You don’t need us to tell you that your European automobile is a high-performance machine, even if you aren’t driving a Lamborghini. Fuel injectors spray gasoline into the engine cylinders so it can be ignited in the combustion chamber. Over time, the nozzles on the injectors get clogged. East Coast EuroWerks lists nine signs your vehicle’s fuel injectors need to be cleaned professionally.
1. Idling/Stalling Problems
If the fuel injectors are clogged and cannot get enough fuel into the engine, you’ll notice a problem with the idling. As the engine fights to prevent stalling, which it will do eventually if the RPM gets too low, the engine will idle roughly when you’re stopped.
2. Bad Vibrations
Your engine cylinders fire in corresponding order, and if the fuel injectors are clogged, the cylinders will hiccup, if you will, because one or more cannot fire. This causes annoying engine vibration that will rattle your whole car as you drive it.
3. Misfiring Engine
Misfiring is also hiccupping. Depending on how severe each fuel injector is clogged, some might spray more gasoline into the cylinders than others do. If some of the cylinders aren’t getting enough fuel, your engine will misfire and struggle to accelerate.
4. Dashboard Warning
If there is a problem with the fuel injectors or any other part of the fuel system, your check engine light might come on. Usually, you’ll get the warning if the fuel injectors are starving the engine of gasoline. A clogged fuel pump can also starve the engine.
5. Leaking Fuel
Clogs aren’t the only problems that affect fuel-injector performance. Faulty or old injectors can also break or crack. Rather than spray fuel into the cylinder, the broken fuel injector will leak the gasoline all over itself and the engine’s fuel rail.
6. Gas Odors
If you do have a fuel injector leak or another type of fuel leak, for that matter, you will likely smell gasoline. You should never smell gasoline. If you do, it’s leaking from somewhere and could cause a dangerous engine fire.
7. Lagging Engine
As we mentioned above, clogged fuel injectors starve the engine of gasoline. This will cause the engine to lag. The power loss might be constant or sporadic, i.e., it lags and then speeds up and then lags again. Engine lags and surges are a sign of trouble.
8. Emissions Test Failure
Part of an emissions test measures the level of air and fuel in a vehicle’s exhaust. Your engine uses an air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber. If the injectors are leaking, you will have too much fuel in the mixture resulting in a failed emissions test.
9. Low Fuel Economy
European automobiles are known for their fuel economy, and if yours is taking a hit, it could be the fuel injectors. Leaking injectors waste gas; clogged injectors force the engine to work harder, and this burns gas. Cleaning the injectors will restore your fuel economy.
Contact East Coast EuroWerks in Wilmington, NC, to schedule a fuel injector cleaning for your European automobile.
