Fuel injectors are designed to deliver a precise amounts of fuel at a specific interval of time either into the engine’s inlet manifold, or directly into the engine . Fuel is forced into the injector and a measured delivery is sprayed out through a nozzle that may be as small as 0.002 of an inch. The valve may only be open for a period of 1 milliseconds. Because of these tight tolerances, keeping your fuel injectors in proper working order is key to the engine’s performance. Whether your goal is the most horsepower, a smooth running vehicle, or the best gas mileage, it is absolutely crucial your fuel injectors are working properly. Fuel injector cleaning is how we accomplish this.
Symptoms of fuel injector problems?
- Lack of Power – the vehicle has lost its performance.
- Poor Fuel Economy – vehicle uses excessive fuel.
- Excessive Exhaust Emissions – vehicle fails local emission testing.
- Hard Starting – the car is difficult to start hot or cold.
- Rough Idle – the car does not idle smoothly.
- Poor Drivability – the vehicle suffers from hesitation.
What alternative fuel injector cleaning methods are there?
There are various fuel injector cleaning options available. Some are tank additives from a bottle while others use an on car cleaning system. However, none can match the results that Injector-Rehab offers with our off the car testing on a flow bench. Final results are only seen, measured and compared with the pre cleaning flow rates and spray patterns with off the car cleaning methods.
Why not just replace them?
The minimum life expectancy of an injector is, 1 Billion pulses, well within the life expectancy of the car. The normal approach from many dealers is to just replace them. They make their money from selling you parts. This is a very expensive method of solving the problem. A single new fuel injector can cost between $100 – $500 each. Injectors do not have to be replaced. Fuel Injector Cleaning addresses both inside the fuel passage and outside around the seat and pintle head. This is accomplished with the Ultrasonic Injector Cleaning and various testing benches and diagnostic equipment we use here at Injector-Rehab. Reconditioning the fuel injectors back to factory specs IS possible. There is no need to waste money buying new fuel injectors when we can clean and restore them to new operating condition.
What causes all this in the first place?
The leading cause of fuel injector failure is RUST. Water contamination in the fuel system is typically what cases this and has become more common because of the increase in Ethanol content in our gasoline. We have an in-depth explanation in our Knowledgebase available here if you are interested in learning more.
What can you do?
To determine whether the injectors are working correctly or if they are dirty or leaking, they must be tested. Our state of the art, OEM approved diagnostic equipment tests for leaks, spray patterns, and flow rates over a range of engine speeds, pressures and millisecond durations (opening times). Once a baseline reading has been determined, a multi-step ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning begins. The fuel injectors then go through several ultrasonic baths with various frequencies and temperatures all tuned to break apart internal build-up.
The injectors are pulsed at specific opening millisecond durations. In doing so, these sound waves are internally cleaning the injectors, not just externally. We have seen countless companies showing how dirty a set of fuel injectors were when they got them and how shiny and bright they LOOK afterwards. Yeah, that’s great and all, but the visual external of the injector has absolutely nothing to do with the proper operation.
After the ultrasonic cleaning stages are completed, the injectors are reverse flushed (Back flushing) to get out any particles that were broken up by the ultrasonic waves. We then re-test the fuel injectors to see the results after back flushing. We repeat this process until the injectors can pass. Sometimes this only takes one cleaning. Other times it can be several attempts.
What are the results like?
Tests have shown that 97% of injectors will respond to the off car (Injector-Rehab) method of cleaning. The small percentage of fuel injectors that will not respond to cleaning are because of either mechanical damage to the pintle or some internal component like a pintle return spring. It can also be electrical damage to the solenoid windings.
Getting the right service for your Fuel Injectors
Fuel injectors are not all created equal. Not all applications are the same. Because there are nuances with each type of injector, pricing is different. The most commonly found injectors in the market are port injection. This style of injector has 2 different levels of testing to choose from. GDI or Gasoline Direct Injection runs at very high pressure and is much more detailed in the testing department. Piezoelectric injectors like those found in BMW’s require even more attention to detail. Price, turnaround time, and other details about your specific injector type can be found below.