The fuel injection system is a critical component of your engine, working with your car’s electronic control unit to ensure that the fuel flowing into your engine is properly measured and atomized to ensure complete combustion.
Replacing a fuel injector can cost $300 to $2,500. Costs can vary widely depending on your car’s engine, but for smaller engines, your estimates are going to be in the $300-$1,200 range.
What affects fuel injector replacement costs?
A fuel injector’s cost varies based on the cost of the fuel injector, how many fuel injectors you need to replace, and labor costs at your location.
Cost of fuel injectors
| Part number | Suitable for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 13-53-7-531-634 | 128i, 325i, 325xi, 328i, 328i xDrive, 328xi, 330i, 330xi, 525i, 525xi, 528i, 528i xDrive, 528xi, 530i, 530xi, X3, X5, Z4 | $181 |
| 13-64-7-599-876 | 650i, 650i Gran Coupe, 650i xDrive, 650i xDrive Gran Coupe, 750i, 750i xDrive, 750Li, 750Li xDrive, M5, M6, M6 Gran Coupe | $302 |
| 13-53-7-808-089 | 335d, X5. M57 3.0L Diesel engine | $598 |
You can tell that the larger the engine, the more expensive each injector is. A BMW 128i has a 3.0-liter I6 engine (injector cost: $181.31) while the 650i has a 4.4L V8 engine ($302.21). Finally, diesel engines are unique because you’d have to buy a specific injector, which costs $598.
However, if you drove a Honda, your costs could be lower. Here’s a comparison:
| Part number | Suitable for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 16450-R40-Y01 | 2008-2015 Honda Accord/Civic 2.4L | $78.46 |
| 16450-R40-Y0116450-6C1-A01 | 2018-2022 Accord/CR-V 2.0L hybrids | $184.40 |
How many fuel injectors need replacing
When you take your car into the shop, your mechanic will help you identify the problematic fuel injector. If you have one injector that has failed, you will have to buy one replacement. However, if more than one has failed, you’ll pay for multiple injectors.
You could just replace the faulty one, which will keep your cost as low as possible. However, your mechanic might also suggest that you should change all your fuel injectors at once. The logic is that if one has failed, the others are likely to fail soon, particularly if your fuel injectors have failed due to age.
There are other benefits to replacing all of them, too, such as not having to worry about the fuel injectors for a long time. However, replacing all of them does come at a significant upfront cost, which multiplies based on how many injectors you need.
Labor rates
Unless you do the replacement yourself, you’ll have to consider shop rates. Mechanics’ per-hour rates across the United States now range from $110 to $175.
Another factor that influences labor costs is how many injectors need to be changed at once. Each cylinder requires its own fuel injector, so if you have a four-cylinder engine, you will need fewer fuel injectors than an eight-cylinder engine.
How to check if a fuel injector is bad
Injectors deliver fuel to the engine, so when your fuel injector is failing, you will notice some signs such as poor fuel economy, misfires, poor acceleration, fuel contamination in engine oil and engine stalling or rough idling. Your check-engine light might also come on.
Fuel injectors should last a long time, but when they fail, it’s a result of mechanical or electrical failures like these:
- Contamination build-up: Fuel and carbon can clog the injector and cause restricted fuel flow.
- O-ring failure: As the O-ring fails, fuel can leak out of the injector.
- Electrical failure: Fuel flow is controlled by an electronic component that opens and closes the fuel injector. This electronically controlled mechanism can fail over time.
Xuyun Zeng is a content strategist with a wide-ranging content background including tech, journalism, cars and health care. After graduating with highest honors in journalism, Xuyun led a newspaper to win eight awards, helped start an award-winning film industry podcast and has written over a hundred articles about cars repair, state laws and insurance. Prior to joining Jerry, Xuyun worked as a freelance SEO consultant with a mission to create the best content that will help readers and grow organic traffic.
Phil Metzger is a personal finance editor and writer with more than 30 years of experience editing and writing content across a variety of industries. In writing and editing for Jerry, Phil’s mission is to help car owners better understand their vehicles and the costs associated with car ownership. Before joining Jerry, Phil worked as a writer and editor for newspapers, magazines, television radio and online news. His work has appeared in many major publications and websites over the years, including a series he edited that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.
