(This is a internal page of the JAGUAR FUEL INJECTOR SERVICE.com website)
I. OLD SCHOOL CLEANING
Prior to the development of today's off-the-vehicle fuel injector bench testing and cleaning, there were really only two methods employed to service fuel injectors.
A) Pour fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank.
B) Leave the fuel injection system on-the-vehicle and hook up cleaning equipment to the fuel system.
C) While not a "cleaning method", this method was and is still used...that is...throw away the old fuel injectors, and buy and install new ones.
Let's look at each of the three and evaluate the merits and disadvantages of each.
A) Pour fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank.
1) Merits
a) least complicated
b) least costly for the service and product
c) almost anyone can do it
2) Disadvantages
a) Potential damage to injector parts, the fuel system, engine, or exhaust system, from the "cleaning" chemical.
b) Inability to accurately determine the results, via visual inspection and actual measurement, potentially leading to other "trial and error" servicing, or "diagnosing", or costs.
B) "On- the-vehicle" fuel system cleaning.
1) Merits
a) Better cleaning success rate as cleaning chemical is not mixed or diluted with fuel.
2) Disadvantages
a) Potential damage to injector parts, the fuel system, engine, or exhaust system from the "cleaning" chemical.
b) Inability to accurately determine the results, via visual inspection and actual measurement, potentially leading to other "trial and error" servicing, or "diagnosing", or costs.
C) Throw the old away and buy new.
1) Merits
a) Greater success with new parts.
2) Disadvantages
a) High cost
b) If all injectors are not replaced, the replaced injector(s) may vary in performance from the non-replaced injectors, which continues to prevent optimum engine and emission performance.
II. STATE OF THE ART INJECTOR TESTING AND CLEANING.
As fuel prices around the world continued to climb higher and higher, while at the same time, world populations increased, and the number of petrol fueled engines increased, and also occuring were stricter requirements to lower vehicle exhaust emissions, it was apparent that new cleaning and servicing techniques needed to be developed.
The state of the art answer to fuel injector testing and cleaning came from Austrailia. The ASNU corporation, using the latest technology, developed and perfected a fuel injector flow bench tester/cleaner that would repeatedly and reliable test petrol fuel injectors.
The "ASNU-01" petrol flow bench machine, and the associated injector test methodology, now allows petrol fuel injectors to be visually inspected for spray pattern, quantitatively measured for flow volume, electrically checked, visually inspected for mechanical damage, and ultra-sonically cleaned.
1) The Merits
a) Each injector can now be visually inspected and compared to all other injectors in the set, for uniformity of spray pattern and atomization of fuel.
b) Each injector can now be quantitatively tested for proper cc flow volume across a wide range of simulated engine operating modes for conformance to specifictions, and injectors can be flow "balanced" within sets of injectors.
c) Each injector can now be "ultra-sonically" cleaned of "baked-on" fuel additives, such that injectors, in most cases, can be restored to as-new condition.
d) Because the bench testing and cleaning is off the vehicle, there is no potential for damage to the engine, the exhaust system, or other fuel system components.
e) Off the vehicle bench testing allows for injectors to be cleaned, or replaced, whereas other cleaning methods will not detect dirty injectors or injector failure, thus requiring (if possible) the engine ECU to attempt to balance fuel delivery via exhaust emission readings, received from the O2 sensor.
f) Before and after ultra-sonic cleaning test reports can be observed and compared.
g) Injector components (pintle caps, filters, o-rings, spacers, bushings and hoses) can be replaced .
h) The ultra-sonic cleaning method and the cleaning solution is environmentally friendly.
i) The ASNU cleaning method is substantially less costly than replacing "dirty" injectors
2) Disadvantages
a) Because bench testing requires removal of the injectors, the service is best performed during routine maintenance of the engine, or whenever injectors are suspect for poor engine performance or poor vehicle fuel economy.
b) Short term cleaning cost is higher than "bottled" cleaning, on par with in-the-vehicle" fuel system cleaning, but long term cost/benefit analysis exceeds any short term cleaning method.