Rant: A veteran mechanic told me my injector cleaning method was too aggressive

I was working on a Duramax with a rough idle and kept pulling injectors to clean them with my usual ultrasonic bath. After the third time, this old timer named Carl from the next bay said, 'Kid, you're cooking the solenoids. That bath is too hot and too long.' He showed me his method: a 15 minute soak in a specific solvent at room temp, followed by a gentle air blast, not a full pressure wash. He said the heat from my old process was degrading the internal seals over time, causing the repeat issues. I tried it his way on the next set, and the truck ran smooth for over a month now. Has anyone else found that less is more with modern high-pressure common rail injectors?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamesf261mo ago

Man, I used to swear by the long hot soak method too. Figured more time and heat just meant cleaner parts. Burned up a set of injectors on a 6.7 Powerstroke that way, kept having the same return issues you described. Now I do a short room-temp dip in cleaner and just let them air dry most of the way. Those tiny parts inside really don't like being cooked.

graygonzalez1mo ago

Heat works, just ask @oscar_ellis.

oscar_ellis1mo ago

Nah, I've had the opposite happen. My hot soak method fixed injectors that the gentle clean couldn't touch. Sometimes you gotta cook the gunk out.