Fuel injector cleaning services - worth it?

In reply to viccath5:

You must not buy cars that have sat in a field for ten years. The rust circulating through the system will clog up the injectors, and everything else.

nicksta43 wrote: In reply to viccath5: You must not buy cars that have sat in a field for ten years. The rust circulating through the system will clog up the injectors, and everything else.

I'll bet that is fun to work out the problems!

Marren here too, and they're ten miles from me

Is there a rule of thumb for injector service, as in mileage or particularly age?

Ex: '05 S197, 48K miles, parked winters (4-5 months). No idling or drivability problems. While low mileage, it is going on 10 years old. Fuel treatment, rail type flush or? I doubt it would require Marren.

Normally I decline the dealer service on newer/ low mileage vehicles as them just selling up services but at ten years old it's something I could consider.

yup. my dailys both are north of 150k. wondering if im leaving drivability and mpg on the table.

no problems. no symptoms. I run seafom through at every oil change.

so, in my case, would it make a difference?

I like grassroots solutions as much as the next guy, but are you guy serious?

"I dumped some stuff I bought from AutoZone in the tank, and it sure felt faster" is no where close to the proven and measurable results you will get from a a real cleaning service with proper bench testing capabilities.

Somehow a DIY solution that requires $100 worth of parts and a week's worth of effort building a firing system is a poor second best to paying a professional the same $100 to do the job right.

I try to pick and choose when the most appropriate times are for DIY solutions. This isn't one of them.

44Dwwarf is the only guy in this thread with measurable results, which are off-the-charts incredible.

Sea Foam is nice, but there is no way you are going to get the kind of results he described.

I used graduated cylinders and measured rate and flow as well as went from a drip to a nice spray pattern. All of it was verified in spec via the factory service manual. So with all do respect F.O.

nicksta43 wrote: I used graduated cylinders and measured rate and flow as well as went from a drip to a nice spray pattern. All of it was verified in spec via the factory service manual. So with all do respect F.O.

Well, that's very nice, but you didn't say a word about it before this, so with all due respect, you can keep your "due respect".

Based on what was posted in this thread, INCLUDING what you said, I stand completely on what I said.

If you would like to share nice DIY testing procedures, feel free. That would be terrific. If you'd just like to come here to tell people to F.O., it won't impress.

I basically followed this procedure;

(It's a bit difficult to explain my home method without pics, but I'll give it a try.

Stuff needed: 1) tiny air compressor (capable of 60psi) with a guage. 2) plastic air compressor hose, and fittings to fit the rubber hoses. 3) about 6" length of 1/4", 5/16", and 3/8" clean, rubber fuel injection hoses. 4) four hose clamps that will fit all the above hoses. 5) copper wire strand (removed from stranded 18g electrical wire). 6) solvent - preferably carb cleaner (I used wd40 since it's less flamable). 7) eye goggles, fire extinguisher , rags and good, clean plastic jug. 8) a few good fingernails.

You can jump right into backflushing, OR - test the spray patterns before disconnecting the fuel lines, just so you have an idea of what their condition is. If they don't make a fog of fuel - they are dirty (ie: just pissing, or dripping when the pressurized afm plate is lifted)... I used the clear plastic jug for this, with caution not to spray fuel on ignition, or electrical systems.

BE GENTLE WITH RUBBER HOSES - and do net let any rubber particles get in the injectors. If you suspect any - back flush again.

OK - with the injectors removed; 1) GENTLY use a finger nail to pull the injector valve enough to wrap the copper wire strand, to hold the valve open a little, give the wire one twist, leaving enough length for the rubber hose to secure it against the injector tube when hose clamp is applied. Fingernails and copper are used to NOT scratch the valve on the injector.

2) slip hose over the wire and injector tube, secure the hose/wire to the injector with one, or two hose clamps.

3) fill hose with solvent, connect compressed air (low pressure first - to make sure hose is secure).

4) blow that solvent through - monitor the crap that comes out. Do it a dozen times if you have to.

5) remove the copper wire, and hook the hose to the inlet side of the injector. Fill the hose with solvent, blow that stuff through at 60 psi, and monitor the spray(fog) pattern. If not good - backflush again.

I'll try to do a sketch of the copper wire, I'll post it in a few minutes...)

As posted here.

I don't remember the specs call for in the FSM but is specified a certain amount of fuel over a certain amount of time. I had all that stuff logged and wrote down but I got rid of it when I sold the car.

I apologies for the F.O., I've been in a very bad mood recently.

I did bring four injectors back into factory spec and got a car that hadn't ran for several years back on the road by cleaning the injectors myself. I'll give you that these have more in common with a garden hose spray nozzle than an electric fuel injector but still the result are the same.

I've used Cruzin' Performance to have mine cleaned before. What I liked about it was it gave the before & after specs. Surprisingly, my injectors were in pretty good shape (200k 1986 Rx-7 in 2006), but that car never really sat much. I'm probably going to send in my 1988 Rx-7's injectors soon, as that car has sat for the past 5 years or so.

Zombie canoe

Hey, screw it, necrothread and all, I'm going to poach it.

Hive, I have a '15 Mazda CX5 and apparently part of the scheduled maintenance is to do an injector cleaning at 30k or 35k.

To me that seems a bit premature. What say you?

Whose scheduled maintenance? The dealer's "schedule" or Mazda's OEM schedule?

Good question, I'll have to check. I wonder if I can find it online or if I need to open a book (eww, how archaic)

Edit, that didn't take long. Mazda has an easy to find/use documentation portal: https://www.mymazda.com/MusaWeb/displayManualsByModelAndYearHome.action

Aint that some E36 M3. No mention at all about injector cleaning. Yet another reason dealerships deserve their bad rep. Thanks for the heads up!