Teach me about fuel injectors?

[firstRWD]

My car needs the gas pedal down a little to get running when it's cold, and seems like it cuts the fuel at around 4,000rpm. A mechanic friend of mine rode in the car with me briefly and said he suspects bad fuel injectors. I've done a bit of searching and see things like people mentioning testing them with a multi-meter and replacing the little caps(pintle caps?) and mesh filters, but don't see posts of people explaining how to do these things or where to get the parts. How can I test and refresh my injectors? Any other helpful injector advice?

[richardodn]

Best thing to do for your injectors is to pull them out and send them out to be cleaned, rebuilt and flow tested. If you're in a biggish city, there's likely someone local that can do it.

[firstRWD]

I would, but I can't afford to not have the car for weeks. I don't drive it much, but I need it at least once per week. I need to test them and if they're bad, spend the money on new ones so I can swap them out in a day or two.

[richardodn]

Find someone local. Typically they can have them back to you in a day or two.

[superj]

or, get a set from a mustang/thunderbird/f150/e150/crown vic/anything with a 302 and swap them out while yours are getting worked. you can get them cheap from the junkyard. and then once you get the stock ones cleaned, get the ford ones cleaned and have a back up set.

[Jeffnhiscars]

There are a couple of guys on r3v who can send you a refurb set and take back your old ones after you've swapped them

[fishinrod]

If you are really stuck,pull them out, get a can of Choke and carb cleaner, spray them from both ends, and let them soak for an hour or so. dry them off and blow off excess cleaner, and reinstall. As previous threads state you can replace with ford units, but if you go on line obtain a new set from Pelican, Bimmer Parts ect in the meantime run the old ones. One thing that affects these systems is dirt and contamination from the fuel tank, prior to replacing injectors pull out pick up unit from tank, clean off screen, and replace fuel filter.
Good luck

[95BMWIC]

I used to send mine to user MEPEH on R3V to clean and test injectors - but I see he has quit offering that service recently..

Someone on R3V mentioned CATUNED has a couple of rebuilt sets available.. https://catuned.com/catuned-injectors-m20-fuel

[Kershaw]

For $80 you can buy 8 brand new 19lb EV1 injectors on ebay. I don't think it's worth the money sending them off to get cleaned and rebuilt.

DIY, sure. I built a little rig using a valve stem, a can of carb cleaner, and a 12v battery. Drill a small hole in the valve stem cover, glue the carb cleaner tube to it. Take the o ring off the injector and the valve stem will seal right over it. Attach cap+tube and carb cleaner. Use 2 alligator clips, one secured on both sides and one only secured to the battery. Then you tap the other injector lead and press the can of carb cleaner down at the same time. You need to do it fast. If you just hold down the carb cleaner the pressure will blow the valve stem off and all over you. If you hold the injector open for too low you could possibly burn out the solenoid. Usually all it takes is a 3-5 quick bursts. You can see the spray pattern go from clogged to free pretty quickly. I did 30 injectors like this in about an hour. That's easily worth it. Paying $7-12 an injector to replace the filter and caps? Naahhh, I'll pass.