I recently pulled my fuel injectors to have them cleaned. It was a bear getting them out.

My removal process was:
Blow out area around the injectors with compressed air.
Detach fuel line, injector electrical connections, bolts holding fuel rail in. I tried to wiggle the rail, pry against the brackets, etc. to get the rail out. While I was patient, I did this to the point that I realized it was something of a lost cause prying against all four injectors at once. Eventually, I pried the severely corroded injector clips away from the injectors and removed the rail. I then extracted each injector, with a lot of effort required on the #1 and #2 injector. It turns out that the injectors had essentially fused themselves to the intake. Gotta love New England winters.

So, the ports for #1 and #2 are a little rough. I used a vacuum and a brass wire brush to try to clear up some corrosion around the outside of the port (though I was and am uncomfortable with this due to risk of debris falling in the port, apparently people use this technique). Then, I used a solvent on a polyester swab; I first tried brake cleaner, and then gasoline, to try to clean up the crud surrounding the port/inside the port. It's not perfect. There is still some dirt, but worse, there is some surface roughness of ports #1 and #2. I don't want to get any debris in the ports, so while I thought about trying a plumbers tubing/pipe brush, I feel like a vacuum won't necessarily keep fraying bristles out off the port while it is blocked off by this type of brush.

Thinking less is more, I decided to try to put the fuel rail in. I lubed the o-rings with Syl-Glyde (though the Bentley manual says to use anti-seize, most forum commenters seem to dismiss that approach, and Syl_Glyde claims to be suitable for fuel injection applications). When I re-installed the fuel rail and put it under fuel pump pressure, I had a leak on #4. I pulled the fuel rail, and the o-rings on #1 and #2 came out shredded (don't know why they did not leak, but #4 did, and its o-ring looks fine). Barring any more plausible explanation, I attribute the o-ring issue to the surface roughness of these two ports. And I don't yet know why #4 was leaking.

So I am looking for thoughts/experience/guidance here. Ideas?

While I am the fourth owner of this car, I was told that I have all the records for this car, and there is no record of fuel injection work in my file. So I believe I am the first to remove them from the manifold.

I'll get some photos and post those tomorrow.

 

Do I just need to pull the intake manifold??? Thoughts?

 

Did you replace the O-rings with new ones when you first pulled the injectors?

If I were planning to do some thorough cleaning of the fuel injector ports, I would be most comfortable pulling the manifold for that job so that there is no risk of something going into the intake port. I would replace the gaskets (intake manifold-to-head and intercooler outlet pipe-to-intake manifold) during that repair as well.

 

The fuel injector o-rings were new, and lubricated. Any gasket/seal that I come across when I take anything off this car, I replace as standard procedure. Of course once they shredded, they needed replacement again.

In the interim, I went against my better judgment and made a bad decision: I used a brand new brass tube brush, diameter matched to the ports, to clean the port walls. And sure enough, two pieces of brush bristle (that I could see) made their way into the intake, which I was able to vacuum out with a piece of tubing taped to the end of my shop vacuum hose. But there might be more bristles in there, so now I am compelled to take the intake off, which is why I thought this approach to be a bad idea in the first place. I did things exactly backwards. The silver lining is that the fuel rail installs easily now, the way it should.

I have come across hints that the supercharger must come off to remove the intake manifold. Is this true? The Bentley manual makes no mention of the need to remove the supercharger to get at the intake manifold, and makes it look like it is relatively easy to R/R the intake. It doesn't even call out front end service mode for the job, though it looks like front end service mode is a must to me. I am unsure about the need to remove the supercharger, and direct answers to that question seem elusive.

 

In looking through some pictures I have taken during my many repairs over the years on this car, I came across the picture where I had pulled the cylinder head off the engine. The intake manifold was still in place which tells me I was able to unbolt it from the head without removing the supercharger. Note that I am a mechanic so I have some tools that many DIY folks may not have. I would imagine extensions and swivel sockets would be very helpful for this.

 

Thank you ghostwrench.

On youtube, Mod MINI has a two part video series on head gasket replacement, in which he says he has a trick to remove the head without pulling the supercharger, which you confirm is possible.

He states that with the head installed, the intake manifold (IM) cannot be removed without removing the supercharger because the IM interferes with the supercharger output horn, and that prevents the intake manifold from clearing the intake manifold studs protruding from the head. He removes valve cover, exhaust manifold fasteners, some head internals, the head bolts (not to mention, suspending the timing chain, removing chain guides, etc.), slides the intercooler output horn out of the way, and removes the intake manifold nuts from their studs. Finally, here's his trick: he lifts the head, then he tips the head to the back so the studs clear the IM. But of course I was not planning on removing the head to pull the intake manifold!

On the other hand, the Bentley manual (p. 113-27) has pictures which show the sequences for removing/installing the intake manifold nuts, and in both photos the valve cover is off (?), the head is installed, and the supercharger output horn is installed too. But of course the intake manifold is still in the picture, installed. This has me wondering: did they just slap in some photo from some other procedure (perhaps suggested by the valve cover being off?) in to show the tightening order, or was this photo taken when they were actually in the middle of removing the intake manifold?

So that is where my confusion lies; the question I should have asked is, can the intake manifold be removed while *both* the supercharger and head are in place. If Mod MINI is correct, it seems like the answer is no. If Bentley is to believed, then yes.