Internal combustion engines need fuel, air, and sparks to run. Fuel injectors are responsible for getting fuel directly into the engine’s chambers at precisely the correct time. Workshops offer fuel injector cleaning services, but how much do they cost, and how often should you use them?
Fuel injector cleaning services can cost $50 to $200 in Australia. The cost depends on your chosen workshop and your car’s make and model. Ideally, you should perform fuel injector cleaning every 40,000 kilometres but sooner if it shows signs of carbon buildup.
This guide will tell you everything you need about fuel injector cleaning. You'll learn how much it costs and how often you need to do it. Besides that, you'll also discover the benefits of fuel injector cleaning, so you know what you're paying for.
How Much Does Fuel Injector Cleaning Cost?
First, let's answer the question, "How much does fuel injector cleaning cost?”.
You can expect to pay a fuel injector cleaning cost anywhere from $50 to $200 in Australia. The precise cost depends on many factors, from your car make and model to the workshop providing the service.
Whether your preferred mechanic is on the lower or higher end of that price range, it’s still a fair chunk of change you’ll be spending to get this task done.
Because of that, you’ll want to keep reading through this article to understand what you’re getting for your money.
What’s Included in a Fuel Injector Cleaning Service?
One thing that cars are good at doing is accumulating carbon deposits inside its engine. Unfortunately, plenty of those deposits end up inside the fuel injectors. As you can imagine, carbon buildups will interfere with the fuel injection process and cause problems for your vehicle.
The primary aim of fuel injector cleaning services is to remove carbon buildup. Doing so will restore the injector’s ability to send fuel into the engine, which is crucial in the combustion process.
More importantly, these cleaning services also involve entirely flushing those buildups out of the fuel system. This prevents carbon wastes from flowing around and getting stuck elsewhere, causing other problems for your car.
What Are the Benefits of Cleaning the Fuel Injectors?
If you believe that fuel injector cleaning is an unnecessary waste of money, you couldn’t be more wrong. This maintenance task is genuinely beneficial to your vehicle when the time is right.
Here are some of the essential benefits of fuel injector cleaning that make it worth the price you pay:
1. Improves Engine Performance
A combustion engine needs three things to function correctly: air, sparks, and fuel. Fuel injectors are responsible for providing the third item into your engine.
The fuel injector atomises and injects the fuel at precisely timed intervals to enable the engine produce power.
Taking your dirty fuel injectors to professional cleaners will significantly improve your car engine’s performance.
2. Maximise Fuel Efficiency
Dirty fuel injectors will restrict fuel flow into the engine, that’s why cleaning them helps maximise your car’s overall fuel efficiency.
Clean fuel injectors restore the overall performance of the fuel injection system and ensures that the engine gets a reliable and precisely timed fuel supply for combustion.
3. Save on Fuel Costs
When you combine better engine performance with maximised fuel efficiency, you get savings on fuel costs in the long run. To your pocketbook, that means minimising fuel wastage and spending less on the servo.
You might overlook this benefit at first, but you'll see your fuel spending drop in the long run if you keep your fuel injectors clean.
4. Maximise Engine Lifespan
Carbon buildups are bad news for the engine regardless of where it happens. That’s why cleaning your fuel injectors and flushing the carbon out of the fuel system contribute to the engine’s overall well-being.
When you stay on top of your regular fuel injector cleaning schedules and all other engine maintenance tasks, you’ll maximise your engine’s overall reliability and lifespan.
How Often Should You Clean Your Fuel Injectors?
Fuel injector cleaning is not something that you need to do very frequently. The rule of thumb is to get your fuel injectors cleaned every 40,000 kilometres.
However, if you notice the following signs, you should immediately get your vehicle checked and see if it’s a case of dirty fuel injectors:
- Poor performance: Poor engine performance can indicate dirty or clogged fuel injectors. If you can’t find any other reason, cleaning your injectors might be helpful.
- Rough idling: Dirty fuel injectors don’t just cause problems when you’re driving but also when idling. That’s because the engine doesn’t get a reliable fuel supply even when there’s no demand for output other than to idle.
- Hard starting: Severe clogging of your fuel injectors can also cause a hard starting condition for your engine. Once you rule out the usual suspects like battery, alternator, and starter problems, consider that you might need fuel injector cleaning.
- Delayed acceleration: Another telltale sign of dirty fuel injectors is delayed acceleration. In other words, the engine takes some time to react after you press down on the gas pedal and demand more output from the engine. Delayed acceleration suggests the fuel injectors are dirty and need help to send more fuel into the engine.
- Worse emissions: Earlier, you read that fuel injectors affect fuel efficiency. Besides that, they also impact the car’s emissions. When you notice your car’s emissions getting worse without any other reason, fuel injectors could be to blame.
When troubleshooting the issues listed above, starting with the usual and most likely causes is important. Only once you rule them out should you check the fuel injectors to see if they are dirty with carbon buildups.
Where Can You Get Fuel Injector Cleaning Services in Australia?
Whether you need to clean just one fuel injector or all of them simultaneously, you can do it at your preferred mechanic. However, if fuel injector cleaning is a service they don’t provide, you can check the Directory at CarpartAU.
The Directory helps you identify local workshops and get their contact details. Then, you can contact them directly to ask about fuel injector cleaning services and their costs.
Remember: Prices vary significantly, so contact a few workshops to find the best deal.
By Ray Hasbollah