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Took a gamble on that 'hot tank dip instead of scrubbing' advice from an old timer
A guy I met at a shop over in Walla Walla last spring told me to just dunk my injector parts in hot tank solution and leave them overnight instead of scrubbing them by hand. I was skeptical because I always hand scrub everything. But I tried it on a set of injectors from an old 5.9 Cummins and honestly, they came out cleaner than I've ever gotten them by hand. No carbon left in the tiny holes. Now I'm wondering if I've been wasting time scrubbing for the last 10 years. Has anyone had bad luck with the hot tank method on certain parts?
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eva_adams682d ago
That 5.9 Cummins set you did, those old Bosch parts are built like tanks, total opposite of the junk they push out now. I had a buddy who tried hot tanking a set of off-brand injectors from some no-name eBay seller, and the tips literally crumbled when he torqued them down, the metal was so weak. I stick to the same rule as you now, any plastic or rubber gets scrubbed by hand, but for quality all-metal stuff like those old Cummins parts, the tank is a lifesaver. Have you ever had any luck with that method on high pressure oil parts from the same era?
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fiona_murphy3d ago
That hot tank stuff is like magic until it isn't... I tried it on a set of gas injectors from an old Chevy once and the next day they looked like someone had left them in a puddle of paint thinner too long. The brass fittings were all pitted and one of them actually snapped when I tried to put it back in the rail. Seems like the cheap Chinese metal parts just can't handle that chemical bath for more than a couple hours. You got lucky with that Cummins set because those old Bosch parts were made from better stuff in my opinion. I still hand scrub anything with plastic or rubber bits, hot tank is only for the all-metal parts that I know are good quality.
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Have you found that the newer replacement parts from places like AutoZone or O'Reilly's hold up any better in a hot tank than those cheaper off-brand pieces? I've been burned before on some fuel system parts that looked identical but just didn't have the same metallurgy after a few years. Seems like the manufacturers have really cut corners on materials since the pandemic.
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