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Gen 2 reduced gas mileage after cleaning fuel injectors

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by donzoh1, Jul 19, 2022.

  1. donzoh1

    donzoh1 Active Member

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    My Gen 2 was getting around 40mpg but I thought maybe since I'd never cleaned the injectors I could improve that. When I put things back together, I noticed a fuel leak at Number 3 injector accompanied by a strong odor of gasoline so I replaced the O-rings (which were all cracked and old). Now, the fuel leak is taken care of but mileage is around 27mpg. No codes before or after, except for a bit while I had the MAF sensor disconnected. No gas odor at this time.
     
  2. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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  3. donzoh1

    donzoh1 Active Member

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    Well, I'm not really an expert on that and watched YouTube mostly. These I held open with 12v on the terminals and then shot carb cleaner in through my custom adapter. I DID NOT backflush the injectors. I am wondering whether I damages rubber parts inside or maybe dislodged gunk inside that is now clogging things. I did think the spray pattern looked pretty good at the end.
     
    #3 donzoh1, Jul 20, 2022
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2022
  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    If you review a few posts in this thread, you should be able to find contact info for Rich at cruzinperformance.com, which is where we were sending injectors for the PriusChat rotating injector restoration project.

    Last I heard, Rich was reducing the amount of injector restoration he'd take on, to deal with some family stuff. But you might still be able to reach him with a question; he can probably tell you whether carb cleaner was a good idea for the injectors or not.

    I do still have the last set of restored injectors that were done; if you end up needing them, let me know. I would have to check and make sure they're still clicky after this long on the shelf.
     
  5. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    Isn't fuel injector cleaning a relatively inexpensive service? Call around, you can probably get it done by a reputable local shop for maybe $100? Heck, Jiffy Lube even advertises this service (but I wouldn't trust that chain to change a wiper blade).

    Otherwise, 4 remanufactured ones from RockAuto are about that price, after the core charge.
     
    bisco likes this.
  6. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    What I liked about Rich's service was that you got back the before/after test results along with the injectors.

    You not only got them cleaned/restored, you could see clearly how likely they were or were not to have been your problem in the first place, and how well they came out.
     
  7. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Did you disconnect the 12v battery, or clean the MAF sensor and throttle plate body area?

    How many miles on the vehicle?
     
  8. donzoh1

    donzoh1 Active Member

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    The car has 220K but the engine came from a crashed Prius and I think it has 100 to 150K. I did disconnect the MAF sensor but then cleared the code from that. No further codes. Mileage is now up to 36mpg. I did not clean the throttle plate but it was dirty. I did not disconnect 12v battery. I did not clean the MAF sensor.
     
  9. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    You might try cleaning the throttle place and surrounding area with a toothbrush dipped in some alcohol, takes like 15 seconds. If you have MAF spray, you can do the sensor. Then disconnect the 12v to reset the learned fuel mapping to factory default and see if the MPG improves.

    https://priusdiy.com/tutorials/engine/massairflowcleaning.html

    100K maint - 2
     
  10. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I think you meant to write something on this thread about the fuel injectors, but you wrote it on my profile page instead. If you look up at post #4, Rich's website address is there, and it's got phone and email contact info for him (under fuel injector testing and cleaning).

    In the last round of rotating-PriusChat-injector-restoration, what I paid Rich for the set of 4 currently on my shelf was $83.60 if I remember right. I don't remember what the postage typically was for sending them around.

    If you're interested, I'll check these to see if they'll still click. Rich says the lube can get sticky if they've sat this long.

    It might be a good idea to just look Rich up ask him whether he thinks carb cleaner could have hurt yours and whether that would leave them restorable or not.
     
  11. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Just about everytime I have worked on my g2 it then showed lousy mileage afterwards for its first drive.

    Baseline the cars mileage:

    Get it warmed up find a nice straight level highway no hills. Inflate all 4 tires to 38 and Turn off all cabin stuff no lights no radio no ac then get up to 60 miles an hour then zero out the mileage reset on the mfd

    Set the cruise control to 60 miles and hour and drive 4 miles.

    At the end of the 4 miles What’s the mileage. Mine was 45 mpgs with a tired but ok hybrid battery and 62 mpgs with a new NPB battery.

    If lower than 42 mpgs I would look closely at the hybrid battery health.There all failing.
     
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