Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

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richtbiscuits
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Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by richtbiscuits » 18th March 2019 - 11:09pm

I've been following Rob's tales of woe on 'going electric??' and although (apologetically) I have nothing more to offer I did notice with some interest that fuel injectors can be cleaned in an ultrasonic bath. Does anyone know how this is done in a practical sense? How much of the injector is subjected to the ultrasonic bath, is it just the tip where it sprays? Is there a certain type of solution/cleaning liquid used? I assume you can't just immerse the entire injector, sure that would do bad stuff to it? I have access to an ultrasonic cleaner so wouldn't mind giving this a go as my car remains thirsty in the extreme despite my doing the valves, points, timing etc. I suppose a thirsty engine could be due to lots of things or a combination of lots of things but cleaner injectors would certainly help! All and any advice welcome. Thank you.
'72 412 LE Variant
'73 412 LE Variant
'83 1200 Beetle

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Rob 400e
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by Rob 400e » 19th March 2019 - 11:53am

Hello, I may be wrong but I think ultrasonic cleaning is done by sound waves and no other products are involved.
Type 411 Le four door auto .

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broady_6
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by broady_6 » 19th March 2019 - 12:54pm

You're half right. The ultra sonic waves are generated in a tank of cleaning fluid. You would just put the injector nozzle in as its best not to immerse the electronics.
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broady_6
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by broady_6 » 19th March 2019 - 12:56pm

A little more info here viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14433

I was hoping to have gained lots of useful experience by now, but the fing Chinese sold me a broken on on the 4th of Jan and they still haven't given me a refund or a new machine so i have gained bugger all knowledge .
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Rob 400e
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by Rob 400e » 19th March 2019 - 1:26pm

Many thanks for the correction. David gave me a web address for Darwen Diesels who he thought maybe would clean and check function, I gave them a call however they don't do petrol but they gave me a phone number of a company in Warwick that do petrol Bob Beck Injectors £12 an injector, smashing fella as well...01926888110.....(clean and check function.
Type 411 Le four door auto .

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richtbiscuits
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by richtbiscuits » 19th March 2019 - 6:50pm

That's great information. I have a box of old injectors so will certainly give Bob a call and see if he can tell me which are good and which are bad.
My car has developed a petrol waft in the cabin. It's transient but there. I've been under the car, at the engine end, in the boot at the front and around the air vents in the cabin but can't find source. Only thing I do know is the exhaust stinks of petrol and the mpg is just 16.5 mpg. Can't see any leaks and all leads appear good and properly connected. I'm going to pull the plugs as I suspect a poor burn.
'72 412 LE Variant
'73 412 LE Variant
'83 1200 Beetle

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937carrera
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by 937carrera » 19th March 2019 - 8:43pm

16.5mpg..........not too bad really, I used to get ~ 18mpg out of mine when they were my daily drivers, though I never worried about fuel economy too much
David
1974 412LS Variant
1973 412LE 4 door Fastback / Saloon

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broady_6
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by broady_6 » 19th March 2019 - 9:13pm

Sounds crackers to be, the twin carb type 3 happily produces 27-30mpg. I appreciate fuel injection was only just entering mass production. But it cant have been half as good?
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937carrera
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by 937carrera » 19th March 2019 - 9:32pm

That's all my 17 year old right foot got :)

(less when the heater was on)

Daily driver, viewed as pretty current technology at the time, not driven as a classic
David
1974 412LS Variant
1973 412LE 4 door Fastback / Saloon

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broady_6
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by broady_6 » 19th March 2019 - 10:11pm

Ahhhh I'm with you. I daily drove my fasty as a classic2009-2011. It never occurred to me that these were current cars at some point 😂
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937carrera
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by 937carrera » 19th March 2019 - 10:23pm

My first car :)
David
1974 412LS Variant
1973 412LE 4 door Fastback / Saloon

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richtbiscuits
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by richtbiscuits » 19th March 2019 - 11:11pm

It's never really been any better than 16-17 mpg, even when it doesn't smell of petrol. It is a daily driver around town during rush hour and does do better on longer runs but even so I'd hoped it'd do 25 mpg. It accelerates and chugs along quite happily and doesn't run rough or idle rough, it just seems to run rich or burn poorly. I've turned the knob all the way down on the ECU, tired adding more air which balanced the idle but didn't improve mpg. Plugs are not spotless but are okay so I started to wonder about the injectors. I've never measured the fuel pressure - would that effect economy? Sometimes I wonder whether the petrol simply evaporates from the tank or breather pipes!
'72 412 LE Variant
'73 412 LE Variant
'83 1200 Beetle

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937carrera
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by 937carrera » 19th March 2019 - 11:24pm

Evaporation is a major factor in my experience. I park it up with 1/4 tank and next time I go to use it it's on reserve.

Make sure you have no leaks (see my thread about leaks from the metal pipes in the transmission tunnel)

On a decent run I think I get about 22-25 out of my 412LS, that's probably cruising at 70 and not running perfectly either.

Town work and short runs will really drag the average down.
David
1974 412LS Variant
1973 412LE 4 door Fastback / Saloon

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richtbiscuits
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by richtbiscuits » 27th March 2019 - 11:12pm

So I pulled the plugs just to have a look. They were an even tan colour on the electrodes but were coked around ceramic/screwthreads. I cleaned them up and adjusted the gaps as they were all slightly bigger than the should be. Having run the car a for a few days it does smell better and the fuel gauge isn't moving to the left as fast as it did so it's an improvement. I think some new leads as a treat might be in order too. The current leads look okay but they're the ones that came with the car back in 2015 so probably about time. Incidentally, I was reading a review from '72 which quoted fuel consumption as 22-27 mpg depending on conditions so maybe it's not as far away from where it should be as I thought!
'72 412 LE Variant
'73 412 LE Variant
'83 1200 Beetle

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937carrera
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by 937carrera » 28th March 2019 - 8:17am

Go on then, give us the link to the article if it's online, or scan it in :)
David
1974 412LS Variant
1973 412LE 4 door Fastback / Saloon

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broady_6
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by broady_6 » 28th March 2019 - 8:41pm

I do enjoy a 70's tolerance
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937carrera
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by 937carrera » 28th March 2019 - 9:37pm

.... as opposed to 21st century precision where the engine management is optimised for the pre-determined test driving cycle
David
1974 412LS Variant
1973 412LE 4 door Fastback / Saloon

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broady_6
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by broady_6 » 28th March 2019 - 9:41pm

But of course, Electricity only makes things better right?

Maybe ive spent too much of the last 6 months working on a pair of BMC's finest
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937carrera
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by 937carrera » 28th March 2019 - 10:36pm

broady_6 wrote:
28th March 2019 - 9:41pm
Maybe ive spent too much of the last 6 months working on a pair of BMC's finest
That sentence just makes no sense to me... I was around at the time of BMC :) .......... in fact I was given the Michael Edwardes book to read in the 'mid 80's as a "how not to" management text book.

Funny sized spanners too, AF, Whitworth and all that.
David
1974 412LS Variant
1973 412LE 4 door Fastback / Saloon

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richtbiscuits
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Re: Ultrasonic fuel injector cleaning

Post by richtbiscuits » 11th April 2019 - 11:59pm

That review... Country Life magazine!

I think I found the source of the transient petrol smell - a leaking petrol can cap. Yes, I carry five litres of fuel in the boot just in case my not so reliable fuel gauge should tell me a little lie. The plastic cap had split and the rubber seal degraded so I may have had small amounts of petrol about in the boot.
'72 412 LE Variant
'73 412 LE Variant
'83 1200 Beetle

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