Bought a cheap ultrasonic cleaner on a whim - thought it was junk until it saved a set of injectors

I picked up a $40 Harbor Freight cleaner just to prove they don't work, but after running a set of clogged fuel injectors through it twice they came out spotless and the car idles perfect now. Has anyone else had a cheap tool actually surprise them on a tough job?

4 comments

4 Comments

sean8541mo ago

Heard a guy say his cheap ultrasonic cleaner fixed a motorcycle carb.

dylan_brown301mo ago

Yep, I've done it myself. Pulled the jets and put the whole carb body in for a couple cycles, came out looking brand new.

foster.tessa1mo ago

Hold off on putting the whole carb body in if it has any rubber or plastic parts. Those can get wrecked by the heat or the cleaning solution in a cheap ultrasonic cleaner. Better to just soak the metal parts and clean the rest by hand, yeah?

nguyen.morgan1mo ago

That 2nd cycle is key. I stripped a small block Chevy carb down to the metal parts and ran it through a cheap cleaner three times. The thing that got me was how much gunk came out of passages I couldn't even SEE. @sean854 is right about motorcycle carbs, those tiny idle circuits get clogged so easy. But here's the angle nobody's talking about: you gotta run the cleaner with the LID OFF the first time. The gas fumes from the injectors or carb parts build up fast and can pop the lid or mess with the transducer. I blew a $40 cleaner that way on my first go. Now I always run it outside with the lid cracked for the first 10 minutes, then seal it up for the rest.