Clogged Fuel Injector?
 

I’m curious how many folks have had fuel injectors foul as a result of bad fuel and where it happened. Also, wondering how many folks carry an extra fuel injector with them for contingency.

Poll above...

We once had problems and thought is was the injector. Took the injector to a car mechanic and he cleaned and tested it in a special device. When it was finished he said nothing was wrong with it. Put it back in the bike and indeed problem was still there. Turned out to be that the fuel pump filter which sits inside the tank was clogged. So normally the filter will take out the dirt, for the rest there is not much to break on a injector and I would not take a spare. The situation described above was in Tadzjikistan but I am sure most car mechanics have a injector test/clean bank.

I had it happen once in Costa Rica with a rented BMW F650. End of the riding for me that trip. I had to arrange to get the bike trucked back to the rental agency in San Jose. Since then I've rode several fuel-injected bikes and not had an issue.

Fuel injectors become clogged due to hydrocarbons, sediment and other elements in the fuel. Most fuels contain ethanol. Ethanol is hygroscopic thus drawing moisture from the air into the fuel. The water in the fuel cause internal components to rust. Residue from the rust gets into the injectors when the fuel filter is in bad shape.

Most fuel pumps only have a small filter, so it doesn't take much dirt to clog it. I believe people have also burned out fuel pumps for this reason, because the pump continues to run but doesn't have any supply of fuel to cool it.

I've fitted a Guglatech sock filter in the filler neck of my 790 and will also fit one of their fuel pump cover socks before I head to central Asia.

I don't carry fuel injector but I do have spare fuel hose with connector to be able to clean injector by applying back pressure on the road.

You can just pull the injector from the bike and turn the engine over.

It will spray a very fine mist in pulses if working. It will do the injector and bike no harm.

Obviously this won't tell you how well it's working but if you have a multi-cylinder bike you can always compare.

Injectors very rarely fail.

You will usually/often have a filter in the high pressure rail too. Not just in your tank.

Old school mechanical injectors
 

If its old school mechanical injectors you can pull one and check it in the field no problem.

New common rail / electronic not so much (most no).

Two additional in line diesel filters are the answer. The first one should have a glass bowl so that you can see sediment or water, and the second with a replacement cartridge that can fit multi micron filters. All engines will run on a 10 micron filter, some on a 30 micron filter. Before you leave try the 30 and see how it runs, if its fine, run that but take a 10 micron spare.

I started life as a diesel mechanic and wouldn’t even try and do a field repair on the injectors in most post 2000 diesels. Screw just one seal up and you flood the engine oil with diesel. A good example of that is the Toyota Prado D4D engine failures - primarily the result of injector seal failures.

And if you are selecting a vehicle, and can get a petrol, it is probably the wiser choice nowadays IMO. Hard to actually say as I love diesels but petrols are far easier to fix - though they may throw a tantrum now and then, the tantrum is fixable.