You are sitting at a stoplight and your vehicle is shaking. You can hear your engine idle, and it sounds as if the engine is trying to stall. The sputtering is so noticeable that you even step on the gas to prevent the engine from dying. Fountain City Auto Clinic can help. We can determine why your engine idle is rough and fix the problem. There are four common reasons why an engine idle isn’t smooth as it should be.
1. Clogged or Dirty Fuel Injectors
Newer automobiles have fuel injectors; older automobiles have carburetors, and we’ll talk more about them below. If your engine is a fuel-injection engine, the fuel injectors spray gasoline into either an intake manifold or each cylinder. If the fuel injectors are clogged or dirty, they may be unable to spray enough gasoline into your vehicle’s combustion chamber. Consequently, your engine will be fuel-starved and you will notice it idling roughly.
2. Engine Vacuum Leak
Your combustion engine creates vacuum, and this vacuum is transported throughout the engine in a series of hoses to power accessories. Any time there is a vacuum leak, you will notice an issue with your engine’s performance. Vacuum leaks often create a lean fuel mixture, which means there is too much air in the air and fuel combination. A vacuum leak will cause your engine to idle roughly, and it may cause other performance issues, as well.
3. Dirty or Misfiring Spark Plugs
The spark plugs create the magic in the combustion chamber. They ignite the air and fuel mixture that starts your automobile and keeps it running. If there is a problem with the plugs, such as they are dirty or old, your engine will idle roughly because the timing of the detonations in the cylinders will be off. There could also be a misfiring problem in the engine control module that is firing the spark plugs out of sequence or too often.
4. Carburetor Trouble in Older Cars
Finally, if you drive an older car with a carburetor instead of fuel injectors this, too, can cause your engine to idle roughly. The carburetor is responsible for mixing the air and the fuel that the combustion chamber needs to start and run your automobile. If the carburetor is mixing too much air and not enough fuel, you’ll end up with the lean fuel mixture we talked about above. This can make your engine idle roughly and also create sluggish acceleration and other performance problems.
Fountain City Auto Clinic is a full-service auto repair shop in Knoxville, TN. We can fix your engine idle trouble and ensure everything else is a-okay with your car, truck, or C/SUV.
