Shoutout to the old timer who showed me his trick for stuck injectors

I used to think you needed a slide hammer and a lot of force for every stuck diesel injector. Last month, a guy named Frank at the shop in Billings watched me struggle for an hour on a 5.9 Cummins. He walked over, told me to stop, and grabbed a can of ATF. He mixed it with some acetone, filled the injector bore, and let it sit overnight. The next morning, that injector came out with two fingers. He said the mix creeps into the carbon better than any commercial product. I've used it three times since then and it worked every single time. Has anyone else got a good homemade soak recipe they swear by?

3 comments

3 Comments

sandrashah19d ago

Oh man, that's the shop version of a magic trick. You're over there sweating and swearing, ready to break out the big, expensive tools, and some guy just walks up with a mix from his garage that works better than anything you can buy. It's like watching someone fix a computer by blowing on the cartridge. Makes you wonder what other secrets are just sitting in old coffee cans around the country.

the_blair13h ago

Half the old timers swear by acetone and ATF.

the_thea19d ago

Used to think you had to fight every stuck injector with a torch and a prayer. Watched a guy at the scrap yard pour a mix of diesel and marvel mystery oil down the threads on a totally seized duramax injector. Came back after lunch and it spun out like butter. Felt like I wasted years of my life before seeing that.