I've found the cause of my putt putt putt at idle, it's injector #1 which is a pita to change. It's not totally dead, becasue anything above 1500rpm is fine. I was wondering if anyone has done an on-car injector flush to cure a similar problem. I've tried most of the recommended injector cleaners...no good. Appreciate some feedback.

FYI, here in Toronto the flush costs between $80 -$90, while a new injector will set me back about $150 + the pain to remove the IM etc. I'm leaning towards the flush due to my high mileage (310k miles) hoping it will clean out the others. Injector #2 was replaced a couple of years ago (dead).

 

Have yoiu tried the following:

1. Chevron injector cleaner.
2. Have you unplug and replug the injector connector?
3. By pass the harness by a 2nd set of wire from ECM, both 12V and GND. I think the ECM actually switches GND.

 

we dont have this chevron stuff in Canada

 

Thx for the suggestions..
As the Andrei stated, we don't have Chevron in Toronto, but I tried a couple of bottles of Redline S1-1 & CRC Guaranteed to Pass

- Connector cannot be unplugged while IM is on, it's the first injector peeking out from under the IM as you look at the engine from the passenger-side fender.
- I thought of that, but I can hear the injector ticking by placing a screwdriver on it and the handle to my ear. It's hard to tell if it's ticking as loud as the others, but at least it's getting the signal...

 

curious -- how did you isolate it to the #1 injector if you can't unplug it. did you get a misfire code or something?

 

This is just to clean off any oxidation on the contact surface. So you can do it while the engine is off.

Wires in the harness doesn't make a clean break. They will have strains breaking and the wire cannot carry the amount of current anymore. So it works sometime and doesn't work sometimes.

Of course injector wearing out is still a possibility. The injector resistance should be 10-14 ohms.

 

I swapped the coils so I know it's not a coil, this leaves the injector or a really low compression on cyl#1. I'm leaning towards the injector since the car runs pretty good >1500rpms.

 

Agreed, I think there's a harness connector on top of the timing cover, will verify with the FSM & try to meter it. Another thought I have is to swap injector #1 with #2 (this is the one that was replaced awhile back). This way, I can verify that it is the injector, plus it would be easier to replace since it's right in front. I'll have to get new o-rings for sure if I do this.

 

how bad is your gas milage with the faulty injector

 

No change in fuel consumption that I can tell.