We recently received some cores back that appeared to be brand new Bosch injectors. They even came with all the Bosch logos. Everything “appeared to be” brand new OEM Bosch. That first impression was very deceptive.
These injectors are fake Bosch injectors, copied from a Chinese company. We have seen fake copies before, but they have never had Bosch logos on them and there were differences that could be found easily. This time it was different.
In the following slides we want to show you how you can identify them, and what is wrong with them.
The customer returning these injectors told us he had them in his engine for a total of 5 minutes. He said his truck ran so poorly he immediately knew he needed to go a different route to keep from damaging his engine. He purchased a reman set of BBI’s from us. This seemed a great opportunity for us to share the results of these incredibly poor performing injectors.
Table of Contents
- How they look
- What are the optical differences
- The numbers on the Chinese solenoid
- How they functioned on our test bench
How they look
What are the optical differences
The surface of the Chinese bodies is a lot rougher. They used a faster forward speed, turning the outer surface of the bodies.
Here you can notice:
- Sharp edges on chinese injectors, chamfer on Bosch injector.
- Manufacturing bore is in a different position, Bosch in the center of the hold down flange.
- Height of the spanner flat, Chinese = 5,2mm; OEM Bosch = 7mm.
The Chinese copied an incorrect nozzle. The spray holes are eroded in an angle to the body. Like in the 12V engines when the injectors were not aligned to the combustion chamber. This will ruin your engine for sure.
The numbers on the Chinese solenoid
This should be the production date and running part number of the injector. All 6 returned injectors had the same production date code and running number. If you have an injector showing these numbers, it is the same Chinese fake injector we investigated here. A short search on ebay.com we found a couple of ads showing injectors with the exact same numbers on them.
This looks like a OEM Bosch magnet, but it is not. The Chinese do not know what they are copying here, as they all have the exact same numbers on them.
How they functioned on our test bench
This is a comparison of 3 OEM Bosch injectors to these Chinese injectors. The Chinese copies show a big injector to injector spread. They are very unstable. These would not run properly even if the nozzle spray pattern was correct.