Fuel injectors

Topic: Fuel injectors (Read 2469 times) previous topic - next topic

Fuel injectors

August 08, 2012, 03:22:37 PM

My car is a 1986 cougar with 5.0 engine. I was wondering if it would be worth the money to buy new Accel 150815 (stock 15lb.) injectors from Summit racing, or just have mine professionally cleaned. They are original and I'm sure they have seen better days.

Fuel injectors

Reply #1 – August 08, 2012, 09:35:46 PM

No Comment? Hum... Anyway, I tested the all out like I saw on Utube, and they all came in at between 14.8- 15.2 ohms. I only got to clean two of them and the third one would not even click to open up when I put 12V. to it. Nor would it let me run any cleaner through it.

Fuel injectors

Reply #2 – August 08, 2012, 09:59:50 PM

Are you having problems or do you just want to replace the injectors because they are old. If you run a EEC-IV cylinder balance test you can find out of you have any bad cylinders/injectors.

http://sbftech.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=d8791c2a53712b4f9de89c0cc614e930&topic=2471.0

Fuel injectors

Reply #3 – August 08, 2012, 10:55:59 PM

thunderjet302,
My car has a very rough idle and I know that one injector is DOA. If I find another out of the eight, I will probably just buy OE injectors. If I find more than two, should I invest in eight new ones and be done with it? I noticed that I am getting different information saying that my OE injectors are 14 lbs/hr. and others say 15lbs./hr.. If I go with the Accel injectors, they are 15lbs./hr. would 1lb./hr effect emissions? I know it probably is a dumb question, but with emissions I don't get a lot of room to work with and I don't want to spend $300.00 to find I can't use them. Thanks!

Fuel injectors

Reply #4 – August 08, 2012, 11:43:37 PM

Do the cylinder balance test as mentioned, find out which (other) injectors are bad....I'd replace 'em with 14# injectors (usually gray tops) from either Tbird/Cougar 5.0 or Crown Vic, Town car, Marquis, etc with 5.0 engines....

There are also places you can send injectors to be cleaned etc.

And to answer your emissions worry: yes, too highof a rating/psi injector for given engine size or eec tune will cause a rich condition. skippy that'll get caught at the sniffer. Not to mention if you have good cats it'll ruin 'em and more.

I'd strictly go with OEM stuff, in this case, salvage yards will be of use. Plus it'll save you some coin for future mods that are worth spending money on, unlike a Jet chip lol...

Fuel injectors

Reply #5 – August 09, 2012, 12:15:32 AM

Thanks, for getting back with me! Here is my plan... tomorrow see if I can pick up some 14# injectors locally. I haven't opened my Jet chip yet, problem is Jet makes you call them and they must ok the return (go figure). Even if I need to replace this engine some day, I don't think the DMV will let me put an 5.0 HO engine in. They will probably make me buy a stock engine so I will pass emissions. If I didn't like this car so much, I would get rid of it and work on one of my other ones. They are too old for emissions.

Fuel injectors

Reply #6 – August 09, 2012, 12:29:51 AM

With a stock 5.0 H.O, it'll pass emissions if it's in good shape. There's a guy who rebuilt my 24# injectors for free (I actually sent him some old 19# injectors as a trade for services). He did an awesome job. If you need his info, I can pass it along. Check any 5.0 Crown Vic or Mercury Marquis as well for those 14# injectors.

Fuel injectors

Reply #7 – August 09, 2012, 12:46:48 AM

vinniebird,
So, if I understand you right, I should be alright dropping a 5.0 HO crate engine in my car? I'm going to have to go down to DMV and see what I am allowed. All I need to do is hand someone my injectors and have them cleaned, they are on my table. We have a lot of salvage yards here in Arizona. So, the search will be on in the morning. Thanks, Again!

Fuel injectors

Reply #8 – August 09, 2012, 01:03:18 AM

I'm not making any promises, but, a stock Mustang GT 5.0 should, in good shape, pass the emissions test with the proper exhaust. Here in Oklahoma, we don't have emissions tests. Lucky us.

14# injectors should be easy to find. rarely does anybody ask for them.

Fuel injectors

Reply #9 – August 09, 2012, 01:04:02 AM

It's also a weekend job to convert your current 5.0 into an H.O engine. It can be done really cheap.

Fuel injectors

Reply #10 – August 09, 2012, 06:26:45 AM

The difference between a 14# and a 15# injector isn't great enough to cause you ANY problems with the enviro-puppiess. When it comes to emissions you just have to use your head and think about it. The 5.0 "HO" was available in 1986 and would likewise have had to pass emissions as well, but the story doesn't end there. There were also 5.8 liters(351W) and 460's that had to pass the emissions standards in effect that year. So long as your engine is not so worn out that it can't pass no matter how careful you are AND the other emissions equipment is in good working order (air pump, cat, egr, pcv, etc) and can pass visually, you can do almost anything. One last note, in most states, after the car is 25 years old, it is an official antique and only has to pass the visual inspection, if at all. As noted by Vinnie, Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee are among a growing number of states that have eliminated emissions testing completely OR have chosen to only test in certain areas. Arizona seems to be in the latter category in that only vehicles registered within the Pheonix and Tuscon Metro areas are required to be tested.

The information I relied on for the Arizona emissions program can be found here.

Good Luck!

Fuel injectors

Reply #11 – August 10, 2012, 09:50:18 PM

WOW! Thank you Crazy88! Lots of great information! I had two bad fuel injectors and I got that taken care of. I got EO injectors to match up and I save myself some money. Thank you for the web sight! I'm going to take a day and go down to DMV and ask a lot of questions. My engine has 202,000 miles on it, that is why it is an issue for me. I would be happy if I can just get a rebuilt 302 and transfer my new parts to it. So far, my car has been passing emissions with flying colors. I have to go down this month and do it again. All I did was clean up (ports and passages) the top end. I knew my car was idling a little rough, but I wonder how long those two injectors have been bad? Sorry, it took me so long to see your reply.

Fuel injectors

Reply #12 – August 10, 2012, 10:17:22 PM

Here's what you could do:
Explorer short block (minus the Explorer cam, you'd prefer an HO cam over it)
GT40 heads, but then you'll need to go with the Explorer intake's egr setup, as the '40 heads don't have the thermactor ports on the back like the E7 and older heads do.

I'd highly think that Explorer set ups will run cleaner even than a completely stock and 100% functioning emissions HO engine....basically, you'd want a '97+ Explorer 5.0, swap in the HO cam, and convert the ignition to a distributor, and some good headers, drop it in. I'd personally eat a handful of dry sand if it didn't pass the sniffer.....

Fuel injectors

Reply #13 – August 10, 2012, 11:47:12 PM

No worries 86Cougar, glad to help.

As for the bad injectors, they usually get clogged over some period of time, usually due to trash in the fuel system not caught by the fuel filter. One thing you might consider is blowing out the fuel lines with compressed air between the fuel filter and the injectors and replace the fuel filter, assuming that you haven't already done that. The blow out will not get the lines absolutely clean, but barring flushing them with a gallon or so of alcohol or wasting several gallons of fuel and creating a fire hazard, it might be worth doing to at least try and prevent one or more from becoming clogged in the near future. I admit that I am leaning towards clogged injectors rather than failure only because you said that you found multiple bad ones and it is unlikely that more than one injector failed at the same time. Of course there is the possibility that one failed earlier and went undiagnosed until the second one failed and began causing real problems. Not being there, this is mere speculation, but the possibility dos exist. In either case though, cleaning the fuel system will not hurt anything.

I have my own recent fuel system story. My TC wouldn't stay running after having been in storage for about a year. Even though I had STA-BIL in the tank, the possibility existed that the gas had gone bad, so I proceeded to empty the tank, clean it out and refill the tank with fresh gas. Nope. even though I found a bit of trash in the tank like pebbles, sand and other debris, it wasn't until I checked the fuel pressure and found that I only had about 23lbs at the fuel rail. I thought I was going to have to replace the pump, even though she was running fine before I put her in storage. When I emptied the tank agains and pulled the pump, I found that the small piece of fuel line between pump and the tank bulkhead was ruptured and for the lack of a better description had become mushy or squishy... At any rate, what was happening was that the fuel pump was working fine, but when the pressure began to build in the fuel system, the rupture was allowing the fuel to leak back into the tank and preventing proper fuel pressure. Replacing that 3" piece of fuel line solved the problem and she ran fine, right up until I discovered she had a cracked head, but that is another story.

Good Luck.

Fuel injectors

Reply #14 – August 11, 2012, 11:27:01 AM

I spent yesterday trying to get 26 years of grease off the chassis (gotta love this monsoon weather). Crazy88, To be honest, I would have never thought about my fuel line. I think I will just buy some new line, it would be better all around. I've never had the tank off either, so I'm sure cleaning it out would be a GOOD idea. I need to put a new fuel sending unit in it for the gauges I bought anyway. I'm pretty much looking at rebuilding the whole front end starting today and removing the oil pan. Looks like I might have to loosen the motor mounts and jack the engine up for that. Twenty-six years of sludge on the bottom of my oil pan....can't wait to see that. Thanks, Again!