signcrafter
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 9, 2012
- Messages
- 12,356
First let me say that this isn't a "professional" fuel injector cleaning. It's my DIY cleaning using what I had. But it's probably about as close to rebuilding them yourself as you can get. I did this because I don't have the money to send them out to be done right now and it was almost free for me. So please don't tell me that this won't work or isn't the right way but I will gladly take any constructive criticism or advice. I rebuilt my 5.4 engine for my truck and am in the process of putting it back in. The engine has been out of the truck for about 7-8 years now so the injectors have been just laying around and they were pretty dirty.
I did a LOT of searching online and found all sorts of different info about cleaning them, from how they're cleaned professionally to all sorts of DIY methods. Lots of youtube videos out there on various methods also. After all the research I came across this is the method I decided would work best for me.
The first thing I did was just throw them in the ultrasonic cleaner with some degreaser to clean them up a little. I don't have a picture of the after but the bluish colored degreaser turned brownish black after a few minutes in the cleaner. This was just to get the gunk off them before cleaning the insides.
After most of the gunk was off of them I stripped them down. I pulled the filters out of them. There were various methods of this I found online and they make a tool to do this but it's pretty expensive unless you are doing this everyday. One way was a small slide hammer with a screw adapter screwed into the filter. The basic concept is to take a sheet metal or machine screw that will screw into the filter and grab it without being to big to cause damage to the injector. I got the idea to cut the head off the screw and use a tap T handle to try and pull it out. This way worked really good.
I also took the old O-rings off with a pick. Then took the pintle cap or hat off. It's just a plastic cap. My first attempt didn't go so well! I tried using a pick and pliers to rip it off and damaged the metal pintle. So I had to get another injector from the junk yard. That could be a thread in itself. I took a multimeter with me to ohm out the injector and picked up 3 spares that ohmed out good so if one didn't spray good I could pick a different one. Back to taking off the pintle cap. The best way to do this is to use a razor. Make two cuts on the sides opposite of each other so the cap splits and will come off. If needed you can also use a heat gun to soften the plastic.
Now that they are stripped down I put them in the ultrasonic cleaner again to clean the insides. To do this I made a metal plate to hold all eight injectors. I found some sheet metal from a microwave I scrapped a while back. Laid everything out and drilled some pilot holes for the knockout punches. Then used this hydraulic knockout punch I bought used a few years back on craigslist. I don't use it much but it sure is nice to have when I need it. Leaves nice clean holes. Cut the holes and then bent the metal up so it would sit nice in the ultrasonic cleaner.
Now the real fun begins! I put some carb and injector cleaner in the ultrasonic cleaner. Put the injectors in the plate in the cleaner and started to clean them. Obviously this will only clean the outsides until you activate or pulse the injectors to get the cleaner in them. So ran some wires with alligator clips to the injectors and hooked them all up. I have a 12V power supply that I used to pulse them. To pulse them I just touched the negative wire from the injectors to the negative post on the power supply. I picked up a couple of injector wire harnesses from the junk yard while I was there and need to go back and get some more to make a nicer wiring harness so I don't have a ton of wires strung all over. I also found this site where the guy made an automatic pulser, http://www.dinofab.com/fuel_injector_tester.html. I would like to do this also so I can just push a button and have the injectors pulse. Would be almost professional then! But I'm not that good with electronics when it comes to all those small parts like resistors and capacitors and diodes and whatnot. So that will have to wait until I figure that out or get some help on that from someone.
I decided to try and pressurize the injectors with some cleaner while pulsing them. I did this with my mityvac hand pump. I used a piece of fuel line hose that fit over the injector good. Then adapted that to the mityvac hose. I had to kind of hold things together while under pressure. First I sucked some cleaner up thru the injector using the mityvac on vacuum. Then I switched it to pressure and ran the cleaner thru the injector normally. It would be nice to build something that I don't have to hold together but that will be down the road.
I have to order a rebuild kit that comes with new O-rings, filters, spacers, and pintle caps to put these back together and be able to use them. To put the filters in you just tap them in until flush. The pintle caps you gentle heat up with a heat gun and press it on. The best way I saw was to drill a hole in a sheet of plexiglass the size of the cap so the "rim" sits on the plexiglass so you can press the injector into it.
It's still a work in progress. I would like to eventually get a wiring harness made up and also a way to pressurized them to run cleaner thru them. I'm thinking about getting a fuel rail from the junkyard to do this. Also would like to set up a test flow bench with some graduated cylinders and a timed pulser so I can measure the output and see the spray pattern better.
Once again my goal was to clean these the best I could at home without spending the 150-200 bucks to send them out for a professional cleaning. I think I accomplished this goal.
I did a LOT of searching online and found all sorts of different info about cleaning them, from how they're cleaned professionally to all sorts of DIY methods. Lots of youtube videos out there on various methods also. After all the research I came across this is the method I decided would work best for me.
The first thing I did was just throw them in the ultrasonic cleaner with some degreaser to clean them up a little. I don't have a picture of the after but the bluish colored degreaser turned brownish black after a few minutes in the cleaner. This was just to get the gunk off them before cleaning the insides.
After most of the gunk was off of them I stripped them down. I pulled the filters out of them. There were various methods of this I found online and they make a tool to do this but it's pretty expensive unless you are doing this everyday. One way was a small slide hammer with a screw adapter screwed into the filter. The basic concept is to take a sheet metal or machine screw that will screw into the filter and grab it without being to big to cause damage to the injector. I got the idea to cut the head off the screw and use a tap T handle to try and pull it out. This way worked really good.
I also took the old O-rings off with a pick. Then took the pintle cap or hat off. It's just a plastic cap. My first attempt didn't go so well! I tried using a pick and pliers to rip it off and damaged the metal pintle. So I had to get another injector from the junk yard. That could be a thread in itself. I took a multimeter with me to ohm out the injector and picked up 3 spares that ohmed out good so if one didn't spray good I could pick a different one. Back to taking off the pintle cap. The best way to do this is to use a razor. Make two cuts on the sides opposite of each other so the cap splits and will come off. If needed you can also use a heat gun to soften the plastic.
Now that they are stripped down I put them in the ultrasonic cleaner again to clean the insides. To do this I made a metal plate to hold all eight injectors. I found some sheet metal from a microwave I scrapped a while back. Laid everything out and drilled some pilot holes for the knockout punches. Then used this hydraulic knockout punch I bought used a few years back on craigslist. I don't use it much but it sure is nice to have when I need it. Leaves nice clean holes. Cut the holes and then bent the metal up so it would sit nice in the ultrasonic cleaner.
Now the real fun begins! I put some carb and injector cleaner in the ultrasonic cleaner. Put the injectors in the plate in the cleaner and started to clean them. Obviously this will only clean the outsides until you activate or pulse the injectors to get the cleaner in them. So ran some wires with alligator clips to the injectors and hooked them all up. I have a 12V power supply that I used to pulse them. To pulse them I just touched the negative wire from the injectors to the negative post on the power supply. I picked up a couple of injector wire harnesses from the junk yard while I was there and need to go back and get some more to make a nicer wiring harness so I don't have a ton of wires strung all over. I also found this site where the guy made an automatic pulser, http://www.dinofab.com/fuel_injector_tester.html. I would like to do this also so I can just push a button and have the injectors pulse. Would be almost professional then! But I'm not that good with electronics when it comes to all those small parts like resistors and capacitors and diodes and whatnot. So that will have to wait until I figure that out or get some help on that from someone.
I decided to try and pressurize the injectors with some cleaner while pulsing them. I did this with my mityvac hand pump. I used a piece of fuel line hose that fit over the injector good. Then adapted that to the mityvac hose. I had to kind of hold things together while under pressure. First I sucked some cleaner up thru the injector using the mityvac on vacuum. Then I switched it to pressure and ran the cleaner thru the injector normally. It would be nice to build something that I don't have to hold together but that will be down the road.
I have to order a rebuild kit that comes with new O-rings, filters, spacers, and pintle caps to put these back together and be able to use them. To put the filters in you just tap them in until flush. The pintle caps you gentle heat up with a heat gun and press it on. The best way I saw was to drill a hole in a sheet of plexiglass the size of the cap so the "rim" sits on the plexiglass so you can press the injector into it.
It's still a work in progress. I would like to eventually get a wiring harness made up and also a way to pressurized them to run cleaner thru them. I'm thinking about getting a fuel rail from the junkyard to do this. Also would like to set up a test flow bench with some graduated cylinders and a timed pulser so I can measure the output and see the spray pattern better.
Once again my goal was to clean these the best I could at home without spending the 150-200 bucks to send them out for a professional cleaning. I think I accomplished this goal.