Dirty fuel injectors may cause your vehicle's engine to misfire. This problem makes the motor feel as though it is sputtering — sending vibrations through the car. Such misfires can happen when a fuel injector problem mixes up the delicate balance between fuel and air entering the engine.
A clogged injector is not a safety concern, but it does starve the vehicle causing it to run poorly. Prolonged fuel starvation can lead to internal engine damage or damage to the catalytic converter. Fuel injectors can be inspected and tested to determine if they should be replaced or cleaned.
While there are a few reasons air-fuel mixture may be rich, clogged fuel injectors often cause lean mixtures. To remove carbon and other types of buildup from your vehicle's fuel injectors, you must use a high-quality injector cleaner. There are hundreds of cleaners on the market today.
Age and condition – if the injectors are old or worn out, a clean may not be enough to restore performance and could do more damage. Severe clogging may mean they need to be replaced anyway. Costs – cleaning fuel injectors is cheaper than replacing them.
According to Angie's List, the average cost of a fuel injector cleaning ranges between $50 and $80. However, these figures could be a bit higher, depending on the make and model of your vehicle. In addition, you may be assessed a fee of around $50 if your fuel filter needs to be replaced.
Fuel Injector Cleaner Benefits
In short, when used regularly, fuel cleaners work. They can help remove harmful deposits, prevent new deposits from forming, and enhance vehicle performance. Fuel additives can improve gas mileage, reduce long-term maintenance costs, and they're affordable.
Generally, replacing fuel injectors can cost anywhere from $800 to $1500 depending on the repairs and labor costs. New fuel injector parts can cost anywhere between $600-$1200. To that, expect to pay about $200-$250 in labor charges. However, note that you don't always need to replace the fuel injector.
The most common fault codes associated with a clogged fuel injector are P0171 and P0174, which indicates the engine controller is seeing a lean condition. It is also possible to see fault codes for a rich condition if the injector is leaking or not atomizing correctly.
If you happen to hear a rough idling voice, then it is a sign that the fuel injector is bad and it is not delivering the necessary fuel to the engine. Also, a fuel injector normally makes a ticking sound when it works, if you fail to hear that sound, you might have a bad fuel injector.
"Fuel injectors have an atomizing nozzle that distributes fuel evenly for optimal combustion and efficiency." Now, a vehicle will typically have one fuel injector per cylinder, with a lifespan of between 50,000 and 100,000 miles, or about 80,000 and 160,000 kilometers.
During this auto service appointment, our techs will flush out your fuel injectors and fuel system with special chemicals. This will remove the dirt, debris, and other buildup that's accumulated in the system and also get rid of any corrosion that may be there.
Your engine fuel injectors can collect grime, dirt, and soot leading to an air-fuel mixture imbalance for your car. When this happens, you may notice poor performance, rough idling, and inconsistent gas mileage over time.
This can make your engine perform better and also helps to prevent rust and corrosion in the engine in conjunction with other cleaning additives. Experts have noted that incidences of engine misfiring can also be prevented by using fuel injector cleaner.
This fuel mixes with air, and then a spark is added and BOOM, combustion. An “injector service” is nothing more than running some cleaning fluid (called “fuel injector cleaner”) thru your injectors. The fluid that dealerships will use is the same stuff you can buy yourself and your local auto parts store.
Although there are many products such as injection cleaning additives that claim it can clean or unclog a clogged fuel injector while it is in the engine, they cannot. For any of these products to work they actually have to get inside the injector.
Fuel injectors should be cleaned at least once every 36 months, or 45,000 miles. Replacing weak or worn-out engine parts without improving performance is not a good idea in general. However, cleaning out dirty injectors may gain a different perspective on engine health.
In order to keep your fuel injection system in optimal condition, a fuel injection service is recommended about every 45,000 miles or every three years.
Depending on the engine and your skill level, it can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes. It requires hooking up a pressurized fuel cleaner to the engine's fuel rail and running it through at the recommended psi until the injectors are clean.
On older cars, fuel additives will likely improve your engine's performance because older vehicles tend to have more gunk that builds up in the fuel injectors. Additives can help clean out those deposits and prevent expensive car maintenance down the road.
Listening Test
While the engine runs, put the tip of a long metal screwdriver against one of the fuel injectors. Lean in and put your ear on the handle of the screwdriver. A clicking sound indicates a good injector. If you don't hear anything, the injector may need to be cleaned or replaced.