The EFI "Case History"
Courtesy of ZED'S AUTO REPAIRS Pty. Ltd.
Anthony Zuccato, 60 Benerembah St. Griffith, NSW 2680 Tel. (069) 623950

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VERY HARD TO START THE ENGINE......
It is almost impossible to Start the Engine after been stationary for 15-30 Minutes. | Click on Equipment for more EFI Cases from U.K. |

Having purchesed the INTER-JECT LB-291/2F and proudly displaying the INTER-JECT Logo on my premises the next day, this attracted despairing customer's over the following days. (I did not realise that this will attract some curly problems that no one else in this town could fix! Never the less, with the help of  INTER-JECT  I fixed them)!

Most of them had only a minor de-optimised EFI system which was rectified with the easy training provided that was a part of the Equipment purchasing deal from INTER-JECT.

Well, one of the desperate customers who had spend almost every $$$ he earned in components on his vehicle Toyota Tarago to rectify this problem, reflected only in disappointments by not having the desired improvement for an easy engine start or without the fear of flattening the Battery.

According to my Training, I did all the basic diagnostics, starting of course cleaning the entire system first. Lots of contamination have been extracted from the fuel system including some proportion of water out of the fuel tank. The Fuel sample I kept for the customer for his own inspection and as proof that there was a problem in his vehicle which can contribute to the offending problem. Further I found that I could not clear the fuel regulator leak and had to replace that faulty fuel pressure regulator. I had the impression that I had fixed the problem by changing that faulty fuel pressure regulator which actually is the foremost cause of that problem of hard starting.

A few days, passed the customer returned, disappointed that the problem improved only slightly. I had no choice, to spend quit some time to talk to the customer what he has previously arranged to be done on the Vehicle. To my surprise via Invoice/Statements that Vehicle was almost to every Dealer and EFI Auto Repairer in Griffith. One of the very early Invoice/Statements stating ULTRA SONICLY cleaning the injectors. I clearly remember the INTER-JECT Instructor telling me that ULTRA SONIC Cleaning Injectors destroys them internally in the coil wiring creating intermittent leaking, making the engine hard to start. The customer also assured to me that since he picked up the car from the Dealer, that the problem of hard starting begun and quickly deteriorated. (I found out that the Dealer has farmed out the Injectors to some one else locally with an ULTRA SONIC equipment to be cleaned and flow tested).

The cost of new Injectors for this vehicle I have priced , to be $ 340.00 each and still not knowing which one is leaking, how many are leaking, can they be cleaned and how to find which one is actually leaking and if it is the problem anyway ?? Having a deep disappointed Customer on my hands now, how he would feel to charge him another $ 1,360.00 plus R + R of the Injectors.
Can I guarantee I will fix that problem??

After consulting INTER-JECT, the Instructor Leo Karnauchow, I had to make doubly sure that I'm on the right track that I will be able to fix that long existing problem! With extensive effort from INTER-JECT, I received extra ordinary backup over the phone, how to be able to pinpoint the leaking injectors in the vehicle or what ever can cause the hard starting problem. It is very new to me this INTER-JECT EFI Servicing Technic, but to say the least I am proud to been able to master this task to provide at least relief and customer satisfaction. It was a challenge for me to proof my self that I 'm the master in EFI repairs and servicing in the town of GRIFFITH.

This is how I have it done with help of INTER-JECT and the Equipment:

Having the equipment connected into the Fuel System to monitor fuel flow, injector flow and pressures besides eliminating all other diagnostic options, my task was to find a leak which causes an almost total fuel pressure loss after 20 minutes. With my extra ordinary backup I followed the following step by step to navigate to the problem cause....

1.) I removed the fuel return hose after the fuel pressure regulator from the return piping and blocked       it off with a punch and a hose clamp to secure the punch in the hose.
2.) I pressurised the fuel system to maximum of 4 Bar (400 Kpa) pressure first.
3.) After I closed the flow meter switching valve to OFF to keep a pressure separation at this       point to determine the direction of the pressure drop after 20 minutes. (Fuel rail via injector leak       or regulator via the vacuum piping and hose or Fuel Tank via check valve or split fuel hose inside        the fuel tank). This switching valve clearly provides a split diagnostic point in one operation.
4.)  After 20 minutes I noticed approximately 120 Kpa pressure loss which I have been notified        by INTER-JECT  that it is the hose expansion from the equipment back to the fuel tank and it        is quit normal, depending on the outside fuel temperature changes.
5.)  By switching the Injector flow meter ON all the fuel flow started to flow into the flow meter             bouncing the flow indicator off the scale for quite some time to re-pressure the injector rail.
       The pressure dropped down to 110 kpa.

This was telling me sure there is a leak in the Injectors, but not telling me which one is leaking. I followed further instruction from INTER-JECT to repeat this operation at least twice or more for conformation and then to ring back immediately after for further instructions. By repeating a further two times the operation 2,3,4, and 5... I have been instructed to disable the ignition spark to the Sparkplugs and crank the engine only 3-4 times over and remove the sparkplugs immediately to determine which one is totally WET.
Here was the confirming proof that this was the leaking injector/s. My advice was to ring INTER-JECT back for further instruction for possible injector demagnetising information to stop the injectors from leaking plus apply savings on the cost of new ones.

After the consultation from INTER-JECT I set up the Pulse Generator in reverse polarity Mode and pressurised the fuel system to exactly 300 Kpa.
1.) I removed the cable from Injector "ONE" and connected the reverse polarity cable on to it      and started the reverse polarity mode.
2.) Immediately I visually monitored the fuel flow into the flow meter bouncing the flow indicator       off the scale for quite some time until it started to sink to the bottom. I cancelled the reverse       polarity mode soon the pressure gauge showed about 50 Kpa. and the injector flow indicator       still reading 4-5 cc/min flow.

I repeated this whole operation consecutively over the 4 (four) injectors, installed the Spark plugs and continued the operation exactly again as described above...
" This is how I have it done..." the operation 2,3,4, and 5... and removed the sparkplugs again, I found to my surprise that one injector was fixed and the other 2 for cylinder 1 and 3 are still leaking. After replacing only those 2 Injectors, at long last and to the customer's costly experience came at last to an END with the help of INTER-JECT.

Since now nearly 3 Months have passed, I have received referrals from this customer to repair the same problems on VL Commodores, Nissan, and more so on Toyota. More so I noticed that my satisfied customer is continuously directing now all types of car repair business to me!

TRADE TIPS:
Just because an engine do's not start after 15 Minutes or is hard to start, do not automatically blame for an injector leak. The cause can be also a leaky fuel pressure regulator, leaky diaphragm to the vacuum chamber of the fuel pressure regulator, a fuel flooded Charcoal canister, short in the injector, shutting intermittent the final output transistors of the ECU.

TRADE TIPS:
( INTERMITTENT LOSS OF SPARK ) Courtesy of Leo Karnauchow (EFI Instructor)
I have personally experienced this problem in some cars on trade and training nights as we had to swap over to a back up car which had proper leads fitted. This problem could occur with any other car and model. The fact that it didn't break down under load was a bit of a false clue to the students which may have thrown them off to look for an EFI problem, as the evidence shows up in the INJECTOR FLOW METER that it is not an EFI problem. Given enough load it may have broken down. Please read in section "S" under SPARK PLUG TESTER (home made). CONSULT3 in your INTER-JECT Computer fault finding program.

TRADE TIP:
Just because a coil or high voltage lead shows OK with a resistance test doesn't mean that it is going to be all right when 100,000 volts are going through it. The multi-meter only tests for ohm using a reference voltage of probably 3 volts. It does not check for high voltage insulation leakage or conductivity. Use your SPARK PLUG tester or the INTER-JECT portable ignition module or an OSCILLOSCOPE.

TRADE TIP:-
A short to ground in a tachometer wire or the instrument itself, may cause a loss of ignition which may be also only intermittent.