Clean Your Fuel Injectors at Home

[HoboNC]

I have had to read the MSDS for the entire chemical isle for different reasons at more than one place I worked, and it amazes me that a name brand is more important than what is actually in the bottle to too many people. Even if it has been too long since Chemistry class, Wiki and Google make it easy to see what you are putting in yourself or your vehicle.

Mineral spirits is another name for paint thinner. So you are getting something better than mostly Kerosene/lighter fluid in 44K.

B12 Chemtool is much stronger. Please the MSDS or current ingredients off the can. Just the xylene beats paint thinner as an industrial strength solvent. And it’s often on sale for less!

I expect this kind of reaction to science from my antique Chevy groups, but not EFI folks. The fans of old Chevy’s argue about oil (Zinc & Moly content vs. brand loyalty) and if the one and only brand of 13” tire that is close to the original size is what should be used.

At least you are not arguing the letter cams are the only thing to use. Try B-12 Chemtool next time 44k is not enough. It looks like the GM cleaner was switched to a low VOC formula, so that’s not going to be as aggressive as it used to be.

Looks like we did get past the argument its all snake oil PLUS sometimes you need a chemical to break. down carbon deposits that cause drivabilty issues. I still keep a gal. of Sea Foam to run though my upper intake cleaning system to compliment BG and Wynns products. Its rare to see an on car injector cleaning help if it does its more than likely carbon deposits on the valves are piston rings. On car injector cleaning is pert neer a thing of the pass I often recommend dump a load of good injector cleaner in the tank and run it out, all is well till we run into these old FORDS that are a P.I.T.A. arse to diagnose injector issues unless the injector is DEAD... Ford did not give us any data menu till 93/94 ? I cut my teeth with a ford 60 pin break out box, voltmeter and lab scope and poor information... This is not my first rodeo : )​

 

[7991LXnSHO]

 

[gearhead77]

I did decide to send my injectors out for cleaning. At only 70k and after checking them for ohms, they're all about the same. My car sat for 10 years and noob that I am, I didn't drop and drain the tank out. The guy I bought it from ( original owner) loved the car but wasn't really a car guy, so preventative maintenance was done but not for a long time. I think they're just really dirty, 'cause the rest of the motor certainly is!!

 

[HoboNC]

For me in the south it would be a rare event to find a good fuel tank on a Ford that's 25 years old are older. Food for thought, mechanical fuel pumps can pump trash in fact its a trash pump a little contamination in the tank was not a big deal. Electric pumps are a different animal any rust will eat the pump alive... I get 8 to 10 older fuel injected vehicles in every year they just put a new pump in the tank the pump is now trashed. Any rust in the tank will eat a electric pump up even just one small spot of rust, dirty injectors would be the least of your worries..

 

[Noobz347]

For me in the south it would be a rare event to find a good fuel tank on a Ford that's 25 years old are older. Food for thought, mechanical fuel pumps can pump trash in fact its a trash pump a little contamination in the tank was not a big deal. Electric pumps are a different animal any rust will eat the pump alive... I get 8 to 10 older fuel injected vehicles in every year they just put a new pump in the tank the pump is now trashed. Any rust in the tank will eat a electric pump up even just one small spot of rust, dirty injectors would be the least of your worries..

That's not really the issue. The issue is combustion buildup over time. Something that for example, an in-tank additive will help to [shape] but not fully remove. In order to restore an injector to its full pattern, it would need to be removed, dismantled, agitated and leaned inside and out.

Even then, a flow test can reveal that some injectors are not quite up to snuff. I've seen and replaced out-of-the-box injectors that had horrible spray patterns and inconsistent flow issues.

 

[gearhead77]

For me in the south it would be a rare event to find a good fuel tank on a Ford that's 25 years old are older. Food for thought, mechanical fuel pumps can pump trash in fact its a trash pump a little contamination in the tank was not a big deal. Electric pumps are a different animal any rust will eat the pump alive... I get 8 to 10 older fuel injected vehicles in every year they just put a new pump in the tank the pump is now trashed. Any rust in the tank will eat a electric pump up even just one small spot of rust, dirty injectors would be the least of your worries..

I know that corrosion is an issue, but even after sitting for 10 years in the DC area in a parking garage with old fuel, the tank wasn’t as bad as I thought. I wonder how much crap I attempted to run through the engine though. I’m replacing the pump and sending unit because, well, the sending unit died and even though the pump hasn’t shown any signs of weirdness, why not?

Some sediment and stuff, but nothing I wouldn’t expect for a 31 year old car that sat a long time and had indifferent maintenance done.

 

[HoboNC]

That's not really the issue. The issue is combustion buildup over time. Something that for example, an in-tank additive will help to [shape] but not fully remove. In order to restore an injector to its full pattern, it would need to be removed, dismantled, agitated and leaned inside and out.

Even then, a flow test can reveal that some injectors are not quite up to snuff. I've seen and replaced out-of-the-box injectors that had horrible spray patterns and inconsistent flow issues.

It all starts out with good clean fuel, good clean fuel is hard to beat you can bank on that... My point, injectors are designed to work with nothing else but good clean fuel as is the rest of the fuel delivery system... We are now and have been for the last 10 years seeing the tank, lines, pump and hanger deteriorate/rust/contamination, new/rebuilt/cleaned injectors are any cleaner are not going to resolve that issue...

 

[Noobz347]

It all starts out with good clean fuel, good clean fuel is hard to beat you can bank on that... My point, injectors are designed to work with nothing else but good clean fuel as is the rest of the fuel delivery system... We are now and have been for the last 10 years seeing the tank, lines, pump and hanger deteriorate/rust/contamination, new/rebuilt/cleaned injectors are any cleaner are not going to resolve that issue...

When did the debate begin about how many things can go wrong in a fuel system? This thread is about cleaning and flow testing [fuel injectors].

You should start a new thread. If you hang around in this thread, you're going to see even [more] home remedies for cleaning and flow testing injectors.

What's more is that fuel injectors run for any length of time with nothing but "good clean fuel" [still] need to be periodically cleaned and flow tested particularly, when you're making north of 400HP out of a Windsor Small Block.

 

[gearhead77]

My injectors are on their way back to me. It'll be one week since I mailed them out Friday last week, so I expect them Monday. The following is from email sent by the shop that did the flow and cleaning (www.injectorrepair.com).

Your set of eight OEM Ford injectors flow tested bad right out of
the box (after an initial exterior cleaning / de-greasing). During the
initial flow test; one of the injectors was significantly clogged. It
was not the injector that you had labeled #8. Good news was that they
all held pressure (no leaks).

The engine would not have been able to run well with these
injectors.

I see this all the time esp. with engines that have sat for a
long time unused, or were run with E85. After an extra long session in
the cleaning tank and back-flushing, I was able to get the injectors to
like new function (good spray pattern and flow rates).

An Injector Flow Balance of under 5 % is considered necessary for
proper engine performance. When I sell refurbished sets, I try to get
them flow matched at one to three percent flow balance.

The closer the flow rates of the injectors are to each other, the
better the engine will run, and the engine will run smoother and get
better miles per gallon.

The microfilters were clean. After removing the microfilters, the
injectors were clean on the inside. No noticeable debris came out of the
injectors when I back-flushed two of the injectors. The discharge tips
were clean for a used set of injectors.

Attached are pictures of some of the multiple flow tests I ran on
your set of injectors. Picture # 1269 is of the initial dynamic flow
test (before cleaning). Picture # 1273 is of the final flow test after
the ultrasonic cleaning sessions. I ran all tests multiple times.

Your injectors final flow tests improved, and were great !! The
dynamic flow test ( 12 ms pulse width / 2400 rpm / 25 seconds ) had flow
rates of 48 to 49 cc.s across the board. The injector flow balance is
now very close to
2 %. Good to go.

They all performed flawless in all the tests.

All of your injectors held pressures over 80 psi without leaking
a drop, and their spray patterns were good.

They are 100% ready to be put into service.

If you have any questions, give me a call or email anytime.

Take care, Jim
Injector Repair LLC

I'm sure I could have gotten OK results cleaning them myself, but probably not as good as this place did and not with the technical background. It was worth it to hear how these injectors were from someone who deals with these things all the time. Can't wait to get it all back together and running! This place is up near Schenectady NY for the east coast folks.

 

[HoboNC]

Jim Linder was the injector guru he closed shop : ( Hope it works out good fer'ya... Its still good to bench test fire them before you install them... Click click click : ) and check the resistance value : ) Keep that stored in the back of yer noggin...

 

[gearhead77]

I was finally able to get the car together and run it. It runs like a completely different car now, way more responsive and smooth, even with the miserly 2.73 rear end!! All for around $160 with outbound shipping, I have my original injectors working in original condition.