Rebuilt fuel injectors

[BIGglaSS]

I need new injectors for my 5.3. After searching the internet, it looks like all the rebuilt injectors are sold through ebay and amazon vendors. I'm leery to randomly pick something from ebay or amazon.

Is there a reputable "go-to" vendor in the LS world to use for buying refurbished OEM injectors?

Thanks.

[StingRay]

Refurbished injectors are just ultrasonically cleaned while cycled and tested for leak down and balanced flow. They can have new filter screens and O rings too. I have an ASNU 01 machine and do them myself. Unless they are doing nothing or just plain dishonest anything refurbed should probably be fine. Just ask what was done and for a report on the service done and final test results

[LS short box]

Look for recommendations over on LS1 Tech.

On my LS1 in my 68 I was unsure of the condition so I sent them to Fuel Injection Connection. They are north of Atlanta a ways.

They are working great.

[70c10resto]

I sent mine to a company named Mr. fuel injector. He seemed to do a good job and came with a flow report of before he cleaned them and then after.

[Willie Makeit]

Like stingray above, I do mine myself. Remove filters and old o-rings, clean by hand, cycle the injector with a 9 volt batter while pushing injector cleaner with a syringe/rubber hose thru the injector, then clean in aheated ultrasonic cleaner (I use purple power 50-50 mix with water), follow with an alcohol rinse, forced air dry, then again cycle the injector using a 9 volt battery while pushing injector cleaner with a syringe thru the injector, replace filters, replace o-rings, store in individual sealed ziplock bags until ready to use.

never had one fail to cycle or "stick" after this cleaning method. p.s. i don't build anything powerful enough that requires any sort of flow-testing and/or matching.

[nsb29]

I have a sonic clear I bought years ago from someplace like Harbor freight don’t really remember. like the man said Purple power and water new and o rings, I bought mine for doing lawnmower carburetors, chainsaws,Weedwhacker‘s it’ll get stuff clean in place you didn’t know were there. I am doing the ones in my motor now as it has sat for about Six years

[BIGglaSS]

Unfortunately the ones I had were too corroded and not serviceable, which is why I'm looking for another set. They seem to vary wildly from $100-$400 for a refurbished set. Just want to make sure I'm not getting ripped off.

[JMac11]

I bought a set of new from Ebay, never had a minutes problem. Less than $100

[StingRay]

Just a little info for those discussing refurbishing injectors. I personally have an ASNU 01 machine. You start by cleaning the outside of the injectors as you don't want to contaminate the insides with the outside dirt. I then record information on the injectors and tag them. Check them for resistance and visually inspect for damage and corrosion. Note any obvious fails and pull them if necessary. I then cycle them on the machine one at a time blowing them clear. At that point they are loaded into the rack and run through flow balance checks, a leak down test and run to inspect for any bad spray patterns. They are videoed and results recorded. Then they go into the ultrasonic cleaner and are cycled by the machine. After that they get blown clear of the cleaner and get loaded back into the rack for another run through the tests. New results are videoed and recorded. If flow is down or unbalanced I'll pull the filters and replace them to see if that improves the balance and total flow. Generally it doesn't change much but occasionally a filter is plugged.

I've saved totally plugged Toyota injectors that are not dirt cheap to replace. Sometimes multiple cleaning cycles are required and even soaking in heated solutions overnight.

In the two pics a set of 5.3 LS injectors is loaded up in the rack. These 120 k miles injectors were very good even before cleaning and flowed the correct amount prior cleaning. After a clean they were about as closely balanced as you are going to hope for.

For me knowing that I'm starting with a good set of injectors after a swap donor has been sitting around for years is a good idea. If you are going boosted or other high performance knowing you are not going to lean out on a piston and blow a hole is comforting too. Sometimes you just don't really know what capacity an injector set has. Easy to find out with one of these!

[derotoreut]

So help me understand this... Is it really worth going through all that trouble with a used set of injectors if they can be bought new for under $100. What does it cost to refurbish a set of existing injectors? I'm not trying to bash anyone one way or the other. I just don't have a lot of experience and trying to learn.

[StingRay]

On lots of the LS injectors that can be purchased pretty cheap in a lot of cases no. Also consider what you are purchasing new and whether they are an OE quality piece. Junk in can literally produce junk out in the form of scrap metal. Go to a shop and some will charge you 20-30 per injector for servicing. Not all injectors are equal and sometimes are 100 or much more a piece new. Higher flow injectors are much more expensive. Import injectors on older stuff can be very expensive. I just have the machine and do my stuff and for people that are nice to me. LOL. Also consider that not everybody is working a stock LS. If you are boosting then knowing you are starting with a balanced set that are all working perfectly is pretty important. If you are working to tune a vehicle knowing that you have a balanced set can be important too. Knowing that a set is flowing as advertised is also very important. So is knowing that you are not leaking down in the off condition and knowing that you have a clean and even spray pattern for best atomization.

If you went out to buy an ASNU machine they are really expensive! I got a deal on a used one but with all the very expensive supplies I'm still a couple K into it all.

I can easily spend a couple hours running through a dirty set of injectors so without filters or O rings 100 bucks (Canadian) sort of buys my time but doesn't take into account an expensive machine and consumables. It makes me wonder what things these guys are actually doing for a 100 dollar set of refurbed injectors. They are probably tossing a lot of them right off the bat and building sets from the ones that test out all around good flowing in the first place.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by StingRay

Just a little info for those discussing refurbishing injectors. I personally have an ASNU 01 machine. You start by cleaning the outside of the injectors as you don't want to contaminate the insides with the outside dirt. I then record information on the injectors and tag them. Check them for resistance and visually inspect for damage and corrosion. Note any obvious fails and pull them if necessary. I then cycle them on the machine one at a time blowing them clear. At that point they are loaded into the rack and run through flow balance checks, a leak down test and run to inspect for any bad spray patterns. They are videoed and results recorded. Then they go into the ultrasonic cleaner and are cycled by the machine. After that they get blown clear of the cleaner and get loaded back into the rack for another run through the tests. New results are videoed and recorded. If flow is down or unbalanced I'll pull the filters and replace them to see if that improves the balance and total flow. Generally it doesn't change much but occasionally a filter is plugged.

I've saved totally plugged Toyota injectors that are not dirt cheap to replace. Sometimes multiple cleaning cycles are required and even soaking in heated solutions overnight.

In the two pics a set of 5.3 LS injectors is loaded up in the rack. These 120 k miles injectors were very good even before cleaning and flowed the correct amount prior cleaning. After a clean they were about as closely balanced as you are going to hope for.

For me knowing that I'm starting with a good set of injectors after a swap donor has been sitting around for years is a good idea. If you are going boosted or other high performance knowing you are not going to lean out on a piston and blow a hole is comforting too. Sometimes you just don't really know what capacity an injector set has. Easy to find out with one of these!

Impressed! Thanks for sharing all that detail. So do you offer your services to fellow forum members? LOL

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by derotoreut

So help me understand this... Is it really worth going through all that trouble with a used set of injectors if they can be bought new for under $100. What does it cost to refurbish a set of existing injectors? I'm not trying to bash anyone one way or the other. I just don't have a lot of experience and trying to learn.

You bring up a good point, but I just jumped on Rock Auto and prices the injectors for both my 2001 4.8L and the 2004 5.3L and they are upwards of $70 bucks each new. I assume you meant $100 for a set of all 8, right?

[StingRay]

Some guys are selling refurbs at around a 100 a set. More power to them. I can't trust that knowing what it actually takes to thoroughly go through them. Any of the super cheapo new stuff I trust less. A good clean tested original injector is usually a very good piece.

I would but this is not a for sale forum so any discussion of that needs to be a PM. Don't want to make any trouble.

[derotoreut]

Originally Posted by StingRay

Some guys are selling refurbs at around a 100 a set. More power to them. I can't trust that knowing what it actually takes to thoroughly go through them. Any of the super cheapo new stuff I trust less. A good clean tested original injector is usually a very good piece.

I would but this is not a for sale forum so any discussion of that needs to be a PM. Don't want to make any trouble.

First of all thank you for taking the time to write this and providing a detailed explanation. I have a little experience with ultrasonic cleaning and what it costs for some of that equipment. My son-in-law uses similar equipment for cleaning of firearms.

I'm a noobie to the LS scene and in the middle of doing my first 5.3L LM7 swap. I'm using the stock injectors that came on that engine and due to my lack of knowledge and poor forethought I did not consider cleaning, or replacing them. However, this is an eye-opener for me and hopefully I don't run into problems once I fire the engine up. My intention is not to make this into a "For Sale" or "WTB" discussion. I'm only trying to learn, and I appreciate your understanding and patience.

[StingRay]

The machine in the first pic has a pressure pump, regulator, an ultrasonic cleaner and a driver to operate the injectors. It has a station to flow, one to observe pattern and the ultrasonic bowl for cleaning. It's an older one but a new one will run about 10K. The calibrated test fluid is about a hundred bucks a gallon.

It's not a given that yours will require a service. I have a machine so if injectors are out they go through it. I'm a better safe than sorry kind of guy. I have a few buddies that get the same service.

I'm the same with anything servicable in a swap or rebuild. Carbs that aren't fresh get a kit, distributers get bushings, points, modules, caps rotors, whatever. Pumps, belts and idlers get replaced if they have lots of use on them. I hate working on that stuff when I'm trying to fire it up and the deficiencies have shown their ugly face.

Originally Posted by derotoreut

First of all thank you for taking the time to write this and providing a detailed explanation. I have a little experience with ultrasonic cleaning and what it costs for some of that equipment. My son-in-law uses similar equipment for cleaning of firearms.

I'm a noobie to the LS scene and in the middle of doing my first 5.3L LM7 swap. I'm using the stock injectors that came on that engine and due to my lack of knowledge and poor forethought I did not consider cleaning, or replacing them. However, this is an eye-opener for me and hopefully I don't run into problems once I fire the engine up. My intention is not to make this into a "For Sale" or "WTB" discussion. I'm only trying to learn, and I appreciate your understanding and patience.

[BIGglaSS]

Stingray, thanks for the info, and the offer to help.

So here's the back story. I have a 2004 flex fuel 5.3 that hasn't been run for 10-12 years. I'm fixin' to get it running soon, so I pulled the injectors. They were nasty and gummed up. I sent them to a local injector rebuilder that I have had do a couple sets in the past. He said they were too corroded and couldn't be refurbished. So, I told him that I didn't need them back and they were trashed.

I ended up ordering a refurb set from New England Injector for $150. I hope they're good.

[solidaxel]

Stingray thanks for the info.
On a stock 5.3 what is the max cc reading you have seen on good injectors,
at the same 58-60#

[StingRay]

I haven't run a set in a while. Best I can recall it was in the 23-24 LBs/Hr

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Stingray thanks for the info.
On a stock 5.3 what is the max cc reading you have seen on good injectors,
at the same 58-60#