Injectors- clean or replace?
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formerly 04 Rooster (2013-12-10)
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From: Oilerville
Injectors- clean or replace? I’m replacing my intake manifold with an Ls6 and adding long tubes too. While the injectors are out I was going to clean them. My car has 150k miles and that’s the reason I think they need to be cleaned. local cleaning and testing will be $180.
Next winter I plan to add 243 heads and a cam.
Now I’m considering 36# injectors which are about $200. The local tuner I was going to use says I should wait on these until I do heads and cam. I think he doesn’t want tune (for the intake and headers) for his lower price.
So, suggestions?
- Clean the old ones knowing they may be getting maxed out with the future mods?
-get the 36#ers and pay more for the tune?
-run injector cleaner through the car and deal with injectors next year?
Next winter I plan to add 243 heads and a cam.
Now I’m considering 36# injectors which are about $200. The local tuner I was going to use says I should wait on these until I do heads and cam. I think he doesn’t want tune (for the intake and headers) for his lower price.
So, suggestions?
- Clean the old ones knowing they may be getting maxed out with the future mods?
-get the 36#ers and pay more for the tune?
-run injector cleaner through the car and deal with injectors next year?
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formerly 04 Rooster (2013-12-10)
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From: Oilerville
Thanks guys. I guess my main goal for this post was to avoid spending money twice. New injectors will cost the same as replacing them with better ones.
Is there any way to tell if an injector is bad/worn without paying to have them checked?
Is there any way to tell if an injector is bad/worn without paying to have them checked?
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From: PNW
The PCM can only tell if an entire bank is running lean/rich so it can’t tell what a specific injector is doing. If one injector is lean, it can only richen the entire bank to compensate. That’s lost power and economy. Getting them cleaned and balanced may be all you need but you haven’t told us what engine this is in the first place or how big of a cam you’re looking at.
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IMO - if you mean next winter as this coming winter - I would wait and do it all at the same time. Just can't see replacing manifold and headers now and then doing it all again when you replace the heads and cam if it's only a couple of months wait time especially if it's a daily driver. But if not, then more reason to wait.
FWIW - I was always a skeptic on Lucas injector cleaner until I tried it on my 200 K Ranger. It made a difference for sure on idle quality.
FWIW - I was always a skeptic on Lucas injector cleaner until I tried it on my 200 K Ranger. It made a difference for sure on idle quality.
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Thread Starter
formerly 04 Rooster (2013-12-10)
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From: Oilerville
Sorry for the “it’s my first time on a forum post”. Car is a 2000 ls1 trans am.
My mods are planned two winters apart. Intake and headers go on now...because it is winter now 👎. I hope to add a cam next year and because it’s a maybe I’m going to do it separately.
I thought the cost to clean was expensive as well which is why I onsidered replacing them. There are only a couple of places aroundhere that do so I guess they can charge more.
Thanks for all the advice. Think I’ll run some injector cleaner and worry about them later.
My mods are planned two winters apart. Intake and headers go on now...because it is winter now 👎. I hope to add a cam next year and because it’s a maybe I’m going to do it separately.
I thought the cost to clean was expensive as well which is why I onsidered replacing them. There are only a couple of places aroundhere that do so I guess they can charge more.
Thanks for all the advice. Think I’ll run some injector cleaner and worry about them later.
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Even if you are doing the install yourself - I would wait on the install of the intake. There is a performance difference between the LS1 and LS6 manifold but IMO not enough to make a must have until you do the cam and possibly the heads. The combination of all all four (intake, cam, heads, and headers)+ a good tune is where you will experience significant SOP RWHP.
On my 98 A4 back in the day (2001) with a very mild cam (224/228 114 lsa) I gained about 90 rwhp over a baseline dynoed 301 rwhp with a tune that was shall we say borderline incompetent.
In addition the heads and headers today for making rwhp are much better than they were back in 01/02. With a quality set of injectors you get better data to upload as well. The parts and knowledge base today to make hp compared to your 2000 is remarkable to say the least.
Good luck on your project.
Unless you already have the intake - who knows a good deal might come along during the wait. Just make sure you get a real LS6 manifold with the correct numbers and don't get scammed with an LS1 or reproduction.
On my 98 A4 back in the day (2001) with a very mild cam (224/228 114 lsa) I gained about 90 rwhp over a baseline dynoed 301 rwhp with a tune that was shall we say borderline incompetent.
In addition the heads and headers today for making rwhp are much better than they were back in 01/02. With a quality set of injectors you get better data to upload as well. The parts and knowledge base today to make hp compared to your 2000 is remarkable to say the least.
Good luck on your project.
Unless you already have the intake - who knows a good deal might come along during the wait. Just make sure you get a real LS6 manifold with the correct numbers and don't get scammed with an LS1 or reproduction.
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formerly 04 Rooster (2013-12-10)
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From: Oilerville
The problem with shipping is that I’m in Canada (hence the comment about winter being here already) so sending them to the US is not cost effective either. Just have to pay a bit more. Poor me -haha
I do have the ls6 intake already and when I did these same two mods plus a tune on my ls1 vette I was happy so I’m just going to follow the same path. The cam is a hope and that’s why I’ll put the intake and headers on and go from there.
I do have the ls6 intake already and when I did these same two mods plus a tune on my ls1 vette I was happy so I’m just going to follow the same path. The cam is a hope and that’s why I’ll put the intake and headers on and go from there.
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From: Bossier City, Louisiana
Hello Roster,
There are plenty of You Tube videos on do it yourself setups for cleaning and testing fuel injectors. It'll take some rubber tubing, clamps, pressurized air from a compressor, a 12 volt source and some good carb cleaner like Berrymans. Or use some non-flammable Brake Kleen in the green spray can for max safety against fire. Even a nine volt transistor radio battery is usually sufficient to operate an injector. Look for a fine mist of cleaning fluid from your injector when pressurized with electrical power applied. Use some nitrile gloves when around these chemicals . . . for your health.
Look up the resistance specifications for your exact part number injector and then check each using a good multimeter. My MULTEC injectors are supposed to be around 12 ohms but I had to replace one when it threw an OBD II code and hit 17 ohms. Do these resistance checks before doing the flow tests in the first paragraph above to avoid wasting time and cleaning fluid.
Some people use an ultrasonic cleaner here but I don't own one. I like these function checks better anyway.
Rick
There are plenty of You Tube videos on do it yourself setups for cleaning and testing fuel injectors. It'll take some rubber tubing, clamps, pressurized air from a compressor, a 12 volt source and some good carb cleaner like Berrymans. Or use some non-flammable Brake Kleen in the green spray can for max safety against fire. Even a nine volt transistor radio battery is usually sufficient to operate an injector. Look for a fine mist of cleaning fluid from your injector when pressurized with electrical power applied. Use some nitrile gloves when around these chemicals . . . for your health.
Look up the resistance specifications for your exact part number injector and then check each using a good multimeter. My MULTEC injectors are supposed to be around 12 ohms but I had to replace one when it threw an OBD II code and hit 17 ohms. Do these resistance checks before doing the flow tests in the first paragraph above to avoid wasting time and cleaning fluid.
Some people use an ultrasonic cleaner here but I don't own one. I like these function checks better anyway.
Rick
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Canada
Check out Racetronix for fuel system supplies - if you haven't heard of them.
https://racetronix.com/
Check out Racetronix for fuel system supplies - if you haven't heard of them.
https://racetronix.com/