Understanding GDI Injector Testing

 

Our shop is equipped with the latest and fastest machines for Port and GDI/Piezo injectors, exactly as you see on our site media. We do not showcase stock mages or video clips of equipment and machines we do not have and use. We pride ourselves on being fully transparent about our tools, capabilities, and equipment and our ability to properly clean and flow test GDI and Piezo injectors.

 

​IN THE BEGINNING

GDI injectors were first used in the automotive industry without the ability to be clean or test them. Electronically there was no way to trigger the injector solenoid. GDI Injectors are different electronically than port injectors. ASNU, Carbon Zapp, and others subsequently provided the basic GDI functions into the current port injection machines. The function of GDI capability was to electrically control the injectors, in other words, to enable the open and close the injectors solenoid. This allowed shops to put the GDI injector tips in an ultrasonic solvent tank and electrically operate them to try and clean the tips, the same way port injectors are cleaned. As such they added the word "GDI" to the machine name. You can possibly clean GDI/Piezo injector tips with a port injection machine, but you can't test them on the machine. that means you have no idea if they are clean or are operating as designed. You can watch GDI/Piezo spray patterns with a port injection machine, but that is just watching a spray pattern. It tells you absolutely zero. GDI/Piezo injectors don't "spray" at 40 psi they atomize at 2000 psi for starters.

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WHERE ARE WE NOW

Today there are GDI/Piezo specific machines, but they are very expensive and thus creates a barrier to entry. GDI/Piezo Injectors are more akin to diesel injectors than port injectors. In fact, the current generation of GDI/Piezo machines uses the same chassis and interface as the Diesel injectors do. The cost in setting up an actual GDI machine is gasp worthy. The incentive then is to mis-represent the capability of the port Injection machines in an attempt to avoid losing business. Actual GDI/Piezo specific machines come with manufacturer-specific test plans that are constantly being updated and added to via WIFI connectivity. These test plans can be accessed on a digital front panel using the Injectors Model number to pull up the specific manufacturer injector test suite. Test plans contain multiple tests, each with specific flow corridors and pressures that need to perform within the specified parameters on a per test basis. "Spray Pattern" is not a functional GDI/Piezo test.

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WHAT'S THE ISSUE

There lies the issue, the labeling historical legacy of Port machines and the cost to establish an actual GDI/Piezo testing capability. Shops with only a Port Injection machine that is still labeled GDI from efforts back in 2007 believe or want to believe that they can actually service GDI Injectors. Either intentionally which is fraudulent or by not understanding why their machines are actually labeled as such which should be considered a red flag. It leaves the consumer short changed either way. Those machines simply cannot do the job. Ironically people are paying the test part to determine if the injectors are faulty or not. Not whether the spray pattern is pretty or not. The video above demonstrates this.

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​​DIFFERENT NEEDS, DIFFERENT MACHINES

GDI Injector Testing requires a different machine from port injectors. Diesel injectors require yet another different machine from GDI/Piezo injectors. 3 different machine types, 3 different test use cases. Different calibration fluid needs, different test suites, different pressures. 1) Port Injectors 2) GDI/Piezo Injectors 3) Diesel injectors. These Carbon Zapp machines are in a completely different ballpark from other commonly used machines on the market that have not changed in a quarter of a century. Not to mention those cheap Chinese machines that cost 1/3 the prices of our smallest 5-inch-wide German made ultrasonic cleaning tank. You can see premium machines from Port to Diesel and how they are differ in the PDF below.

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OUR APPROACH

We are committed to providing top-quality service and acknowledge that GDI/Piezo service cannot be done properly on a port injection machine which we also have, but for port injector use only. Testing GDI and Piezo injectors properly necessitates a substantial hardware investment. We made a deliberate investment in the newest Carbon Zapp GDI/Piezo machine which now employs their larger and more expensive mass sensor and uprated pump making it 30% faster, 50% larger and 20% heavier with new equipment in it than the previous generation machine. This guarantees that our customers receive exactly what they pay for. 

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CLEANING TIME AND EFFORT

We have reduced the GDI/Piezo service time by eliminating multiple clean/test cycles time typically required by introducing our POWERFLUSH machine. With POWERFLUSH the general characteristics of the injectors as well as flow rates also improves, and we can even unclog permanently stick open injectors which can occur from in car cleaning techniques you see on You tube. A word of caution, don't use those techniques.​

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