Injector Removal?

**Rob1973** · 02-13-2008, 07:45 PM

My 2002 Z is parked for the winter up here in MN and I would like to take the opportunity to remove my injectors and have them tested/cleaned.

A short history, when I bought the car it didn't run smooth on acceleration, the fuel filter was plugged and the GM dealer ran their injector cleaner thru the injectors. This fixed 90% of the rough running, BUT I still have an annoying pulse on acceleration. I even test drove 3 other LS1 Camaros from dealer lots just to make sure that mine is different, and it is.

I'm thinking that the injectors did not come 100% clean and I see that New Era has an injector cleaner/tester. This is perfect!

The car only has 29,000 miles on it, had 23,000 when I bought it a year ago. Pretty low mileage for a plugged filter, but it happened.

I would like to do the removal myself and don't want to screw it up and burn the car down by missing a small detail that results in a leak.

Any special tools required? Special techniques? As much detail as possible would be very appreciated!

Thanks,

Rob

**FORD RECOVERY EXPERT** · 02-13-2008, 08:43 PM

no special tools required... just take your time and be patient and attentive.

**Rob1973** · 02-16-2008, 07:24 PM

It wasn't that bad at all to remove the fuel rail and injectors.

I picked up the 3/8" fuel line tool from NAPA, which required a bit of drilling with a 3/8" drill bit to actually fit onto the line. Once I had the line off, it is very straightforward.

I was glad to see a possible source for my very slight, but annoying driveability issue. The rear injector on the drivers side was greasy looking. Seemed that it had been leaking a bit. You can barely see the rear injector even when you are practically making love to your engine trying to get the rail off, so I'm not surprised that this went unnoticed.

The injectors popped right out of the intake with a little effort, with any luck I managed to keep track of all the little clips to get things back in order. Once the little clips that hold the harness were undone and the injectors unplugged, the rail came free.

Sent the injectors off to New Era this afternoon. Anyone else had this service done?

**chris01ss** · 02-17-2008, 09:27 AM

Be sure to let us know your results when you get them back in. I have pondered having this done also.

Chris

**Demon_Z28** · 02-17-2008, 10:06 AM

I was thinking about replacing my injectors at 100,000 miles and replace all my plugs and get some spark plug wires too.

**FORD RECOVERY EXPERT** · 02-17-2008, 04:37 PM

Easy enuff to do.

**Rob1973** · 03-04-2008, 08:09 PM

Well, I got my injectors back! Pretty slick, they included a little sheet that summarized the before and after flow #'s. The flow did improve a bit after the cleaning, but the biggest difference is how the car runs now. It's just as smooth as any Z-28 I've driven, the very minor, but detectable roughness, is gone. I've had a couple GM technicians riding around with me before and their consensus was, "Yeah, I feel it.....but I would just drive it." Good advice, really as I'm sure I could have spent quite a bit on diagnostics for an issue that isn't even significant enough to generate an SES light.

To put it simply, it didn't run at 100% before, now it does! It's a 6-speed and I also noticed it's just easier to downshift smoothly, I'm pretty friggin' happy. They even put new o-rings on the injectors, nice touch.

I also had the throttle body ported & polished along with the bump stop mod by New Era. I don't expect to feel any difference from having a shiny throttle body, but I do like knowing the throttle blade actually goes to true full throttle now. Hey, every little bit helps, right?

For anyone who takes their fuel rail off, be sure you plug in your #7 injector (drivers side rear) before you reinstall the rail as there is no room to reach back and plug that injector in once the rail is installed. The #8 injector (passenger side rear) is no problem with the rail installed.

Demon, I wouldn't replace your injectors, I would remove them and send them to New Era for cleaning and testing. Only $90 with the shipping and you get a flow sheet to verify their performance. Get yourself a fuel line tool from NAPA (or wherever) and a deep 10mm socket and you are in business.

**02WS6dream** · 03-05-2008, 05:04 PM

good info--i have a post for 100,000 mile to-do's since its comin up soon, and this would be a great addition. more info on New Era?? If you can't post, maybe a PM when you have time? You mentioned your TB, what else do they do? While i'm at it, might as well get some fun stuff too; not just maintanance.

**Rob1973** · 03-05-2008, 05:23 PM

New Era is one of the sponsors here, their website is http://www.neweraperformanceparts.com/

They offer the injector cleaning testing for $80 + shipping (about $90 total for me in MN) for all 8 injectors. The TB polishing and bump stop mod was another $80. Like I mentioned in the earlier post, I don't expect to notice any difference from the polishing, I was more interested in the bump stop mod and the polishing is a nice bonus.

Before I had these done, the car just didn't run quite right. It got up and went, but there was a roughness that would make you want to shift early. It also didn't seem as responsive as it should have been.

The car has been thoroughly scanned and scrutinized by a Chevy dealership up here that has a very good LS1 technician. Long story short, I had an intermittent miss after I installed a set of MSD wires. The technician checked everything trying to figure out what was wrong. I got a call from the service manager and he proudly informed me that they checked the ignition, emissions, fuel, etc. and finally someone happened to be looking in the right spot and saw the arc from the factory heat shields I put on the MSD wires. They removed the heat shields and that took care of the miss. The slight roughness was still there and the technician basically said, "I notice it, but we've checked everything and it's all working properly. I would just drive it."

The plugged fuel filter that was replaced before I bought the car was on my mind and I just figured it HAD to be an injector issue.

So, injectors can be running at less than 100%, enough to cause a noticable roughness and not set off any codes.

However, the car runs very nice now, smooth acceleration, easy to downshift smoothly, just as smooth as any of the other LS1's I've driven. Unfortunately we just had snow fall here in the Minneapolis area so I don't really feel like taking it out for another rip.

Soon spring will be here....