How to Clean Fuel Injectors Without Removal on Your Car

Failed emissions, increased fuel consumption, and starting issues can be the potential symptoms your fuel injector is beginning to fail. But that doesn’t mean you have to replace these fuel injectors now and then; instead, you can clean them without for the better performance of your wheels.

If you aren’t aware of how to clean fuel injectors without removing them, you have landed at the right place. In this post, we will guide you on everything you need to know about fuel injectors and how to have them clean without any effort.

First, let’s look at some common signs you need to clean fuel injectors.

Signs Your Fuel Injector Needs Cleaning

There can be times when your car is acting up for unknown reasons. However, if you experience the symptoms below, understand that fuel injectors are the culprit here.

Bad Catalytic Converter

A hazardous catalytic converter is the most obvious sign that indicates your fuel injectors need cleaning. What happens here is when the fuel injectors are clogged up, it causes the vehicle to run on rich fuel.

Hence we can supply way more fuel to the combustion system than air. Eventually, this will disturb the overall air-fuel ratio, resulting in a bad catalytic converter. The fuel injectors will start to overheat and produce a rotten egg smell.

Bad Oxygen Sensor

Whenever your fuel injector clogs up with dirt, it cannot direct the proper flow of oxygen and fuel. As a result, excess energy might get dumped into the exhaust system, potentially harming the oxygen sensor. We can recognize this condition as having a particular rotten egg smell or black smoke from the exhaust.

Insufficient Power

Another important sign you need to clean fuel injectors is a decline in engine power. Spotting this gradual decrease in power might not be evident at first, but if you ever notice your car doesn’t have the right pace it used to, chances are you may be dealing with clogged fuel injectors.

Because of the lack of power, cylinders would be unable to fire up properly at high speeds. In this stance, a limited amount of fuel will be injected into the cylinders, eventually causing damage to your car’s engine.

Engine Shaking

A shaky engine is not something you must overlook. Rather, it is an obvious sign of misfiring. Whenever fuel injectors clog up with excess dirt, it causes imbalance, which can contribute to unnecessary engine movements.

This state is most prevalent when idling, and identifying the faulty fuel injector is straightforward by using a graphic tool. All in all, it is better to have all the fuel injectors cleaned up.

Hard Startling

If your vehicle is having difficulty getting started, this could potentially mean your fuel injector is stuck open. The fuel will spray onto the spark plugs and won’t ignite a spark to kick start the engine. The most common sign here would be difficulty in starting up your machine.

White Smoke Coming Out Of Muffler

The color of your engine’s smoke can tell much about your fuel injectors. Some of the most common smoke colors are either ash grey or white. If your car’s engine has been firing white smoke, you must clean out your fuel injector.

White smoke can result from your fuel injector getting stuck in an open position. Because of this, the fuel injector sprays way more gas than usual and will give you poor gas mileage. The condition can be dealt with by cleaning the fuel injector.

Vehicle Not Starting

There are times when your fuel injector would be stuck wide open. In this case, the spark plugs can go out of work due to fuel leakage. Because of this, the spark plugs won’t be able to spark to ignite the combustion. As a result, the engine won’t start, and cleaning the fuel injector would help.

Tools You Need To Clean A Fuel Injector

Some of the most basic tools you will need to clean fuel injectors are:

1.     A wrench set

2.     Fuel system cleaner

3.     Air compressor

4.     O-rings (optional)

5.     Fuel injector cleaning kit or fuel injector cleaner

For your safety purposes, make sure to have the following tools:

1.     Eye protection gear

2.     Facial mask

3.     Nitrile gloves

Check Out How to Clean Fuel Injectors in Your Car (Without Removal):

How To Clean A Fuel Injector At Home?

Here are some quick steps to clean fuel injectors without removing them.

1.    Lookout For The Fuel Rail

The fuel rail has the most important function: to supply fuel injectors with fuel. The location can vary among different vehicles. You can have some help from the car’s manual to find its place.

2.    Detach The Fuel Rail

Once you find the fuel rail on the fuel injector, detach it. Here you will come across an exposed hone that will be used for connecting the fuel injector cleaning kit.

3.    Fill In The Fuel Injector With A Cleaning Solution

Remove the cap on the top of the fuel injector and pour in the cleaning solution.

4.    Attach The Cleaning Kit To The Hose

Please make sure the cleaning kit hangs on the hood and remains on the engine’s top.

5.    Join The Outlet Pipe To The Fuel Rail

As soon as the cleaning kit is hung, you must attach the outlet pipe to the exposed fuel rail. You can find different connectors in the cleaning kit. Use the connector that fits your fuel rail and conclude this step by attaching the cleaning kit.

6.    Remove The Fuel Pump

First, turn off the fuel pump relay by removing your fuse box. Ensure there is no engine fuel supply while the cleaning process is going on. It is better to rely on your car’s manual to find a fuel pump relay, as many relays look alike.

7.    Attach The Air Compressor To The Fuel Injector Cleaning Tool

Connect the air compressor to the air inlet of the fuel injector cleaning tool and set the pressure to 450 PSI. An Air compressor will help to push the cleaning fluid into the fuel rail using air.

8.    Start Up Your Vehicle

Please turn on your vehicle and have it running until there is no more cleaning fluid left in the kit. When the cleaning kit doesn’t have any fluid, turn off your vehicle and detach the cleaning kit.

9.    Install The Pump Relay

Reinstall the fuel pump relay and reconnect the fuel rail hose to the fuel injectors. And that’s it; your fuel injectors without removal are all clean!

How To Keep Your Fuel Injectors Clean?

To have your fuel injectors clean, do the following:

1.     Have regular drives to ensure your fuel injectors remain clean.

2.     Don’t go for cheap detergent fuels; instead, use top-tier detergent fuels.

3.     Every 5,000 miles, use an in-tank fuel injector cleaner.

FAQs

Final Considerations

If you want your vehicle to perform the best, it is important to look after every part. Cleaning fuel injectors might not be considered a daily ritual. However, it is important to clean them up once in a while so as not to let them clog up over time.

Hopefully, now you know how to clean fuel injectors without removing them, so you don’t have to pay big bucks for servicing them once in a while.