Dear Tom and Ray:

I have an obnoxious younger brother who may be feeding me a line regarding the fuel injectors in our cars. He says that you need to buy a fuel additive and add it to the gas to clean the fuel injectors. I have a '91 Toyota MR2 and a '91 Toyota MR2 Turbo and cannot find any information in the owners' manuals regarding maintenance of the injectors. Should I break down and buy the fuel additive (and let him remind me of his high intelligence for the rest of my life) or tell him to shove off?
Susan

TOM: Believe me, Susan. If anyone understands the issue of obnoxious younger brothers, I do. There's only one way to deal with him; tell him to flake off immediately. You never, ever want to give a younger brother the satisfaction of knowing that he's right. Fortunately for me, my brother's never BEEN right.

RAY: Your adorable, well-meaning, baby brother happens to be wrong in this case, Susan. All brand name gasolines now have detergents mixed into their fuels. And these detergents make "fuel injector cleaners" unnecessary.

TOM: Right. You'd be much better off spending your money changing your fuel FILTER once a year. That costs about $30, and that's by far the best thing you can do to extend the life of your fuel injectors.