INTER-JECT TeamTalk with Leo Karnauchow   
                                                                                                   | Translate | Take a look back in time when electronic fuel injected vehicles came on the scene in 1968 in Germany, which is now 30 Years ago. There was no need for cleaning injectors with ultrasound. There were no problems with injectors either as in that time large mechanical MAP sensors were used in D-Jetronic systems which were diaphragm controlled and those had hardly any effect of pressure mismatch due to a faulty engine or carbon build up on the back on the inlet valves. Tolerances were in a broader spectrum in emission control and the ECU had in that time only transistors instead of IC's and memory banks, or micro processors as such we have to day.

Fuel injected vehicles in Australia have become more and more popular since 1988 when the first Ford XF EFI model alongside the VK Commodore became available. You really had to look for fuel injected cars to find them amongst the carburettor models. Well that is 20 Years after the first EFI (VW) release in Germany in 1968.

Ultra Sonic Baths were first sold alongside Injector Flow Bench equipment approximately 10 years ago and are currently still sold by Australian Equipment suppliers today. The question is, why do we need them and why was there no need for them 20 Years ago?

Ultra sound equipment has been used mostly by Jewellers or Dentists for cleaning purposes worldwide for a long time now. But why do you use this harsh equipment on electronic fuel injectors where fine tolerances and electronic impedances are paramount. Take for comparison a large radio speaker blasting your eardrums for half an hour to an hour. Can you hear after that the fine noises around you? Of course not! This is the same with Injectors, they will never be the same after an ultra sound cleaning. Why has no one woken up to this destructive cleaning method which has in fact been endorsed and been promoted by the Ultra Sound equipment manufacturers, only to cash in on sales. Its the same with fuel additive manufacturers which produce injector cleaners and fuel additives which do nothing for the consumer but make them rich.

* I have written this article some year's back when that Ultra-sound Equipment have been on the "IN scene as a prosperity status for related businesses. Well to day's date some got their reputation very quickly out the door when the vehicle owners had pay for New Injectors after they had gone deliberately microwaved. Well read this UK case history | here | a new separate window will open.

Also view some of the comments about this topics in my guest book | here. | particular page 11,12,13, dating back to 1998*

I had the answer back in 1968 that it is not the injector that causes the many related engine and drivability problems where the injectors were blamed. The most overlooked problem is air deficiency throughout air sensing devices, air velocity changes or losses due to restrictions, air leaks, valve seating, bad combustion sealing, dirty fuel, water, carbon on the back of inlet valves and the long list goes on. Because of this, the integrity of the electronic correcting elements are inhibited to the ECU. (1) The ECU's primary sensing components sending wrong data signals as data provider to the ECU to request the ECU to do actions. (2) The ECU's secondary action is its correcting signal output (which is naturally calculated to the fooled data received), to be sent to mechanically or electronically acting components to execute the requested actions by the ECU.

In other words the Injector gets wrong pulse and duration signals from the ECU. The end result is lean or rich fuel mixture or a leaky Injector. Simple as that!

The question is how to correct this? | follow this Link | Because of the nature to the symptoms caused by this, and the lack of knowledge in computer technology and the details of the working principals of computers by a lot of mechanics, the Injectors get's the blame.

Let us examine each of the criteria separately and discuss the effect of each problem after injectors are cleaned with ULTRA SOUND and what would differ to engine's performance and the idle characteristics.

The delicate components in an injector to be considered at all cost before applying ULTRA sound cleaning to a "Pulsing Injector" are:

1. Coil wire, which is as long as a football field from one end to the other and can be longer on some injector types. The length of the wire which is thinner than a human hair strand is precise to the millimetre for each injector to provide an ample energised magnet field to be strong enough to provide a pull of the iron armature with the connected needle valve / pintle, the return spring, and the maximum regulated fuel pressure at the back of those fine in tolerance moving parts. The injector has more finer electromagnetically tolerances then any known solenoid and must comply in a synchronisation value with all the other injectors in the vehicle of the same type.

You can not mix injector brands or types in a 4 cylinder car which will cause flow variations. You can also not interchange Injectors form an 2 Litre Engine into an 1,8 Litre engine or Turbo Injectors in an non turbo engine. This will cause the vehicle run rich or lean, (depending on the circumstances), wash the oil of the cylinders, the sump oil dilutes with fuel and rises the oil level, meld the catalytic converter core and the list goes on.

2. The coil wire is insulated with a very fine coating, a lamination to provide an insulation to prevent bare wire touching each other in the coil. So the current has to flow from one end of the wire right throughout to the other end of the wire to provide the impedance, (an electrical measure) to an electromagnetically field creation.

3. The coil encapsulation is in a special slotted plastic casing with cooling properties from the fuel flow.

4. The needle valve return spring and plastic bushings, sleeves and needle valve guides inside the injector.

5. Plastic filter basket.

These are the most delicate components inside the Injector. If any of the above components inside the injectors are DAMAGED or totally DESTROYED the following problems will accrue.

1. Engine is hard to start after it been switched off for 10-15 minutes. (Petrol smell)
2. If the engine starts, a black puff of smoke will be visible from the exhaust.
3. The customer comes back and complains about the above mentioned symptoms the next day.
4. Fuel consumption will increase.
5. Catalytic converter is glowing, and the glow is reflected from the dark wet asphalt road.
6. Rotten egg gas emissions from the tail pipe.
7. The engine is idling very poorly and is changing pitch constantly.
8. Flat spot on take off.
9. Unbalanced engine on cruise.
10. Engine missing, noticeable by pops in the exhaust.
11. Engine Oil diluted with fuel.
12. Engine does not start at all after injectors been reinstalled.
13 Injectors dribbling and flood the engine by discharging the fuel which is kept as a holding pressure from the entire system.

Unfortunately, the vehicle owner is up for BRAND NEW Injectors to be installed into the car to solve the above mentioned problem.

So long as the Injector is NOT being pulsed in the bath, no harm to the INJECTOR! Soon you pulse the Injector, that's it, throw it away. They will be never the same after an ultra sound cleaning.    WAKE UP YOU GUYS

Facts:

I have spoken to many Automotive repairers in the last 8 years in Australia and Overseas which use or have used this method of injector cleaning, experiencing the faults as above mentioned. Until I proved the fault to them with a comparison visible test of a brand new injector.

The coil wire insulation which has a very fine coating of translucent resin type material. It can be scraped off with a knife blade to the bare wire to provide a good soldering point. Similar to the past common relay or electronic gauge repairs. The scraped off coating comes off in tiny flakes. If the wire is overheated that coating becomes discoloured (1) and (2) it becomes very brittle and can come off in lumps or in whole segments. Now if Injectors are pulsed simultaneously in the Ultrasound cleaning process, the sound waves inside the liquid are so magnified that the liquid inside the injector cavities as the small amount of liquid is trapped, it starts to resonate to the frequency of the magnified sound waves. This changes the liquid into microwave heating thus expanding the liquid with heat bubbles out of the filter basket side. Heat rises, air bubbles in trapped liquid lift liquid due to expansion, and fresh colder liquid is drawn into the injector from the pintle side to replace the liquid in the empty cavities and so on. The coil wire compartment is so designed that the petrol flow must cool the injector from engine heat (1) and the coil (2) from the actual resistance heat of the voltage flow for pulsing and the duration current for holding the needle valve open whilst the injectors are fitted to the Engine.

QUESTION:-
Are the Injectors in the same environment as originally designed in your ULTRA SOUND bath? Of course not! So why clean by this method?

The Injector and Ultrasound equipment manufacturer, will encourage and endorse to do it this way, as they are the one's who will laugh all the way to the BANK. They don't want to know about your problem, Sooner or later they will sell NEW Injectors any way as they have Millions of them in stock. But when it comes to warranty claim LOOK OUT as you are the one who destroyed the INJECTOR with ultra sound and there is no warranty.

Ultrasound waves inside the injectors jackhammer against coil insulation's (1), causing to
build microwave heat in the trapped liquid (2), which adds to lamination distortion (3), add to plastic bushing and needle valve guide distortion (4) jamming the needle valve (5), including filtering basket ruptures. (6)

The detergent, soaps of ammonia in the bath removes lubrication properties inside the injector between solenoid barrel and needle valve guides causing a metal to metal grind. This grinds off fine micro metal particles (1), which become magnetic due to friction (2)
(Similar to a blunt drill bit attracting metal whiskers to the point of the drill) and in addition to the magnetic energised field from the coil (3), been held inside the injector and is not removable at all with any conventional method. (Except only with the INTER-JECT reverse polarity pulse generator.) | see pulse generator picture |

Trapped lamination particles which are flushed by fuel into the solenoid barrel
(the cylinder cavity) where the Armature movement is inhibited due to those flaky material (1), the off ground metal particles which are now also magnetic (2), hinders the pintle from closing or sealing properly (3). causing the Injector to dribble! (4)

The injector is leaking! Or is leaking intermittently depending on the position of the problem causing material inside the injector.

So what can you do about that?

Just imagine the bare wire in the coil will short circuit the current flow quicker to ground, altering the injector opening and closing time in comparison to a good injector.
(Magnetic field strength is altered by false impedance from the short tracking coil).
This problem can arise months after the cleaning process has been done. The problem for this is that this particular injector opens earlier than all the other's and also closes later than all the others. This Injector is injecting more fuel for that cylinder making the mixture rich, but the oxygen sensor telling the ECU of a rich problem, but the computer can not alter this single injector, but instead leans the lot out which comes to an alternating effect similar to a blinking indicator.
(ON for Rich, Off for lean and so on) The engine runs lumpy and on idle it hunts like somebody changes the accelerator without any reason.

The proof is if you can alter the injector duration on a good injectors, by installing an aftermarket MEMCAL, so what stops Ultrasound cleaning the injectors, not to alter the duration inside the injector by damaging the coil insulation? No one could tell me that.