we have 2 saturn S series vehicles....every time we take them in to the dealer for service, they suggest a $79 fuel injector cleaning. We have always said no since its not recommended in the service manual. But now i am wondering, is this really worth doing or just a dealer ripoff?

Rip.

All they do is remove the air intake and spray a $7 can of air intake/throttle body cleaner into the throttle body, while holding the RPMS at about 3-3.5K. The'yll take a toothbrush to the throttle body plate as well (if they truly care)..... the cleaner will also help clear out gunk in the injectors.

Typical high profit extra pushed by dealer that only needs to be done once in a while--and can be done by the average do it yourselfer for $7 and 15 min tops.

It's worth it to do it yourself. I believe GM
recommends you do it every other oil change.

I have found a gas treatment that works pretty good...It cleans the entire fuel system,removes carbon deposits,improves engine drivability. It does suggest to use every 3000 miles. I have used this particular product for the last 4 or 5 oil cahnges on my 2001 SC2.I have noticed a difference since i started using this product. Its called CHEVRON TECHRON Fuel Treatment. You can find this product at Advance Auto Parts for $7+tax.

For a real injector cleaning, I send injectors to Witchhunter Performance. $76 shipped for four injectors cleaned and blueprinted. They provide a test data sheet showing before and after results. They even send the old parts back to you as proof that they did the work.

http://www.witchhunter.com/

Not trying to threadjack --

Low Saturn---how long should you go between cleanings? And what is the expected life of an injector on the DOHC's?

I've cleaned mine once and switched them between a couple SL2's I've owned. Neither me, my brother or anyone elses Saturn we've worked on has ever needed new injectors. The injectors should out live the car.

i work at saturn and we have 2 services 1 is called a fuel induction service which you remove the air cleaner tube and inject in a solvent clean thru air psi of 40 psi into the TB and it removes all the carbon that builds up on the throttle plate and iac and tps whcih can cause issues and the gas pedal to stick,also cleans inside intake manifold and valves,also we do a injector fuel rail service where we put a high concentrate injector cleaner into a psi cyl of 40ish psi and tap directly into the fuel rail and goes right into the injectors and during this service the fuel pump is disabe to ensure the car is only running on the fuel injectors to clean them,i highly rec both i see alot of people who are cheap and do not do the service and have major issues later even engine failure,oil burning, too high comp psi due to carbon build up into the cyl ,etc most of which could be avoided,i do it on my own saturns,i would do it if you plan on keeping the car, the gas prices keep going up but the gas is getting worse and the injectors are clogging faster than i have ever seen in the last 3 months
Chris