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Fuel injector cleaning

T

tontod

Diamond Member
The mechanic I went to this morning said I needed to have my fuel injector cleaned, and I went ahead and did it for $79. The car was ~48,500 miles on it. Was it necessary at this mileage?
 
My first pair of injectors went bad at like 39,xxx and the next at 59,xxx.

Did you get one cleaned? or all 4/6/8?





ps: How teh hell do they really "clean" them?
 
This is the description:
Completely clean system of deposits, gum and varnish on the intake valves, fuel injectors, combustion chambers and throttle plate shaft.

Its for a 4-cylinder car.
 
gee i wonder how they get to the intake valves and combustion chamber without taking the engine apart. They wouldn't do that for $79. Maybe they just poured FI cleaner into your gas tank. In that case $79 is a tad overpriced.
 
Here's what you do, and it'll cost you less than $5:

1.) Go to an auto store and buy a bottle of valve cleaner that'll work with 20-30gal of fuel
2.) Now buy a bottle of fuel-injector cleaner

The next time you need gas, pour the valve cleaner in and then fillup. Run through atleast 3/4 of that tank and then repeat for the injector cleaner.

I do this about once every six months and my 351ci Chevy still has massive low-end torque after 73k miles. When I first heard about this, I couldn't imagine how well the valve cleaner works. My fuel economy went waaay up after the first treatment.

BTW - when you're running the cleaner, I wouldn't park on your nice clean driveway; park on the grass somewhere. What happens is you will have black crap drip out of your exhaust pipe; which I guess is carbon buildup that is being removed.
 
I've used those fuel injector cleaner bottles before. I havent used those in a while though, probably going to start using them again.
 
The mechanics typically use a much more concentrated FI cleaner than you can buy in the stores. The best way to keep 'em clean is to add FI cleaner evertime you get an oil change.
 


<< The mechanics typically use a much more concentrated FI cleaner than you can buy in the stores. The best way to keep 'em clean is to add FI cleaner evertime you get an oil change. >>



You want to know what they do? Unhook the fuel lines, get some tubing, attach one end to the injectors and drop the other end into the bottle. Then, crank on the engine for a bit and the injectors will suck up the cleaner. The FI will drink 100% concentrated cleaner.

That is exactly how I clean the valves on my motorcycle. I unhook the intake vacuum lines on each carb and split off tubing to each. I usually allow the bike's engine to run for 10min~ or so with the highly concentrated cleaner. It smokes so bad for that time period, it looks like I've gone and blown a seal; going through 1 bottle of cleaner in 10min is pretty concentrated. For the next week after that, I've seen some pretty nasty junk come out of the exhausts.
 
I've heard that removing your spark plugs and pouring some engine cleaner does wonders for cleaning your rings and valves, and spraying some FI cleaner into the throttle body (if you car has one) also does wonders for cleaning your TB, intake manifold and injectors.
 
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