I shouldnt have watched some videos and thought I knew what I was doing, but I removed 2 of the injectors from the rail off of my F22 4 cyl on my 96 Accord lx and tried cleaning them out. Well, the videos I had seen showed hooking up to a battery (12 or 9 volt) and and alligator clipping the tabs on the injector and spraying carb cleaner in them. So I did, and I did hear clicks when I tapped the neg wire to the battery post intermittently.. but as I sprayed I didnt see the jet of spray shoot out the end of the injectors. It would pass through a little but not a spray. Anyone know whether or not this method works and how I can do it correctly?



Then I gave up and tried putting the 2 I took out back in the rail but the orings were not slipping in as I expected. They kept binding..what is the trick? One oring got damaged, so I know I need to replace that...but do they all need to be replaced once taken out?




Here is what they looked like when removed

 

That method works fine--you didn't screw anything up. Drop the fuel injector and crack the pintel cap--that's a screw up!

I've cleaned the injectors in my Accord and Odyssey using the "valve stem rig" method for the modicum of benefit it provided me. But this method is inelegant and requires too much finagling. So for the price of one rebuilt fuel injector I bought the KOLSOL EM276 Fuel Injector Tester which eases the task of bench clearing injectors a lot.

Anywho...
Presuming you hear the solenoid click but see no fluid thru the pintel, in all likelihood you may have two injectors that are genuinely clogged and the method you're currently using to clean them doesn't create enough back pressure to clear the jet. This is where using the "valve stem rig" method is helpful.

Seems to me your options at this point are: make the valve stem rig and try again; or start shopping for a couple rebuilt injectors. Btw... it's a good practice to replace the o-rings with new when servicing existing injectors.

 

Lothian, thank you very much for such a quick and informative reply!
Im gonna get a valve stem and start rigging it up. I didnt think about the pressure that was needed, makes sense. That KOLSOL unit looks great though. May be looking into that if I keep making trouble for myself on our cars.

 

Also. Use a little light weight oil on all your o rings. It helps when putting them back in. Doesn't take a lot, just a little all the way around each one. Good luck!

 

Well guys, I had some successes and some failures. The good was I was able to get the fuel injector tester rigged up with the tire valve and it worked great. Problem was 2 of the injectors put out a fan spray and the others a dribbly stream. I had ordered a injector seal kit and replaced all the o-rings, filters and the gaskets to the crankcase and put it all back together assuming that even though the injectors werent testing so hot...the car was running good before I did all this...Ill order a new set later, just get it running again.

There are just so many things I had been doing as well as this fuel injector cleaning that something is really wrong now. I cranked it up and it just couldnt hold a steady idle. Barely cranks in fact. Im wondering if by dinking with the fuel rail and getting the injectors cleaned and re inserted (with oil added to the o-ring, thanks taskmasterc) that there is a step I missed in getting the fuel pressure back on line since there was a decent bit that had dripped out with my dinking.

Recap on everything I did. All because there was a rough idle. First I tried re setting the idle screw, I got the idle closer to 750, but it still vibrated more than usual at idle.

1. Disconnected the Idle Air Control Valve and cleaned it out
2. Removed the throttle body and cleaned it out
3. Cleaned out the Fast Idle Thermo Valve and tightened it down snug
4. Checked the spark plugs, thats when I found oil on the plug wires
5. Removed the valve cover and rocker assembly
6. Replaced the o-rings
7. Tightened back down the rocker assembly
8. Did a valve lash adjustment
9. Replaced the valve cover gasket and spark plug tube seals
10. Removed and cleaned out the EGR chamber
11. Disconnected the fuel rail and fuel injectors
12. Cleaned and tested the fuel injectors
13. Replaced the injector seals with a kit
14. Replaced spark plugs
15. Put everything back together
16. Bleed the coolant system
17. Cranked the car and it barely cranked and sputtered alot
18. Shut it down and got uptight

Any help is appreciated from here.