Tried a new ultrasonic cleaner on injectors versus the old hot tank method

Had a set of 6.7 Powerstroke injectors that were barely flowing, so I ran three through our shop's old chemical hot tank and three in a new Hornady ultrasonic unit. The ultrasonic ones came out spotless and tested within spec, while the hot tank left carbon in the tiny holes. Anyone have a go-to cleaning fluid they swear by for these machines?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_daniel2mo ago

Okay, the part about the hot tank leaving carbon in the tiny holes is key. People always talk about the fluid, but they skip the agitation. An ultrasonic cleaner works by those tiny bubbles scrubbing everywhere, even inside holes a chemical soak can't fully reach. The hot tank might soften the gunk, but it can't physically blast it out of a small orifice like cavitation can. So it's less about the magic juice and more about the machine's method of attack. The right fluid helps, but it's useless without that proper mechanical action.

johnh822mo ago

Exactly, that's the whole point a lot of people miss. I had a set of injectors that a simple soak just wouldn't fix, they were still clogged. Threw them in my cheap ultrasonic with some simple green and warm water, ran a few cycles. The difference was night and day, you could actually see little particles coming out of the holes during the cycle. The fluid just sits there in a tank, but the bubbles do the real work of knocking everything loose from the inside out.