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Knowing the Fundamentals of What Your Car Needs: Fuel Injectors

Knowing the fundamentals of what your car needs is important. One such important aspect of your car is its fuel injector. A fuel injector is a system for introducing fuel into internal combustion engines, and into automotive engines, in particular.

As described by Underhood Service, “Fuel injectors play a big role in today’s vehicles, which emphasize precision and timing in order to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions. If those fuel injectors are clogged or out of whack, then all of that precision goes out the window.”

One of the 10 main reasons why a fuel injector might break down is heat soak.

When it comes to caring for your vehicle, repairing a fuel injector with heat soak can be no easy task. It must be handled delicately, and professionally.

When an engine is off, the fuel injector undergoes heat soak. Fuel residue collects, leaving wax behind in the engine. This is because while the engine is off there is no airflow going through, and no fuel to cleanse the injectors. Heat then bakes the waxy build up into caked up deposits. Also, the hotter the location, the more vulnerable the injector is to clog from heat soaks. In fact, the heat soak may be even worse with short trip driving because the engine is off so much.

Because this happens naturally, even in low mileage cars, one way to fix the heat soak is to add detergents to gasoline to keep the injectors clean.

Throttle body injectors can be less affected by heat soak because of their location above the intake manifold plenum. Heat soak can affect direct-injection injectors due to their placement in the head. Although the direct-injection injectors have higher pressures, the orifices can still become clogged.

One way to fix is to have a timed fan over the injector. You can also simply have the car idle for a few minutes before turning off. But worst case scenario, a replacement is the best bet.

For this and other automotive needs, contact us for services.

1900 55Th St Ste 104 Boulder, Colorado 80301 (303) 442-2932
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