Your automobile’s fuel injectors play a crucial role in how efficiently your vehicle operates. Whether directly or indirectly, fuel injector are responsible for delivering gasoline to the combustion chamber. Without gas in the combustion chamber, your vehicle cannot start or run. There are signs your fuel injectors need cleaning, especially if they’ve haven’t been cleaned in a very long time. DOC Auto lists them below and recommends you bring your vehicle in if you notice any of the following problems.
Car Won’t Start
If you can’t get your car, truck, SUV, or CUV to start, there could any number of things wrong with it. One of those things is the fuel injectors. If they are dirty, they might be stuck in the closed or open position. If they are stuck in the closed position, they can’t push gas through to the combustion chamber. If they are stuck in the open position, they’re flooding the combustion chamber.
Car Won’t Accelerate
This can also affect how your vehicle performs. For example, if there isn’t enough gas pushing through the engine because the fuel injectors are clogged, your vehicle will become fuel-starved and may give you trouble when you try to accelerate. You may also have an uneven fuel flow into the combustion chamber, which will make your automobile go fast, go slow, go fast, go slow for no apparent reason.
Car Is Idling Roughly
This, too, is a sign the fuel injectors aren’t operating properly. The problem could be not enough fuel or too much fuel as discussed above. When you’re vehicle is stopped at a stop sign or red light, it should idle smoothly. If it’s sputtering and shaking, it might be fuel-starved or fuel-gorged. In severe cases, your engine will stall and you might not be able to get it started again.
Car’s Gas Mileage Tanked
Finally, you guessed it: fuel-starvation or fuel-gorging will also affect your vehicle’s gas mileage. If the engine isn’t getting enough fuel, it will work harder to compensate. Your demand on the engine is the same as always, but it won’t have the gas in it to meet that demand. If the engine has too much gas in it, its only option is to burn the excess fuel, which it will do.
DOC Auto in Fredericksburg, VA, can help with your vehicle-performance issues whether it’s the fuel injector or not. Call our shop on Chatham Heights an appointment, or give our shop on Courthouse Road a ring.
