Just booked my 15 plate Ford Fiesta (1.5 tdci) in for its second service (25k miles) as part of the service plan that was included with the purchase.

The Ford garage receptionist mentioned the addition of a Techron clean. It’s something I have zero experience/knowledge of.
Does anyone have any experience of this? If so, is it worthwhile?

She couldn’t really explain what it involved or how it worked when I asked, so I get the impression it is just an extra money spinner for them (call me a cynic!)

Any tips on what to be wary of would be appreciated.

Thanks just now.

There are a few types of engine cleaner. Stuff that goes in the fuel that cleans out the injectors etc (shouldn’t be a problem on a newer car), then other things that are meant to clean out the turbo or the EGR valve and so on.

They work, mostly, but are only worth doing if your engine’s dirty in the first place. At 25k miles in a year or 18 months, it’s probably not.

All depends on how much they want to charge.

Not worth it – just use fuel from a major (Shell/BP/Esso etc) and you wont need a clean out. If its had the unfortunate experience of using poor quality fuel all it’s short life, you could potentially have built up some carbon deposits, but it’s unlikely – shifting them in 1 hit can cause more issues.

Cheers for the info, gave it a miss.

After picking the car up today I’m pretty well convinced that franchised dealer garages are untrustworthy – I’ll be sticking to my local independent from now on.

Snake oil. Run away.

You are right to be suspicious of main dealers. Our yeti came back from a service with a very serious “YOU HAVE TO REPLACE ALL YOUR DANGEROUSLY WORN BRAKE DISCS AND PADS NOW!” Letter, web link and video.

Brought it home & whipped the wheels off – nowt wrong with the brakes.

Took it back to the same dealer two months later for its first MOT. It passed, with no advisories despite being fitted with the same brakes.

I was warned about the whole “your brakes need stripped and put back together – that’ll be fifty quid please” before taking it there. Sure enough the phone rang with a guy at the garage saying it needs done, on a car that’s only 18 months old. Eh no, take a hike.

For comparison, having previously owned a Fiesta for several years (putting approx 80k onto the clock taking it up to 110k), it only needed new pads once.
It doesn’t add up, so straight back to the trusty local indy garage now that the included service package has been used up!

The Ford dealer also tried charging another £40 odd to change the brake fluid. Apparently its recommended every two years… So it can wait to get done at two years, and not 18 months as is… Chancers

Over here, techron is an additive in all grades of chevron gas (petrol), not sure about diesel.
Anyhow, P.E.A based fuel system additives are also available from the local motor factors for about 5quid a bottle that treats a tank of fuel.
What is the ford garage offering for their techron service and at what cost?

I’d say some brands franchise dealers are terrible, some aren’t. Wessex Nissan treated me badly and broke rules when I wanted to buy a car; different branch also tried to rip my dad off.

Sinclair VW on the other hand are superb. The only garage I now feel I can trust. Shame they are so expensive on some stuff, but on others not too bad.

Yeah, don’t take the dealers on.

The clean is simply not required. I’m guessing that your mileage includes motorway journeys in that case car will clean itself.

I’ve a Fiesta 1.4 tdci on 107k I use Shell or BP fuel and I make sure that it Regenerates the DPF weekly by a Motorway run which, I’m guessing, you will be doing anyway. My mileage is mainly town.

If you do decide to use an independent garage, make sure they use the correct oil. Think it needs oil with sulphur in it to help the DPF.

If an engine needs a clean at 25,000miles I’d say maybe they should do it under warranty. I once bought a Subaru off a copper and every year from new it had a ‘carbon decoke’ at every service. Madness.