Symptoms of Faulty Fuel Injectors

Faulty fuel injectors can have a serious effect on your car's performance and can lead to untimely car break downs and significantly expensive car engine repairs. The following article will discuss several key symptoms of faulty fuel injectors. It is always best to have your car repaired if you notice any of these symptoms.

Violent Engine Idle
One of the most common symptoms of faulty fuel injectors is a rough, choppy, or violent engine while you are sitting idle. A fuel injector's responsibility is to put fuel directly into the engine cylinder via the fuel rail before it is burned during combustion. If this process is not done properly or efficiently, a choppy engine while sitting idle will occur.

Gasoline Leak
The next common symptom of faulty fuel injectors is gasoline leaks. Fuel injectors can crack and break, which in turn causes a gasoline leak. If the faulty fuel injector is causing a gasoline leak, the spilled gasoline will be both visible and will cause a smell. A cracked fuel rail could also cause a leak.

Poor Fuel Economy
Another common symptom of faulty fuel injectors is poor fuel economy. As mentioned earlier, a cracked fuel injector or fuel rail can cause a gasoline leak, which in turn will decrease fuel economy. A faulty fuel injector also may inject too much gasoline into the engine, which is wasteful, less efficient and will lower your car's fuel economy.

Surging Engine
If you feel your engine surging, your car may be suffering from faulty fuel injectors. A surging engine is caused by too much gasoline being injected into the engine. This can cause the engine to surge too fast and then accelerate too slowly. To the driver, this condition will feel like an up and down motion.

Misfiring Engine
Another symptom of faulty fuel injectors is a misfiring engine. This will occur if your fuel injector is not sending in enough gasoline into the engine. This symptom may also be caused by clogged fuel injectors. To the driver, the misfiring engine will feel like a delayed acceleration when you touch the accelerator.

In conclusion, there are various symptoms of faulty fuel injectors including violent engine idling, gasoline leaks, poor fuel economy, surging engine, or a misfiring engine. To prevent a future car break down or expensive engine repair, be sure to have your car looked at if you are experiencing any of these issues. It could be that your fuel injectors are just clogged, in which case the repair is cheap. If a fuel injector needs to replaced, the total repair bill could be around $500.

Related Questions and Answers

Engine surging can have three causes. The first is the electronic system, the second is the clutch, and the third is poor wiring. The computer software set up in today's cars means that your car is set to run rich in cold weather so that it will run at all. As the engine warms, the fuel/air mixture leans out and the idle settles down. In very cold weather, though, the microcomputer can be fooled into thinking the weather is cold every time your car slows and your car could surge. The second cause could simply be clutch slippage. The third reason for surging is a crossed-wire in the electronic oxygen sensor.

There are two key risks if you want to rebuild a fuel injector: losing the O-ring or the end cap. Once you have disconnected the ground line from each injector, you must remove the injector by pulling upward. With the injector removed, you can then replace the O-ring and end cap at the base of the injector. The new O-ring fits in a groove and end cap. Either the O-ring or end cap could fall into the intake manifold, presenting you with the problem of finding the tiny devices, removing them and reinstalling them. It is important that each part be put back exactly, as today's fuel injection systems still use a common fuel line for feed, and a blockage could be very costly.

Bad fuel injector pumps manifest themselves in several ways. The first is poor performance. The idle quickly becomes rough. Your vehicle can experience a quick 2 mpg or more drop in fuel economy when your injector pumps start to go bad. Another key sign is a significant loss of power on acceleration because the fuel flow is restricted. The reason the power loss is noticeable is because there has been a significant build up of deposits in the injection system, and each cylinder is not receiving its full allotment of gasoline. These buildups are the result of cold-start operation, where the vehicle never has a chance to warm to proper operating temperature, and gum and lacquer block the injector.

A fuel injection spider is the complete fuel injector assembly used in Chevy trucks. The fuel injection spider consists of the fuel line and filter interface, the main injector body assembly that provides gas to each cylinder, the fuel lines and the injectors. It is called a fuel injector spider because it looks like a multi-legged crawling spider. The fuel injection spider replaces the original equipment injection system in Chevy six- and eight-cylinder engines, and costs from $100 to $300, depending on the model. Installation is extra, but is usually about an hour of time. That time and amount vary with each part of the country.

Experience has shown that a fuel injector cleaning system, such as one marketed by Chevron under the Techron brand name, brings remarkable results. Priced at less than $10, the Techron cleaning system should be used about every 3,000 miles. It will reduce pinging, run-on and dissolve deposits that are cutting your car's mileage. Experience has shown Techron will increase your mileage by 2 mpg. It was developed 30 years ago when fuel injection first made its appearance. At that time, it was throttle-body injection with a mass injector, replacing the carburetor and it has been refined since then, so that each cylinder has its own injector.