Fortunately for most car owners, a fuel injector replacement will not cost you an arm and a leg. However, instead of just doing a professional cleaning or replacing the O-rings, if a fuel injector cracks or breaks, this will lead to a complete fuel injector replacement.
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Although fuel injectors are all individual parts, they are manufactured to work together. The combination means that if one injector is not working correctly or has become damaged, you will need to look at the fuel injector replacement cost for ALL of them.
Depending on your car’s make and model, the average fuel injector replacement cost will run you from about $800 to $1,450 for a full replacement. If you have the knowledge to do the replacement yourself, the parts alone are around $600 to $1200, while the labor cost is only about $200 to $250.
Fuel Injector
In order to know how to test fuel injectors, it is key to know the signs and symptoms of a bad, damaged, or failing fuel injector to know how much the price of the fix will be and the steps of the fuel injector test.
As we know, the fuel injector’s basic function in your vehicle is to give the engine enough fuel to run properly and at a high performance. The fuel injector injects the fuel into the engine’s cylinder through a specific tube or nozzle so that the internal combustion process can begin to power the engine.
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Fuel Injector Function
The fuel must be delivered at the proper time and must be injected in the right amount to ensure the engine works correctly. In addition to the timing and the amount of fuel, the fuel injector has to determine the right pressure, angle, and spray pattern to ensure the engine runs smoothly. When looking at how to test fuel injectors, you need to know the fuel injector’s function with your engine.
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Fuel Injector Mechanism
Engine Control Unit
The engine control unit is your car’s computer and manages components like the fuel injector, telling it how to work, how much fuel to give, and when to give the fuel. By using various sensors in the car’s electrical and fuel system, the electronic control unit has to make sure that the injector gives the fuel at the right time and in the right amount to create the ideal air to fuel mixture and ratio.
If the electronic control unit is not working correctly, this can increase the cost of the fuel injector replacement cost and cause you to have to learn how to test fuel injectors.
Fuel Pump
The car’s fuel pump is in charge of pushing the gasoline from the fuel tank, through the gas lines and into the fuel injectors that are in charge of supplying the engine. When the electronic control unit can read and analyze what fuel is needed to give to the engine, it gives this information to the fuel injector solenoid.
Fuel Injector Solenoid
The fuel injector solenoid opens in order to allow the pressurized fuel to spray into the cylinder. If the fuel injector is not working correctly, you need to learn how to test fuel injectors.
Faulty Fuel Injector Symptoms
If something were going to happen with one of your fuel injectors, like it became damaged or worn down over time, your vehicle's engine would not provide the same amount of performance that you need or that the car is used to.
The faulty fuel injector in your vehicle can prevent enough fuel from being given to the engine in order to power the car, or it will incorrectly time the interval at which it is supposed to deliver the fuel. No matter what the case is, your vehicle will not be able to run correctly, or it will not be able to run at all, increasing the total fuel injector replacement cost.
To prevent this from happening, you need to know the sign of a bad fuel injector that can make the overall fuel injector replacement cost much higher. Some of these signs you can recognize early on so that you can prevent further, more expensive damage. Some of the symptoms are similar, so it is a good idea to clean your fuel injector before assuming it needs a full replacement cost analysis.
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Rough Engine Idle
Since your vehicle will not get enough fuel to run properly or even run at all, the RPM while your engine is running will drop way below the normal and optimal levels. Low RPMs can even result in a rough engine idle in your car, where the car will be unnecessarily vibrating and shaking while staying still.
If the engine RPM is too low, the car would stall and cause you to need to restart the voice. Stalling can be a sign that the fuel injector replacement cost will be higher.
Common Reasons for Rough Idle
Rough idle is a common problem and can be pretty difficult to diagnose and pinpoint the exact problem since several mechanisms and factors come into play. How your engine is idling is a good indicator of its overall health and how long it is going to last, meaning what if you address the problem quicker than you can save potential expensive repairs or replacements in the long run.
You can tell you have a rough engine idle when there is shaking and bouncing sensation in the vehicle, and you feel like the car is vibrating too much while your car is not moving. Although some cases are less severe than others, the rough idle is usually pretty identifiable by both the driver and passengers.
In addition to the vibrations, you might also notice strange sounds when the car is running rough idle when cold. Along with the strange sounds coming from your engine and under your hood, there might be an inconsistent engine RPM while driving and accelerating.
Typically, a healthy vehicle will have a smooth RPM that stays at a consistent level of around 1,000 revolutions. If your vehicle is going too far below this line or moving too far above, then you might be dealing with a rough idling issue.
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Engine Vibrations
If your fuel injector is faulty or damaged, this can cause the engine cylinder not to fire at the right time or prevent it from firing at all. This means that while you are driving your car, the engine will excessively vibrate or shake after it tries to finish the cycle without enough fuel. Without the engine having enough fuel, the vibrations can increase the total fuel injector replacement cost.
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Engine Misfiring
If the engine does not get enough fuel via the fuel injector due to a clogged injector or an injector that is not working correctly, then the engine will begin misfiring as you are driving. Your vehicle will have problems accelerating, especially when trying to reach high speeds or going uphill, or there might be a delay in acceleration after you press your foot on the gas pedal to power the vehicle.
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Check Engine Light
There are many reasons why your check engine light might turn on. You might have a faulty oxygen sensor, your mass airflow sensor might have failed, or various other reasons that this light can illuminate your dashboard. Not all of these reasons are severe, but they should require that you get your car looked at by a mechanic.
In this case, the most obvious sign of a problem with the fuel injector in your car is that the check engine light turns on. If this light illuminates on your dashboard, it means that the fuel injector is delivering less fuel than needed, and the engine efficiency is lowered and can trigger the light to come on.
If you need to make sure this is the problem before determining the overall fuel injector replacement cost, you can use a diagnostic tool and an oBD2 scanner to confirm the problem.
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Fuel Leak
Another sign that your fuel injector could be damaged and something that could increase the overall fuel injector replacement cost is a fuel leak. If your fuel injector is broken or cracked, gasoline will leak out of the pipe, and the fuel will not reach the engine to power the car. If you check the fuel injector and check for any leaks or cracked pipes, you might notice gas outside or on the nearby fuel rail.
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Fuel Odor
Like the fuel leak in your car, if you have gasoline that cannot get burned due to the damaged fuel injector, or if your fuel injector is open, you will end up smelling a strong odor of gasoline either inside or just outside of your car. The cause of this issue could be that your fuel lines or your electronic control unit are telling the fuel injector to put in more fuel than is required or necessary, enhancing the overall fuel injector replacement cost.
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Engine Surge
If the fuel injector is damaged and spraying too much fuel into the engine cylinder, this can cause an engine surge, cause your acceleration to be slower, and cause our car’s performance to suffer. When you drive your vehicle, you will notice that the engine RPM is going to change much more than usual under a consistent load. Instead of remaining at constant RPM, the RPM will fluctuate drastically, showing that the overall fuel injector replacement cost could be higher.
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Poor Fuel Economy
If you notice that your miles per gallon have declined in highway driving and city driving, then a bad fuel injector could be the culprit. Since the engine needs the right amount of fuel for internal combustion, it will demand the fuel injector to give it enough fuel to run the car. This will, in turn, result in more strain and poor fuel economy due to the excess fuel that the car’s electronic control unit thinks is necessary.
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Failed Emissions Test
Since a broken fuel injector can cause an incomplete fuel burn, the result will be increased emissions in your car. In certain cases, a leak in the fuel injector can cause the air and fuel mixture to be too rich, eventually leading to a burnt-out and damaged catalytic converter. The replacement of the catalytic converter will significantly increase the overall fuel injector replacement cost.
Fuel Injector Replacement Cost
For certain places that you can get the fuel injector replacement, the prices are quite similar. We have a list of chain auto body shops and your local mechanic to determine which can provide you the best estimate for the fuel injector replacement cost.
Your mechanic will charge you between $193 and $415, while the Midas shop will run a little bit more expensive, between $206 and $437. Mr. Tire is similar in pricing but is a little bit more expensive at the high end of the price spectrum, ranging between $215 and $515.
NAPA can offer you a 24-month warranty for the fuel injector replacement cost and will charge you between $231 and $502, while Walmart will charge you just $73 and $264 for just the parts. Similarly, Amazon will average between $79 and $283 for just the parts, with a limited fuel injector warranty.
Sample Fuel Injector Replacement Costs
Now that you know how much your chain auto body shop and your local mechanic may charge you for this process, it is important to know how much it costs for popular car models on the market today.
One of the least expensive cars is both the Ford Focus and the Honda CR-V, both averaging between $190 and $284 and $338, respectively, for the total price. The Ford Focus’s labor costs are between $90 and $115, while the CR-V is between $81 and $103, and The Focus parts are $99 and $169, while the CR-V is between $82-$200.
The high end of the price spectrum is dominated by the Toyota Camry, the Nissan Altima, and the Chevrolet Silverado. The Camry has a labor cost of between $162 and $207, while the parts lie between $166-$278, with the total average coming out to $328 and $485. The Nissan Altima runs around $222-$287 for the labor, while the parts are between $165 and $241, with the total price coming out to between $390 and $528.
Conclusion
Depending on your car’s make and model, the average fuel injector replacement cost will run you from about $800 to $1,450 for a full replacement. Knowing the average price of a replacement can help you make smart decisions about your vehicle!