Fuel Injector Overhaul

[Smitherz]

My injectors were in horrible shape when I took them out. The pintel caps were all cracked and not suitable to use under any circumstances. I looked through many sources for replacement parts and they are super hard to source. Even if you do find the grommets they are expensive. I gave up and decided to send them to a professional seeing how they are vital to the engines performance. I was worried about how well they would work because they are so old so I definitely wanted to get a professional opinion and a proper cleaning. I was pretty weary of who to send them to because I've seen people charge $40 a piece just to clean them... and then they take a couple weeks and you don't have any proof that they even did anything.

I read a post from a person that had a rough idle in his Tundra I-Force and no one could figure it out. So he took out his injectors on his own and sent them in. His truck was only 4 years old. He sent them to Witchhunter and all his problems were solved. After seeing his printout from his relatively new injectors I knew I had to send mine in for sure.

After a lot of searching around for a professional and reputable fuel injector business I found the best in the business - Witchhunter Performance.
I spoke with the owner, Gordon, about what I needed before I sent them in. He assured me that they would be serviced correctly and all the grommets, o-rings and pintel caps would be replaced without any worries. He had all the information on the website to explain exactly how and where they are to be packaged and shipped. He even has tips on injector performance and how you can help them stay cleaner longer. Make sure and give his website a read. I have never seen as much specific information on a website and no mechanic I have talked to knows injectors well at all.

http://witchhunter.com/

I sent my injectors in on the 15th of this December by USPS priority mail and they arrived back to me yesterday December 23 by USPS. Not bad! On the shipping invoice he shows record of the arrival date as well as the date the injectors are shipped. Also noted on the invoice was the comment, "Turned out good, were in bad shape upon arrival". :biggrin: Both true. The total for my 8 injectors being cleaned with new rubber was only $127.50 which is an amazing deal in my book.

I have no doubt in my mind that the engine will run better after this cleaning. This is probably the cheapest way to improve engine performance. Here are my results:



A big thanks to Gordon over at Witchhunter.:biggthumpup:

 

[Smitherz]

Here is a shot of what I was faced with when I removed the injectors from the manifold. I probably spent $60 getting the set of rubber grommets but when it came time to source the pintel caps (the destroyed plastic tips you see) I hit a brick wall. I'm sure Lexus would have wanter $6 a pop for them or something rediculous like that.

Nasty!!! :crazy:

 

[Lextreme II]

Nice work Smith... I use www.theinjectorperfector.net Jim is a great guy too.

 

[Smitherz]

Yeah it's hard to find people that know exactly what they are doing on the subject. I should have just asked you and saved myself some time now that I think about it. at:

 

[Smitherz]

Here is a nice shot of one of the injectors all tuned up and ready to install.

 

[Lextreme II]

Nice... and clean... so 50010 is about 240 cc/min.

 

[Smitherz]

Nice and efficient. I don't need anything crazy running premium in this baby. I'm going to put some miles on this sucker.

 

[Terry in Va Beach]

1990 LS 400 with 212K miles

My Lexus idles super low and it runs a bit rough until it warms up in cold weather. As I have never had the injectors cleaned, perhaps they are due. No mechanic has ever suggested sending them out for cleaning.

 

[Smitherz]

I also drive an Acura that I've recently replaced all sorts of ignition parts on and it still has a slight stumble at idle sometimes. I'm sure it will dissapear when I have those injectors cleaned. I was told by a mechanic who's up on his stuff that the manifold seals also need to be functioning properly or puddling might occur which really screws with the fuel delivery. If/when the pintel caps crack this can allow some air to get by. This obviously could have been happening in my case.

 

[Cobber]

Lex,

I picked up on the cc's as well and is now confirmed the violet injectors are 240 cc min. They look very good Smitherz and should work a treat.

 

[Lextreme II]

I wonder how much those dark green will flow. I think the dark green injector supposely flow 251 cc.

 

[Terry in Va Beach]

How long did it take you to get the injectors out?

Just curious. From reading my repair manual on my 90 LS 400, it appears your have to remove a lot of stuff before you can get to the injectors. My shop said 6 hours of labor. Just curious, how long it took you?

 

[Smitherz]

Taking things to mechanics is scary. I could get those injectors out in 1 hour no problem. You/ or the mechanic will need throttle body gaskets since they will tear when you remove the throttle body.

Come on 6 hours is a JOKE. Maybe 6 hours to replace the exhuast manifolds which are UNDER the engine and take some muscles to move things around. The injector rails are right under the plastic and you just need to move the throttle body, plastic covers, move the wiring harness, and have the right wrenches to remove the fittings from the fuel rail and it's out.

I would expect a shop to charge you 4 hours just because they have to pay for their shop and they are responsible for everything and should garauntee their work that they do. The knowledge that they have from experience is worth paying for if your not into working on cars. They had BETTER take super good care of the wires when they move them and pay close attention to exactly how they remove the clips on the injectors. If you jump in there and start pulling on the injector clips thinking that you can just squeeze them and pull hard then you can break one super easy. Since the vehicle is older the plastic is so easy to break! Be careful and inspect them when you get ur car back. A friend of mine called me from the side of the road with a dead car because the mechanic broke an injector plug and just put it back on hoping it would never come back off.

 

[Lextreme II]

Smitherz is right. You can do it less then one hour. I have done it in about 20 minutes. By reading on this site you save thousands.. and I mean thousands. Some mechanics are just plain rip off. I don't pay a mechanic for learning. I pay for doing work. http://www.lextreme.com/diyinjectors.html

Remember you don't have to take our the fuels rails in order to take the injectors. All you have to do is to loose the rails and the injectors can slide right now. That is where you save the time. Like said 20 minutes can be done...