A MODERN CARBURATOR

Digital fuel injection
or DFI for short is nothing more than a very modern carburetor, to put it very simply. DFI prepares the required air/gasoline mixture which comes into the engine. As already written, there is the KLX with old conventional carburetor but also with DFI.

DFI consists of a housing with a large through hole in the middle in which sits a movable flap that regulates the amount of air that enters the engine - the throttle body. Also attached to this housing is the injector.

The injector in turn injects the right amount of fuel into the large hole at the right time. This is controlled on the one hand by the gas hand which is more or less the command giver and on the other hand by the ECU which processes the commands with the information from the many sensors and passes them on to the DFI. The DFI then implements these commands accordingly in a fraction of a second.

On one side of the throttle body is the air filter with air filter box, on the other side it goes to the cylinder head.

DFI offers a lot of advantages
One of the biggest advantages is fuel consumption. DFI is much more efficient compared to conventional carburetors because the required amount of fuel is supplied in much more precise portions. Also the cold start is better thanks to the many sensors that know the actual state and accordingly in the ECU and thus to the DFI is transmitted. The same is true for different altitudes. Air is known to be thinner higher up than at sea level, so the carburetor has the worse cards here too. DFI simply compensates for this and the engine always works reliably, cleanly and perfectly adapted to the conditions regardless of whether it is cold or warm, far above or below sea level.


Disadvantages of DFI
are on the one hand the additional weight because a fuel pump is needed which can also be an additional source of error, on the other hand also the fact that a clogged injector can not be cleaned easily. DFI is dependent on the sensors as well. If one is defective it can be that nothing works. The sensors including the cables increase the weight further, although not so dramatically. A carburetor on the other hand can be disassembled down to the last screw and thus repaired. Always and everywhere if you have tools with you.

Generally speaking
the injection system installed on the KLX is called EFI - electronic fuel injection. DFI actually means direct fuel injection. In the case of direct fuel injection the fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber and not into the throttle body, but not so on the KLX. Unfortunately a little confusing.

EFI - Electronic Fuel Injection
DFI - Direct Fuel Injection
DFI Kawasaki - Digital Fuel Injection same as EFI