Chemicals used in professional fuel injector cleaning machines

[ragtoplvr]

Used to work with those machines, Pulsing while in ultrasonic tank with inlet filter removed the fluid would reverse flow out the injector.inlet.

The solvent used to be mostly stoddard solvent. They were working with a university in Australia (this is where the inventor lived) to get better blend. Stoddard solvent would damage some of the wire insulation. They wanted to develop a water based solvent that would spray out right. I changed jobs before it was finished, That was over 20 years ago. In those days I cleaned many injectors in our town for several mechanics for the cost of the parts plus a little bit more just to get feedback on how they worked. I do know on my 2002 BMW motorcycle, getting matching injectors made it run much smoother.

Rod

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted by Spddm0n
Originally Posted by Kestas
I remember researching this once, and found one popular brew was chiefly Xylene, with some other chemicals (alcohol, acetone) mixed in.

I personally use alcohol to ultrasonically clean injectors.

I'm interested in the ultrasonic cleaning process. How do you suspend the injector in the bath of alcohol, without getting liquid into the electrical part of the injector? Also, I have older side-feed injectors so that makes the process of connecting flow sources more difficult. Did you buy your own little ultrasonic machine? I noticed you can buy some of the little jewelry ultrasonic cleaners pretty cheap.

I have access to ultrasonic cleaners and solvents at work. I used my variable voltage supply (you need less than 12v) and a clear piece of tygon tubing to reverse flush the injector while it is cleaning, and the injector is open.

I don't worry about submersing the electrical connections, though maybe I should be if the connector slips and sparks.

 

[nthach]

All the "professional" stuff sold by MOC and BG seem to use toulene, xylene, an alcohol, and 2-butoxyethanol as the main solvents. I haven't seen a dealer tech use a in-rail cleaning system, as they tend to favor in-tank and induction system cleaning. There is a liability issue if the fuel system is opened up and not properly sealed back up.

 

[Spddm0n]

Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
Used to work with those machines, Pulsing while in ultrasonic tank with inlet filter removed the fluid would reverse flow out the injector.inlet.

The solvent used to be mostly stoddard solvent. They were working with a university in Australia (this is where the inventor lived) to get better blend. Stoddard solvent would damage some of the wire insulation. They wanted to develop a water based solvent that would spray out right. I changed jobs before it was finished, That was over 20 years ago. In those days I cleaned many injectors in our town for several mechanics for the cost of the parts plus a little bit more just to get feedback on how they worked. I do know on my 2002 BMW motorcycle, getting matching injectors made it run much smoother.

Rod


Interesting...thanks for the feedback. I don't know much about the stoddard solvents yet, but looks like they are pretty potent. I'll look into those.

 

[Spddm0n]

Originally Posted by Kestas
Originally Posted by Spddm0n
Originally Posted by Kestas
I remember researching this once, and found one popular brew was chiefly Xylene, with some other chemicals (alcohol, acetone) mixed in.

I personally use alcohol to ultrasonically clean injectors.

I'm interested in the ultrasonic cleaning process. How do you suspend the injector in the bath of alcohol, without getting liquid into the electrical part of the injector? Also, I have older side-feed injectors so that makes the process of connecting flow sources more difficult. Did you buy your own little ultrasonic machine? I noticed you can buy some of the little jewelry ultrasonic cleaners pretty cheap.

I have access to ultrasonic cleaners and solvents at work. I used my variable voltage supply (you need less than 12v) and a clear piece of tygon tubing to reverse flush the injector while it is cleaning, and the injector is open.

I don't worry about submersing the electrical connections, though maybe I should be if the connector slips and sparks.

Originally Posted by Kestas
Originally Posted by Spddm0n
Originally Posted by Kestas
I remember researching this once, and found one popular brew was chiefly Xylene, with some other chemicals (alcohol, acetone) mixed in.

I personally use alcohol to ultrasonically clean injectors.

I'm interested in the ultrasonic cleaning process. How do you suspend the injector in the bath of alcohol, without getting liquid into the electrical part of the injector? Also, I have older side-feed injectors so that makes the process of connecting flow sources more difficult. Did you buy your own little ultrasonic machine? I noticed you can buy some of the little jewelry ultrasonic cleaners pretty cheap.

I have access to ultrasonic cleaners and solvents at work. I used my variable voltage supply (you need less than 12v) and a clear piece of tygon tubing to reverse flush the injector while it is cleaning, and the injector is open.

I don't worry about submersing the electrical connections, though maybe I should be if the connector slips and sparks.


Thanks again for the reply. I've never been able to get my eyes on those machines. How does the "ultrasonic" part work separately from the "reverse flush" part?
Is the injector simply "dropped" or "suspended" into the bath of alcohol and the machine "vibrates" the tank of alcohol, ultrasonically? What kind of alcohol are you using? Isopropyl?
Do you have an additional tube that connects to the bottom of the injector and pushes fluid back through the injector? Do you have another tube on the top of the injector (assuming yours are top feed) to flow the fuel away from the injector safely?

I might be able to build a similar apparatus if I could get a better idea how it is working.

 

[Spddm0n]

I also just got off the phone with a BG Products, who led me to a distributor of the BG 44K product...they said NOT to use this product as a direct inject cleaning agent into the fuel rail (high concentrations). It will cause damage. It is designed to be delivered slowly, over time, with gasoline. It will damage the system in high concentrations. Now, I didn't get time to explain it was being used only by forcing fluid into the rail and injectors (not being delivered into the combustion chamber), but I think I'll move on from this being the cleaning agent I will use.