Caution - Counterfeit Injectors?

Hello,

Been hunting down a rough idle on my truck (1999 PreRunner 3.4 5VZFE), and sent my injectors to be cleaned and flow tested. After reading a couple threads about the counterfeit eBay ones, threw caution to the wind and ordered a set to keep the truck running while the OEM's were being cleaned.

Injector shop was unable to get my OEM injectors to flow properly, said they looked like they had been modified. I picked up a used set of OEM's from a private seller, and compared them side by side with my OEM's that I received back from the injector shop. Here are the photos, the "OEM" injector that I sent to be cleaned on the right in the first photo, bottom left in the second.
I'm under the impression that the "OEM" injectors that I removed from my truck were not actually OEM, but knockoffs from eBay that had been installed prior to my ownership. They look identical to the used set I bought on the exterior, until you remove the pintle cap. The spacing of the 4 holes looks terrible, and the injector shop told me the reason he could not get them to flow properly was that fuel was leaking from the gap you see around the circular plate with the 4 holes in it.

When I have the OEM's cleaned and swapped into my truck, I will compare them to the known eBay knockoffs that are in there now and post pictures. This is a cautionary post on how difficult it is to identify true OEM injectors, and while the $75/6 price is tempting, it may not be worth it. I could not find any images of them with the pintle caps off either.

The ONLY thing I noticed is that the OEM's had "3L3" stamped directly under the part number on the exterior, like so:



This is just based off of what I've seen so far, and I would appreciate some input on this. Hopefully this prevents someone from mistakenly ordering some counterfeit injectors!

 

check out @CS_AR's post in this thread

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/thoughts-on-denso-fuel-injectors.651608/#post-22661570

 

Really good info on there, I was dealing with all this about a month ago and wish that would have been posted at the time! That confirms what I was thinking, that the injectors in the truck when I got it were counterfeits. I’ve spent a lot of time and money fixing things like this that the previous owner cheaped out on unbeknownst to me.

 

yeah there's a lot of counterfeit parts out there especially on eBay and Amazon, have to be very cautious. Especially when it comes to sensors and injectors, things like that. Generally if the price is too good to be true, particularly on a website like eBay, it probably is. They're getting really good at making them look just like OEM too

 

You are lucky they didn't start leaking and cause a fire. The counterfeits on mine started spraying fuel on the intake manifold. It could have easily gone up in flames.

 

As dumb as it is, I seem to have gotten pretty lucky on the counterfeits. I've had the truck for a little over two years with those unknowingly, and the temporary set that I stupidly put in have about a month on them. Getting those things out of there ASAP though.

 

Ok, so which ones do we buy if we need 1+ injector and can’t afford OEM

 

@CS_AR 's post in the link from @eon_blue has a couple options:

 

If you need one injector now, you'll probably need more a few months down the road.

I would get a set of six rebuilt injectors for around $180 (better than $150 each from Toyota) including shipping from:

MotorWest Performance
7851 Alabama Avenue
Canoga Park, CA 91304
Phone: 747 888 9768

That's what I did. Call 'em up and discuss what they do and how they do it. Now I have a set of rebuilt injectors on my engine and five original injectors as spares. Don't have many miles on them yet, but I don't think I'll have any problems with them either.

 

Am I missing something?

When you installed your injectors and then installed the bolts that connect the fuel rail cross over section together.

The two bolts that have the crush washers have a hole that goes through it,

Do these have to be lined up with the fuel that comes out of the cross over pipe?

I made a black maker line where the hole goes through on the bolts and they don’t line up when torqued
at 25 pounds.

 

Here

 

Not required to line up the banjo bolt holes. The fuel flows through the holes and into the rails. Due to the tight area, I had to use a crows foot to torque the rear banjo bolts.

 

So this is what they look like torques at 25 pounds and the holes do NOT come close.
Thanks ok?
Thanks in advance

 

That is okay, correct.
I'd always thought it didn't matter because I thought there was a slight void around the shank of that bolt where the holes are and when installed in the fuel line, that small void is always full of fuel and the void feeds the fuel rail/line.
You made me double check myself, so I pulled out the FSM and there is no mention of any orientation on those bolts.
Good to go, wrench on my man

 

The fuel line is empty now,
Will it just build up pressure and eventually start?

 

Yep, I believe so.

 

It’s all running great,

BUT looking back I think I could have just removed the whole fuel rail without taking these two
Threaded fuel screws off.

Just remove the fuel rail hold down bolts and lift the whole rail up

 

After having just done this I think you're probably correct. Having a second set of hands would sure help aligning all 6 injectors at once though.
Aligning 3 injectors with 2 hands was pretty easy.

 

I am not a fan of Amazon for auto parts. Unless you know the exact P/N, you may be getting a bad part, and even then... I always had better luck with parts houses, like Rock Auto or some Toyota dealers. Easier to return, too.

 

Counterfeit car parts is a thing. Auto parts stores or reputable sellers normally have a chain of reliable suppliers but counterfeit crap in a shipment of genuine parts is not unheard of. They don't always know it and if you get a fake, you should let them know and they will investigate/stop using this supplier

Buying parts on ebay or Amazon is hit or miss, as fakes are often getting rid of this way by unscrupulous sellers.