

Hmmm this is interesting. I have my C200 Kompressor parked now for around two weeks and since two days ago I noticed when I put my foot down it doesn't respond as quickly. It feels as if someone's clogged up the tail pipe or something. I would put my foot down and a few seconds later the car respond while before it responded instantly.

I thought the fuel I put in maybe the issue, as I go to the pumps and just fill up with unleaded and go. Now I am beginning to read the pumps for the unleaded that seem to suggest a better performance though slightly higher price.

My C200 is automatic, so do you think if I run down the gas and put the techron concentrate plus in, it will work?

Thanks

 

The answer to this is simple. It depends on what is causing your problem. Without diagnosing it first, it's hard to say. I would try using
the best grade premium unleaded available in your area first. My MB dealer won't let customers put gas in their MB loaner cars because
they would return them full of the lowest (and cheapest) unleaded which led to problems. Also, this may be something other than dirty
injectors or something the Techron couldn't help. Like a fuel filter plugged, and so on. If you want to spend eight dollars and put it in the
almost empty tank, then fill with 12 gallons of frest PREMIUM unleaded gas, and run it through your engine, it's sure not going to hurt.
But it might not fix whatever problem you are experiencing. But.....in my opinion......I am a believer now that this product, and the other
products people mentioned, can at least help keep the fuel system clean. Hope this answers your question.

 

I see your point. I went down to my local Halfords and Motor World today. OK let me just say I am in London not the states lol. That Chevron stuff can only be found I am told in chevron stores and not many in the UK. The UK has an Equivalent stuff like STP and other more "sophisticated" stuff that cleans your filter, valves, engine, injectors etc.

12 gallons of petrol you say, well that would be just over 54 litres in the UK as petrol over here is sold by the litre not by the gallon; we use the metric system. I'm told that works out to about a full tank a petrol here in the UK but not sure in the US.

I was recommended the Slick 50 Fuel System.



STP

 

As for filters I intend to replace my air filter and see what the slick 50 cleaner does. If problem persist I will look to change the fuel filter.
Which air filter fits the C200 Kompressor? I was looking at the K&N stuff. Is it the cone shaped ones or the flat ones?