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Home built injector cleaner...

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Old 01-21-2003, 05:51 PM
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Home built injector cleaner...

Well I decided to clean my injectors today and rigged up a quick and extremely effective way of cleaning the injectors. first get a can of fix-a-flat and some brake cleaner (or cleaner of your choice). The fix-a flat is only needed for the spray nozzle so....take it off and put it on the can of cleaner. Cut off the screw-on valve stem thing at the end of the clear tube and enlarge that same end of tube a little by putting a pair of needle nose pliers in there and spreading them apart for a few minutes. next I got some slide terminals crimped on the end of some wire (I squeezed the terminals by the sides to kind of V shape them so they would contact the terminals in the injector -Hopefully this shows up in the photos). Wiggle the end of the stretched tube over the end of the injector and tie it off somehow because it will blow off . I used a twist tie. Hook up only one wire to the battery and tap the other wire on the other post while spraying the can of cleaner. Presto!...clean injectors! My car fired right up afterward instead of turning over about 20 times first. And no stumbling while driving during warm-up. You'd be amazed at the spray pattern before and after. My injectors had 120,000 on them.
Hope this helps someone out who is on a budget like me!
Attached Thumbnails Home built injector cleaner...-im000505.jpg  
Old 01-21-2003, 05:52 PM
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more pics
Attached Thumbnails Home built injector cleaner...-im000502.jpg  
Old 01-21-2003, 07:43 PM
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Car: 1986 Irocz
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 700R4
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:hail: Great post!!! I will remember that one.
Did you try backflushing the injectors like the cleaning machines do? I should work the same way except reverse the injector right?

p.s. how many volts is that battery?
Old 01-21-2003, 07:52 PM
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Dude, that is pure genius...

Had you posted a couple of weeks ago I would have done this to mine instead of swapping to F0rd units. Then again, they are new so I could clean the 22s that came out of the Pontiac and put the 19s in the other car... Man, you opened up some possibilities for me there. Thanks a ton.

Peace,

K
Old 01-21-2003, 07:53 PM
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Hmmm...never thought about back flushing. Great idea though and I would have done it too -had I known about it. Drat! The battery was a small motorcycle battery -12V I think.
Old 01-21-2003, 07:59 PM
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Is this a safe way to clean the injectors, like it won't damage them or anything? I love it but I'd wait to see what the experts say first. Do the injectors need to be flowmatched too? (How much does flowmatching cost?)
Old 01-21-2003, 08:08 PM
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Well, it didnt seem to hurt mine -and dont think I went easy on it after I put it back together either...heh heh. I dont know exactly how many volts or how much current is going to the injectors in the harness so I just used what I had. Im sure there is a better/safer way but this is a general Idea of how to go about it.
Old 01-21-2003, 08:11 PM
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who are the experts???

looks like it worked, so there is no opinion...it works
Old 01-21-2003, 09:25 PM
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Well, I have an injector cleaner that I paid alot of money for that is a real fancy way of going about doing what you did.

Nice ingenuity.

Just be sure to tap quickly, you can burn the coils out real fast. The one I have has a set pulse width of 5ms but you can control pulses from 1 to 100 pulses per second.

One other thing you should do is to spray you cleaner through then let the cleaner sit inside the injector for a little bit then spray it again. As the cleaner sits inside the injector is gets a chance to soak in and break down any crap that has collected.

I see nothing wrong with your setup except for the amount of time the injector is held ON as you tap the wire on the battery. Like I said, just tap quickly and you should be fine.
Old 01-21-2003, 11:46 PM
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yea, no crap. on time is very important, nice idea, but injectors cant be held"on" for very long without burning up.
Old 01-22-2003, 08:08 AM
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Of course, it always helps to remove the inlet screens first, then flush both ways, then meter the discharge rate, then install new screens and 'O' rings. You might also want to make sure that teh solvent in Brakleen doesn't also dissolve the insulating varnish on the solenoid coils. I guess you'll find out in a month or two anyway.
Old 01-24-2003, 06:08 PM
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I would also reccomend not leaving the injector energized for very long , could burn up the coils . just my first thought.
Old 01-29-2003, 12:56 AM
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talk about your ingenuity! That is very cool...Say Recluse- could you maybe show us in your next post, how to build a bomb out of toothpicks and brake fluid??

What would be a "safe" fluid to use to clean your injectors?
Would Gumout® Carb-Cleaner be ok?
Old 01-29-2003, 10:23 AM
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Try to avoid anything with methanol or isopropyl alcohol with Multec injectors, since the varnish/enamel used to insulate the solenoid coil magnet wire won't withstand it. Hydrazine or chlorofluoroethane would also work nicely. Trichloroethane would be great, but try finding it in an aerosol...
Old 01-29-2003, 11:46 AM
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Anybody got any brand names to go along with those chemical compositions? Which ones to buy, which ones to avoid? Starring at a can of carb or brake cleaner reminds me of reading the side of a a food container to count points for Weight Watchers...

"Hummmmmmmmm, this brake clean has two grams of fat, 300 calories, and two dietary fibers... The injectors should be fine...":lala:
Old 01-29-2003, 05:38 PM
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Originally posted by Vader
Of course, it always helps to remove the inlet screens first, then flush both ways, then meter the discharge rate, then install new screens and 'O' rings. You might also want to make sure that teh solvent in Brakleen doesn't also dissolve the insulating varnish on the solenoid coils. I guess you'll find out in a month or two anyway.

so what ur saying is everyone should send their injectors to Rich at Cruzin performance..

hehe at least that is what i recomend. that way u know how ur injectors are working and aren't riskign anything. but then again if u have Multec he won't clean them, so u are stuck with ur method. even though Naps does have a kit that you hook up a can on injector cleaner to ur fuel rail and run ur car off of that until the can runs out.. simular to the brake clean idea, except probably alot safer and better for ur injectors
Old 01-29-2003, 06:09 PM
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Engine: 5.7L EFI LTR setup
Transmission: T-5 World Class
I say ...... buy a " Pulse tester " and incorporate it into the circuit.

I have one of these ....... they are hooked to the batery . Then there is a lead on the other side of the meter that has a conector on it that hooks up to the injector ( done individually) . It powers up the injector and pulses it at single pulse ( manual ) 40 pulses / sec and, Wide open throttle ( 100 / pulses /sec)

I am sure this device was designed ( electrically ) to pulse that injector in a safe manor .

....just my two cents .......:hail:
btw nice FRIGGEN idea :rockon: I will use it
Old 01-30-2003, 04:45 AM
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I'm no electrician, but there's a 10amp fuse going to each bank of injectors. I'm not so sure you should let those injectors pull in 12v. If you're set on this home cleaning method, I'd wire in the 10amp fuse.
Old 01-30-2003, 07:49 AM
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Car: 2008.5 Mazdaspeed 3 GT
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I went right out after work last night and got stuff to try it on my own. I wanted something a little more permanant though, so I set up part of an old fuel rail I have left over from a Ford Contour side bussiness that I had (same injector style basically). I used the nozzle from the tire inflator, a piece of 3/8" fuel line with hose clamps on each end, and connected the hose to a cut off portion of the fuel rail holding two injectors. Since I have some old wiring harnesses too, the injectors can be clipped right in (I wired up the Bosch rectangular clips as well as the newer Bosch oval clips and can fire newer style injectors from Mustangs/etc).

Now all I need is a firing switch or electrical timing circuit. I'm thinking either a press/on and release/off spring loaded return button or a set of timing diodes/resistors to give me a true pulse rate... Time to hit radioshack dot com!!!

Recluse, you're famous! I've seen this post linked on several other car sites, as well of two boards that I posted it on too. Great Idea!!! :hail:
Old 01-30-2003, 08:27 AM
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Originally posted by Vader
Try to avoid anything with methanol or isopropyl alcohol with Multec injectors, since the varnish/enamel used to insulate the solenoid coil magnet wire won't withstand it. Hydrazine or chlorofluoroethane would also work nicely. Trichloroethane would be great, but try finding it in an aerosol...
Try www.mcmelectronics.com look under chemicals, IIRC I saw a Trichlor aerosol cleaner. BW
Old 01-30-2003, 06:21 PM
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Originally posted by SATURN5
Try www.mcmelectronics.com look under chemicals, IIRC I saw a Trichlor aerosol cleaner. BW
:hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail:
80 Malibu Cpe Twin Eaton Supercharged TPI
T-10 4 speed, 9 inch rear/3:50 posi
12" impala front discs/spindles, 11" SVO discs rear
749 ECM with $58 code
Is it fast? I want to see this thing run sometime!
Old 01-30-2003, 07:19 PM
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Originally posted by ROC-Z
:hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail:


Is it fast? I want to see this thing run sometime!
Will find out this spring. Early garage testing has showed 12 psi of boost. Going to be fun having Grumpy riding shotgun, watching the WB-O2 and dataloging the 749. BW

Old 06-03-2004, 03:49 PM
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I did it myway........

I used a relay with a built in timer (set to 0,5 sek pulses) to be sure not to "burn" the injector.



Old 06-03-2004, 08:14 PM
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Rhydon, What are all those parts?? Can you describe the setup a little better?? My car is getting up there in miles, and it is not that I cannot afford to send the injectors away, it's that I cannot afford the time to send them out and get them back, so a home solution for cleaning them would be ideal...

Thanks
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