Millions of dollars are annually beingness spent on diverse fuel injector cleaning methods. The questions becomes which on of these does actually work best! In the hope of helping the proofreader make an informative decision we did a hands on review of the most popular injector cleaning methods available to the general public.

Most common Injector cleaning methods:

  1. Injector / Injection Dry cleaner (Pour into fuel tank)
  2. Rail Iatrogenic Injector Dry cleaner (Ill-used by repair shops and to the highest degree dealers)
  3. DIY Injector Cleaning
  4. Ultrasonic Fuel Injector Cleansing

With an accurate air out fuel ratio analyzer and a load bearing chassis dyno at our garbage disposal we were able to put the virtually favorite injector cleaning methods to the test.

Injector cleaning methods

1993 John Ford Mustang Lx

For the project a 1993 Ford Mustang Sixty with 135 k miles connected the odometer was used. The car was non driven for approximately two months antecedent to the experiment.

First a compression and a leak-dejected screen was done. Both restrained out fine. So the fuel tank was drained. Although the fire was slimly discolored it had not developed a bad odor and there was no indication of phase angle separation.

An Autronic model B gentle wind fuel analyzer was hooked adequate the tailpipe and 10 Gallons of fresh throttle was poured into the tank. Upon startup the engine had a bit hit only once the engine was warm it ran "fairly" smooth. Throttle response was sporting with little misfires face under released revving. The gondola was taken on a road slip consisting of few exposed road and some give up and go driving. Although at sail the engine ran fairly glassy the Air Fire Ratio (AFR) constantly indicating that the engine was running between lean and rich. Plosive consonant and go impulsive showed big inclination-colourful fluctuations. Wide open throttle quickening was very slow and produced misfires.

Back at  the shop the fire tank was emptied into a 5 gallon mensuration can. 1.85 Gallons was prerecorded. Based on this  8.15 gallons of tout was used for the 102.7 Roman mile trip, sequent in an average fuel consumption of 12.6 miles per gallon.

Injector cleaning methods compared.

Time for some dyno testing:

Founded on engine sized, fuel injector size and fuel type being utilized etc. we calculated that the car should be able to produce 85 – 90 horsepower to the wheels.

5 Gallons of fresh gasconad was poured in the fuel tank and then the car was run on a load bearing chassis dynamometer. AFR ratios indicated lean engine conditions and the machine produced 72 HP. That's about 15% to a lesser degree expectable.

The old spark plugs was far and checked. All indicated a lean condition. New spark off plugs gaped to the correct size up was installed and again the car produced 72 hp. The air cleaner was replaced, again 72 HP.  Then the fuel filter out was replaced and again the car produced 72 HP.

During dyno examination the fuel forc under load stayed constant between 43 and 45 psi, indicating a healthy fire pump.

Supported happening the above we felt that the fire injectors in the automobile was dirty and want cleanup. We removed the injector and menstruate test them. The results were as follows 156, 168, 180 and 172 cc/Amoy.

Fuel Injector Cleansing agent

The first cleaning method acting we wanted to test was Fire Injector Cleaner. Also known as injector cleansing additives. This type cleaner is poured into the fuel armored combat vehicle and mix with the fuel. The injectors were reinstalled without cleaning them. The fuel tank car was drained. A quality brand name fuel shot cleaner was assorted to the exact manufacturers specification with 5 gallons of fresh fuel then pored in the fuel tank. Cost for the injector cleaner was $12.50. Within few minutes subsequently start-rising it was detected that the railway locomotive started to prevail a little rougher.

This time the car would only produce 63 HP connected the first dyno pull out but could not realized a second dyno rip because the engine bogged land and started to dud badly. The AFR went lean indicating an AFR of 17:1 and up.

Now the railway locomotive would not maintain unprofitable and had to be kept alive by way of additional throttle input.

The fuel injector were removed and flow tested. This time the injectors flowed 128, 162, 136 and 122. In addition, two of the injectors was now leaking.

Conclusion:

The injector cleaner loosen dirt in the fuel line and rail and partially clogged the injectors.

Injector cleaners might follow inexpensive but be elaborate because their use can stimulate disastrous consequences.

Fuel Rail Induced Injector Cleansing agent

We re-installed the injectors without cleanup them. This time we used fuel rail induced alto pressure injector cleaner. Cost at a dealer or an auto fix-it shop for doing this routine would vary between $225.00 and $350.00. After the process the engine just managed to run without additional stimulus but as soon as the choke was touched the engine would die. Protrusive became ambitious and a fuel smell was discernible during cranking.

Needless to enunciat that strapping the car down on the dyno was a languish of time.

Injector stream examination discovered 142, 154, 146 and 128 but now all 4 injectors are leaking.  We noticed that cardinal of the injectors now has damaged filter baskets. We removed the rest of the tumble-down filter baskets from the injectors and proceeded to back flush them.  Apart from the normal dirt expected, filter basket material was present in the debris. We again leak tested the two injectors that we back flushed. Menstruum went stake astir to 168 and 180 and this time they were not leaking.

Conclusion:

The rail induced injection cleaning procedure damaged the filter baskets on some of the injectors. Chunks of debris was forced past the filter baskets on around injectors and some chunks was loosen from the pintle shafts. Those pieces was too big to pass through the pintle and rear end, and lodge itself between the pintle and seat causation the injector to leak. On the other injectors debris and percolate basket material lodge itself  'tween the pintle seats. Precisely what we told the dealer is occurrent when they do their cleaning process.

DIY Injector Cleaning

Non to go with step the proponents of the DIY cleaning process we rigged skyward a 12 volt auto battery with a advertise type along of switch, a syringe with carburettor dry cleaner and followed the procedure as described in some of the YouTube videos. To make sure that we do a "complete job" we repeated the process 5 times per injector so hindmost to the flow bench. The results 172, 174, 180 and 174 200/Fukkianese. We saw a smallish improvement from the original flow trial run. Information technology was minor and not enough to countenance additional dyno time.

Conclusion:

It is our opinion that the DIY fuel injection cleaning methods mightiness remove some loose debris but because the actualized cleaning disposable does not stay in contact with the inside injector components for any extended period it cannot dissolve or untie the tempered on hydrocarbons or temper shellac.

Ultrasonic Injector Cleaning Method

Finally the fuel injector were follow through a full ultrasonic fire injector cleaning process. This injector cleaning method requires about 45 – 60 minutes in the ultrasonic bath. Afterwards  the injectors was flow tested and this time the results was 192, 192, 194 and 192. New filter baskets and O-rings was installed. The injectors was installed using PTFE O-ring grease on the O-rings on both the multiple and fuel rails side.

The gas tank was dead and 5 gallons of new-made tout was added and again we installed a unexampled fuel filter.  The engine fired finished immediate and ran satiny. Gun response was good with no misfires. Free revving produced No misfires. Air to fire ratios (AFR) stayed within 14.2: 1 – 14.9:1

The vehicle produced 87 HP on the dyno and AFR's stayed within an acceptable range during full power loads.

Once again we drained totally the gas and Re added exactly 10 gallons of fresh gas. We proceeded to complete the exact itinerant and city trip out we did in the beginning. This time we utilised 5.1 gallons of gas thus recording an average fuel consumption of 20.13 MPG. A fuel uptake decrees of 80%.

Decision.

Although fuel injection system dry cleaners are cheap and "might" work, extra precaution should be taken especially when used on older fuel systems. We commend fuel fuel injection system cleaners for maintenance point and a precautionary solution happening newer cars quite than a solution to cleanup fuel injectors.

Based connected our test on the above vehicle and subsequent newer models, a whole new range of variables are introduced when exploitation higher pressure fuel rail induced injector cleaner.  Some of these variables can have costly result. It is expensive and we do non commend its use on older fire systems. We also caution its use in newer fire systems.

Treated away our "injector cleaning  steps" equivalence run we belief that ultrasonic cleanup of the injectors when removed from the locomotive engine delivers not only the best results but information technology is the only method that bathroom actually guaranty a better result.