Tried a $30 ultrasonic cleaner on injectors and it blew my mind

Picked up one of those cheap ultrasonic cleaners off Amazon last weekend for cleaning some injectors I had pulled out of a 6.7 Powerstroke. Ran them through a 10 minute cycle with some simple green and water, and the carbon just lifted right off the tips. I expected to still have to scrub them down by hand, but nope, they came out looking almost new. Has anyone else had luck with these budget units for fuel system parts, or did I just get lucky on this batch?

2 comments

2 Comments

colethomas10d ago

Oh man, here we go again with the ultrasonic cleaner hype train. I get it, they're cool little gadgets, but people act like they're some kind of magic wand for injectors. You probably just got lucky that your set wasn't totally carboned up or gummed from bad fuel. I've seen guys soak injectors in these things for an hour and still have to hit them with a wire brush because the cheap ones just don't have the power to really break loose the baked-on crap. And don't even get me started on the people who think a 10 minute dunk is gonna fix a sticking pintle or clean out the internal screens. It's a rinse, not a rebuild.

the_brian10d ago

That's the thing that got me too (the carbon just falling off). What kind of simple green mix ratio did you use? I've heard some guys say straight water works but I'm worried about not getting enough cleaning action on the internal passages. Were you just doing the tips or did you run them with the electrical connectors hooked up to pulse the injector open during the cycle? I've seen mixed opinions on whether that matters much with these cheap units since they don't have much power anyway.

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