ymeski56 - you might just be the smartest man alive!

After yet another long 10 miles to work and another long 10 miles back home, I left the truck idling in the driveway and decided to try your little tap-tap method.

I found a couple of long socket extensions and linked 'em together, had just enough room to fish it over the IAC and under the intake, and with the help of a flashlight, I could see the injector in question. Not a lot of wiggle room, but enough to give it a few taps.

I swear I'm not lying - about the 4th tap, the engine came to life!
I felt like a faith healer! There's still a click, but it's not under the valve cover. With the engine running smooth it's a lot easier to tell where it's at. I haven't found it, but I put the old hose above each cylinder and heard no tapping. It seems to be up toward the front, and I'm sure I can hunt it down now with a little time.

I took the truck for a short drive just to be sure I wasn't hallucinating, and it runs like never before. That injector must have been clogged up. The sea foam is still working through the gas tank, which might have helped loosen it up, and all I can think is that knocking on it jarred it loose.

I guess I should let it ride for a couple of days to be sure it wasn't another short lived moment, but I'm pretty damned excited right now!

 

Grrr... If I don't get help at Charter, I'll get help somewhere.

My success lasted a total of about 3 miles. I had to make a trip to the grocery store tonight, and thought it would be nice to take my new truck and enjoy the smooth ride and renewed power.

About 2-3 miles from home, it started missing again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't checked to see if it's the same injector or another one. Can injectors get weak or intermittent? Or more likely that it just has a stubborn chunk of crap in it?

I'll have to pull the wire and see if it's the same one. If it's a different one, I wonder if the sea foam is cutting some crud in the fuel lines that is clogging things up.

 

It's the same injector - #3...

So...... do they become intermittent or weak, or more than likely a clog or bad connection? I tried the tap-tap method again with no success.

 

It could be any of this. Now who's the smartest man alive?










Not me.

 

Not me either! (I guess everyone has noticed that as they read through this thread)

I guess I'm on the hunt for an injector and upper intake gasket set, and some time to tear this thing apart. I have a hunch that I should replace the whole set of injectors while it's apart, or I'll be going through this again before I know it.

 

Unless you just need an excuse to pull the A/I & injectors (I've always wanted to. Just couldn't afford the down time) the fact that it functioned for a short time, suggests a clog or a compramize of the circuits integrity either in energizeation or path to ground. Any of these as likely as catastrophic failure of the injector itself being the cause. So you are willing to possibly disturb a fresh new can of non vertebrate and spend the labor (25% potential as cause) rather than eliminate the other 3 potential causes (75 % combined potential). I have put 1 gallon of gas w/ 1 can of Seafoam in the rear tank. and while driving around, every time I got a chance to put my foot in it, I'd switch to the rear tank for 10 -15 secs. and then switch back to the front tank w/regular gas. After checking the circuit integrity.

 

I have to pull the intake to check the wiring anyway. Do you think I should try to seafoam the crap out of the gas before taking the intake apart? I only have one tank to work with, so I probably can't get quite as aggressive with the seafoam as you described.

Even if I pull the intake I'll check the wiring and such before I'd replace the injector.

I guess my point was, if it gets to the point of replacing one injector, why not replace them all while it's apart? Seems like overkill at the moment, but might save replacing another bad one next week.

Am I making this more difficult than it should be? I just want it to run right for more than 3 miles. At least 5-10 miles next time!

 

You could go 1/2 a can. I Think injectors are kinda spensive. Are there rebuild kits. Keep tapping it once in a while,you might get lucky. Your due. Napa carries a aerisol can Injector cleaner that screws into the fuel rail valve. supposed to work pretty well.

 

Might have to give it a try. I can always fill a couple of the lawn mower gas cans to top off the tank if I need to. I'm at 1/4 tank on the rear tank right now, so maybe tomorrow I can add a can of seafoam to that and see what happens.

Before I do too much driving I'll need to put some more fuel in the tank I assume.

I'm fairly sure it's a clogged injector... I've been listening to them through my home made stethoscope, but the ones underneath the intake are hard to hear (there's a lot of other noise in there). Especially near the 3rd cylinder since there's no fire, there's a lot of noise from stuff flapping around inside. It may be the voices in my head, but I'm thinking even among all of the other noise, I can hear that injector ticking away.

I just don't know what to do if the sea foam doesn't cut it. I wonder if I should take it to a shop and have them use a cleaning machine on the whole rail, or if I should take the intake off and replace the injector.

 

It would seem that the challenge with fuel rail or fuel tank injector cleaners is that the injector needs to be working somewhat. If the injector is not flowing at all - tough for the Sea-Foam or chemical of choice to work.

I certainly do admire your tenacity, alien - good grief, you have certainly put the diligence in.

I've used the home-based fuel injector rail injection cleaners - works pretty well even without the recommended pressure regulating add-on -- straight hose from the can to the rail. Be sure to pull-and-plug the fuel rail bypass regulator vacuum connection so the stuff doesn't bleed back to the tank on the return line.

*edit* if you do choose to pull the air plenum, need the Torx stud for one of the bolts - the one in the center on the driver side. A 1/4" extension will fit down in the gap, a 3/8" drive extension will not. I used one of those magnetic extendable jobbies to hold the Torx bit in place on the underside while inserting the extension from up top.