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can anyone give any sage advice on removing stubborn fuel injectors from the fuel rail? i'm trying to get them out to send them for a professional cleaning.

(this is a 1990 JDM EJ22 with injectors that have, well, maybe grey or bluish caps.)

i pulled the fuel pump relay while the engine was running to drain the fuel pressure, until the engine stalled. following instructions on the witchhunter site, i backed out the 2 screws on the injector cap, and twisted the injectors until they rotated freely, while pulling up. they don't seem to want to come out of their seats even though they will spin in place.

i tried a bit of PB Blaster (WD-40 like stuff, suggested by witchhunter) and let it soak, but no luck. i don't want to pry them since i'd have to leverage against something that will surely break, and i'm also wary of putting too much upwards force on them that will cause the tips to break off if they come flying out.

any ideas?

The trick is to pry on both sides of the holes or you risk breaking off one of the tabs. I did that to a red injector from a '92. There are actual "fuel injector puller" tools (including a specific Subaru one) but I've never actually seen one. What I've done before is used a screwdriver with a forked curved end used for some other use at the hardware store. It just acted as a mini crowbar essentially. I still had to put a thin piece of wood under it and I used a flat screwdriver on the other side. I gave it nice firm upward pUUUUUsh and it worked. You get the idea.

- Chester

thanks chester...unfortunately i have JDM injectors which have completely round gray/beige tops with a blue dot. there are no tabs or convenient places to pry, and i'm worried about forcing them.

anyone else successfully removed such an injector? like i said they rotate (with some friction) but will not pull out....

iiigoiii wrote:thanks chester...unfortunately i have JDM injectors which have completely round gray/beige tops with a blue dot. there are no tabs or convenient places to pry, and i'm worried about forcing them.

anyone else successfully removed such an injector? like i said they rotate (with some friction) but will not pull out....

Is this your injector ?






This is mine... not a huge difference but you can see there's more of a slot to get something in there to help pry it up.






.

yes, that's the one. as you guessed, the gray plastic extends far enough down into the rail that prying would be more like digging - there's not the lip like there is on the red one to get something under....

i can't pry from the copper spindle sticking out the top, right?

At this stage I would bite the bullet and get the official Subaru tool, assuming one exists. I wouldn't pry up via the copper/metal top. If you're going to put in new fuel rail seals (where the fuel rail tightens onto the intake manifold) why not just take off the whole fuel rail ?
Then, in theory you could push from below while pulling from the top, assuming the design allows for that; I'm not familiar at all with the '90-'91 injectors.

- Chester

Remove the fuel rails.

Go to a block of wood and take a hammer with you.

Put injector tip on block of wood.

Tap end of fuel rail.

POP!

pull like a son-o-bitch! TIP: PUSH like a son-o-bitch on installation. Don't settle for just getting it in far enough to get the metal cap on, and then just tighten the two screws. It will leak, and fill your cylinder with gas. PUSH HARD.

The injectors need to "snap" into place to be properly seated.