So, how long do fuel injectors last exactly? Some can be expected to last between 80,000 and 100,000 miles, while the best fuel injectors can last as long as you have your vehicle. You can expect your fuel injectors to last longer with a little care and attention.
One you may not have considered is a damaged or worn out fuel injector – it's a massively common issue, and we talk to customers all the time about it. Fuel injectors are one of the great advances in automotive technological history.
"Fuel injectors have an atomizing nozzle that distributes fuel evenly for optimal combustion and efficiency." Now, a vehicle will typically have one fuel injector per cylinder, with a lifespan of between 50,000 and 100,000 miles, or about 80,000 and 160,000 kilometers.
Common causes of injector failure
While many things can cause breakdowns, the most likely cause of premature failure is fuel contamination. Fuel contamination occurs when debris in the fuel gets past the filtration, destroying the sealing surfaces. Think microns, smaller than a human's hair-sized, clearances.
An abrupt loss of engine power is a somewhat obvious sign of a fuel injector failure. If the fuel injector is clogged, the fuel supply will be irregular too. When the fuel level fluctuates drastically, the high and low rpm's will cause the engine to move in surges rather than slow and gradual movements.
Although fuel injectors are individual, they are designed to work as part of a team with the other injectors. So, if you're wondering if you can replace just one injector or all, the answer is almost always to replace them all. Typically, the labor to replace one or all of them is the same.
If you have one or more faulty fuel injectors — due to wear or mechanical or electrical issues, driving for a long time can cause several problems: Stalling or failure for your car to start. Flooding of your engine. Pre-ignition of your fuel.
Yes, a bad fuel injector can damage your engine so badly that the vehicle cannot run again until it is fixed. Normally before a bad fuel injector would cause damage to your vehicle engine it would give you so many signs and symptoms like the one, we have discussed above.
Your car may sputter or shake, mostly during traffic stops. The engine idling is mainly due to inconsistent revolutions per minute (RPMs). A sudden decrease in fuel supply, especially during uphill climbing, may accompany rough idling. Sometimes, you may have to restart the car due to insufficient fuel supply.
Replacing a Fuel Injector is definitely not cheap. It will differ quite a bit based on where you live, what brand you want to use and where you install it. But you can expect to pay up to $350. The parts themselves are up to $200 at most, so the rest will be installation and labor related to this process.
There's a good chance you will need to replace them at least once or twice. Fortunately, replacing your fuel injectors isn't typically a huge expense, unless they are part of a larger engine issue. Taking proper care of your fuel injectors will help prevent bigger problems.
Yes, it's true that replacing old, worn fuel injectors is an easy way to improve an engine's efficiency. If you have an older vehicle with a set of worn fuel injectors, replacing them will help your engine run like new. You may even notice that your vehicle accelerates better.
One of the obvious symptoms of a clogged fuel injector is the lighting up of the "Check Engine" light in your dashboard. The fault codes usually associated with a clogged fuel injector can range from misfire codes to lean codes.
Age and condition – if the injectors are old or worn out, a clean may not be enough to restore performance and could do more damage. Severe clogging may mean they need to be replaced anyway. Costs – cleaning fuel injectors is cheaper than replacing them.
A common fault is from contamination or by general wear and tear, as the nozzle can become blocked with carbon or foreign matter. This is a common problem if alternative fuel has been used. Once the diesel injectors nozzle becomes blocked no fuel passes through to the combustion chamber within the engine.
The life expectancy of a good quality diesel fuel injector is around 150,000 kilometres. They should be checked out by a professional at around this time.
If the component can't deliver fuel to the engine's cylinder, it can't initiate combustion using the proper air and fuel mixture. Consequently, the engine might not turn over. A dirty fuel injector can cause engine failure that prevents a vehicle from starting in rare cases.
Rough idling – You may feel like the engine is going to stall when you stop. Lack of power – The engine is unable to produce an adequate amount of power to run. Poor fuel efficiency – Fuel is wasted either by leaking away, supplying too much or is unable to produce a proper spray pattern to burn.
The customer can look out for a deeper, gravely engine sound, engine chugging, the whole vehicle might have a slight shake or vibration.
Yes! When used regularly, fuel system cleaners can help work to remove harmful deposits and keep new ones from forming. They are especially important for engines running on gasoline containing Ethanol and fuel-injected engines.
Replacement Schedule for Injectors
In normal driving conditions, the Fuel Injectors should be changed every 50-100k miles.
Multiple injectors are likely affected: In most cases (especially when contamination is involved) when one diesel injector goes out, the remaining injectors usually aren't far behind. If, when diagnosing your injectors, you discover multiple injectors are damaged, it's best to replace the entire set.