LADave

Realizing that off-car cleaning is the gold standard, I would nevertheless like to try on-car cleaning first. The kind where you disable the fuel pump and have the engine idle its way through about a pint of Berryman's or similar cleaner.

There doesn't appear to be a schrader valve on a 1988 22RE, so where and how would I hook up the cannister of cleaning/fuel solution?

snobdds

You can't disable the fuel pump and have it continue to idle. The fuel system is a closed system, meaning you can't open up anypart of it and expect it to run. The only thing you can do is put something in your tank like a fuel system cleaner. The only thing that really works is the Redline fuel injector cleanor.

Your best bet is to take off the upper intake and send the injectors to which hunter. Done.

ogjohnboy

another somewhat unknown way to clean them is to remove the brake booster vacuum line, have someone inside hold the rpms up around 2k and then pour a slight amount of water down the hose. it will act like its trying to die and will smoke white out of the exhaust but will not damage your motor or injectors, essentially all your doing is steam cleaning the nozzles as well as your cylinder walls/piston top.

now when i say a slight amount, i really do mean a little bit. maybe 1/4 cup total but let it dribble in. dont dump the amount in.

85TurboRunner

I used this guy a few years back. Very quick turn around time.


http://www.cruzinperformance.com/

LADave

Snobdds - What if you have a cleaning solution that the engine can run on, and you pressurize it in lieu of the fuel pump pressurizing the system? Berryman has or had pressurized cans of cleaning solution like that. You just needed a connector hose that tapped into the can, as with refridgerant.

Instead of pre-pressurized cans, I'm thinking of a DIY canister containing about a pint of cleaning fuid, connected to the fuel system on the bottom with an input for compressed air @ 30-40psi at the top. If the engine will run on the stuff and it won't ruin anything over the ~5 minutes it takes to use it up, the question seems to be, where on the fuel rail do you connect it?

BMcEL

This will not clean the injectors.

By the time you go through all that trouble, ya might as well have just sent them in to be cleaned in the first place.

Don't underestimate Seafoam...pour a whole can in with the last 1/4 tank and drive the crap out of it for 20-30 miles. Get another can to do the intake (1/3 of the can at a time).

snobdds

Won't work. I don't think you understand how much pressure the fuel injection system needs to operate. I think your getting things confused with a system that uses a carb. Carbs require far less pressure and a pressurized can may give enough to let it idle for a minute or so.

LADave

Around 40 psi. My compressor goes to 100.

snobdds

So how are you going to open the system (thats designed to be closed) and keep it running on compressed air and cleaning fluid.

I say try it and report back. I will love to see the end results on this one...I have my

LADave

I imagine about the same way as you'd tap in to attach a pressure gauge, so you could rule fuel pump/filter issues in or out.

LADave

BMcEl - AFAIK SeaFoam cleans the intake system and combustion chambers. This is nothing to be sneezed at, but it's not the same thing as putting solvent through fuel injectors to clean out their internals.

BMcEL

So putting it in the fuel tank won't clean the injectors? Where do you think the fuel/seafoam mix ends up?

LADave

If you put it in the fuel, it goes through your injectors. If you feed it in through a vacuum port -- per directions on the can -- it doesn't.

BMcEL

Correct...I mentioned getting a can do the intake for the added benefit, wasn't saying it would clean your injectors that way.

There are directions on the can for adding it to the intake, gas, and crankcase oil.

scope103

I think that's "somewhat unknown" for a reason. A mechanic-friend told of someone who brought in a car for a slight "tick" in the engine. Turns out the owner had used the method you described, but overlooked the fact that the brake booster is sucking really hard. A little too much water went in, he hydrolocked the engine, and bent a connecting rod!

By the time you build an entire fuel system add-on (cleaner reservoir pressurized to exactly the fuel pump pressure ...) you could remove the injectors, have them cleaned, and repaint your house.

highway

I have one of the fuel injector cleaning kits (from mustangs unlimited) actually O'Reilly;s sells it as well. I use it on vehicles equipped with a schrader valve on the fuel rail. I pull the fuse for the fuel pump and plug the hose on the regulator and hook up a can and start the car and run till the can is empty....... bad thing is my toyota has no schrader valve

snobdds

Again, this is an old EFI system and it is a closed system. It was probably designed in the early 80's and went into production in the mid 80's. Those fuel injector cleaning kits are nice, but designed to be used on newer EFI systems. There is no way to use them on this type of EFI.

It is best to just have the injectors sent off to be cleaned professionally.

highway

Could you explain a "closed system"? My 1987 mustang EFI around 40psi worked perfect off the pressurized cans ?

Kiroshu

Closed systems donot have "service ports" or "Schrader valves" built into the fuel system.

Meaning the only way to add fuel is either through the Fuel Filler cap, the intake directly, or tapping (breaking) into the fuel lines themselves... which i would never recommend unless checking fuel pressure.

LADave

What's the harm in adding a schrader valve? I don't see how that raises issues that aren't present in fuel systems where they are OEM. Seems to me a permanently installed schrader would be less harmful than tinkering with the plumbing every time you have a reason to check fuel pressure.