Injector Maintenance
How your car burns fuel is key to performance,
fuel efficiency and engine life.
Often overlooked in maintenance programmes,
here’s why it’s so important to properly maintain fuel injectors.
Something doesn’t feel right..
After 50,000 to 100,000 kilometres you may have noticed a change in the feel or performance of your car:
However, there are no warning lights, so you assume that everything is fine. But those feelings are probably the first warning signs that all is not well under the hood.
The problem with fuel injectors.
Despite its sophistication, modern technology, onboard computers and power management systems, your vehicle is not equipped to analyze this particular issue - wear and tear in your fuel injectors.
One crucial factor in maintaining engine performance is fuel injector spray patterns.
In order to maintain optimum performance, injector systems should be stripped down, inspected and serviced every 2 to 5 years, or 50,000 or 100,000 kilometres, depending on the design of the injection system.
Why injector maintenance is so important
A healthy injector
A faulty injector
Why your engine management system (Ems) can't cope
The computers that manage the flow of fuel through the injectors, are very adept at accurately delivering tiny amounts of fuel in up to 1.5-50 milli-second bursts. All fuel injectors must accurately deliver fuel, for the engine to perform as promised when the car was brand new.
Poor atomization can cause:
If the wrong amount of fuel is delivered, this can cause rich or lean running, resulting in various forms of engine damage.
The EMS can only compensate for approximately a 15% variation from ideal. Beyond that variation, a warning light may illuminate on the dashboard. However, a lot of damage can be done to an engine before that point is reached.
When the EMS detects a weak or abnormal combustion, its response is to deliver more or less fuel, even though the correct amount of fuel may be delivered but in the wrong pattern. This compounds problems as now the cylinder may have excess fuel that causes carbon build-up, excess burning on the piston crown, bore wash, sticking of exhaust gas recirculation valves, and clogging or possible damage to the catalytic converter.
There's only one way to fix this, and we have it!
This is the world’s leading fuel injection service bench, which we have at The Garage.
In this test, only the number 3 injector is delivering the correct amount of fuel and performing properly. The other injectors have irregular spray patterns that reduce efficiency.
While there are sophisticated tools that enable a technician to identify a problem with the injectors when the engine is fully assembled and running:
- the spray pattern cannot be properly diagnosed, evaluated, measured or corrected while the injectors are in the engine
- the EMS cannot analyze spray patterns
The only way to check and rectify any of these problems is to:
- remove the fuel injectors
- use the special fuel injector bench tester and other tools that we have at The Garage
In this way:
- we can replicate and physically see any issues with injectors in a safe, low-pressure environment
- if there is a performance issue, we can identify faulty injectors and often partially rebuild and service them, rather than having to make costly replacements
Get your injectors tested now!
Every type of injection system has a recommended regular service interval. Find out what your vehicle-specific service interval is. If your vehicle has done more than 100,000 kilometers, we highly recommend this simple and effective procedure to protect your investment in your vehicle.
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Geoffrey w.
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The quality of service was amazing and they were able to provide some great information on how to best maintain my vehicle for many years to come. With no pressure on up selling specific services and having an honest mechanic keeping an eye out for any work I can claim under my warranty, I will definitely be going here from now on.
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Toyota RAV 4
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