Dirty fuel injectors can harm engine performance and increase emissions. The most effective method of cleaning them is to take the vehicle to a mechanic, but in-car cleaning can be done with caution. Adding cleaner to the fuel tank is the least effective method.
Fuel injectors in today’s automotive engines are among the most critical engine components. Keeping your fuel injectors clean keeps your engine running at peak power and performance, saves gasoline, and reduces harmful exhaust emissions.
Fuel injectors are typically compromised by dirty fuel and water contaminated fuel, leading to clogging and rust, respectively. You can clean the fuel injectors using one of three different methods. The least effective method involves adding cleaner directly to the vehicle’s fuel tank. The wide variation in product quality and the inability to qualitatively measure effectiveness means that this method is a stopgap measure at best.
The second method of cleaning fuel injectors is “in-car” injector cleaning. As this involves a fairly thorough mechanical knowledge, as well as working with pressurized, toxic and highly flammable materials, the in-car procedure for maintaining fuel injectors is not recommended for the faint of heart.
The last and most effective method of cleaning fuel injectors is to take the vehicle to a mechanic with the proper knowledge and equipment to clean and test the fuel injection system. Most often, for less than $40 per injector, the mechanic will remove the fuel injectors, clean the “off-car” injectors with an injector cleaning machine, and using the same machine, test the injectors to make sure they are correct. that they are working properly. If the injectors are found to be defective, the mechanic can replace the injectors. These new fuel injectors should be warranted, although this is an expensive alternative.
If you want to try the in-car method of cleaning fuel injectors, there are several steps you need to take to ensure safe and effective results. With the engine off and no sparks or open flames nearby, disconnect the necessary fuel lines, making sure the container is properly positioned to catch any fuel runoff from the lines. Then either disconnect the fuel pump, which can generate a fault code in the vehicle’s computer, or install a U-tube to separate the fuel from the engine and back into the tank while the cleaning process takes place.
Wearing eye protection, connect a pressurized container of cleaning solvent to the nozzles. Avoid skin contact with the solvent. Start the engine and allow the solvent to flow to the injectors. When the solvent has been adequately fed to the injectors, turn off the engine. Remove the cleaning apparatus and reconnect the fuel lines and the pump. Finally, take the vehicle for a test drive to determine the effectiveness of the cleaning and, if necessary, repeat the process to fully clean the fuel injectors.
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