Hello (yet again 
)!
I just realized that I never thought to ask this amongst the IDI community. This is a common practice amongst Mercedes diesel owners, and while I haven't tried it myself, it apparently works quite well for cleaning the injectors up.
The basic idea is this: Take the cleaning agent (the M-B guys swear by Lubro-Mahle Diesel Purge {which was apparently formulated with this in mind}, but I imagine Fred's Hair Tonic or SeaFoam could be used instead) and put it into a clear glass jar. Then, re-route the fuel supply and the fuel return lines so that they're both going into the jar. This way, the lift pump will be pulling fuel from the jar, and all fuel will be returned to the jar...and, except for any residual fuel in the lines, filter, or IP, the injectors will be getting a straight does of the cleaning agent.
Once that's done, fire off the engine, and let the engine run on the cleaning agent until the jar's nearly empty. The contents of the jar will get real dark and cloudy after a minute or so, and will clean up as things progress.
When the jar's almost empty, kill the engine, put the fuel lines back where they belong, and dump any remaining cleaning agent into one of the fuel tanks. If the fuel was still dirty at the end, do a second purging as soon as possible.
Like I said, this apparently works wonders on M-B diesels. Offhand, I figure it's at least worth a try on an IDI...or do you think this might adversely affect the injector pump or the injectors? Has anyone given this a try?
For a better description of the procedure, take a look here.
What are your thoughts?
)!I just realized that I never thought to ask this amongst the IDI community. This is a common practice amongst Mercedes diesel owners, and while I haven't tried it myself, it apparently works quite well for cleaning the injectors up.
The basic idea is this: Take the cleaning agent (the M-B guys swear by Lubro-Mahle Diesel Purge {which was apparently formulated with this in mind}, but I imagine Fred's Hair Tonic or SeaFoam could be used instead) and put it into a clear glass jar. Then, re-route the fuel supply and the fuel return lines so that they're both going into the jar. This way, the lift pump will be pulling fuel from the jar, and all fuel will be returned to the jar...and, except for any residual fuel in the lines, filter, or IP, the injectors will be getting a straight does of the cleaning agent.
Once that's done, fire off the engine, and let the engine run on the cleaning agent until the jar's nearly empty. The contents of the jar will get real dark and cloudy after a minute or so, and will clean up as things progress.
When the jar's almost empty, kill the engine, put the fuel lines back where they belong, and dump any remaining cleaning agent into one of the fuel tanks. If the fuel was still dirty at the end, do a second purging as soon as possible.
Like I said, this apparently works wonders on M-B diesels. Offhand, I figure it's at least worth a try on an IDI...or do you think this might adversely affect the injector pump or the injectors? Has anyone given this a try?
For a better description of the procedure, take a look here.
What are your thoughts?
