A car air filter prevents dirt and other debris from entering your engine. Despite its robust nature, your engine can be damaged by constant exposure to even particles as small as sand grains. Without a working air filter, your engine will operate inefficiently and use more gas. To protect your engine and save money on unnecessary repairs, your air filter should be changed regularly. Give our service department a call, and we can speedily fit a new one!
Blocked Air Filter
Your air filter protects your engine from dust, pollen, and even dead bugs. It catches this debris as air flows into your engine through the radiator. The more debris your filter catches, however, the faster it can get blocked. A blocked filter prevents air from easily flowing into your engine, and this can lead to damage to your engine.
Coughing Sounds from The Engine
A hiccupping or coughing from the engine usually means you have a damaged air filter. When the filter is blocked, airflow into the engine is restricted. Combustion requires a huge amount of clean air, and without it, the fuel won’t burn correctly. Too much fuel in the combustion chamber causes your spark plugs to misfire and this causes strange sounds.
Smell of Fuel
When you step on the gas pedal, fuel should pass into the combustion chamber and mix with clean air. This mix is then ignited by the spark plugs. When there isn’t enough air in the chamber due to a damaged air filter, much of the fuel will be wasted, as it can’t burn properly. Some of the vapor from this unburnt fuel will escape and the heady smell of gas will drift into your car.
Black Smoke from the Exhaust
Inefficient combustion due to a lack of air wastes fuel, but it also means that the fuel that does burn burns badly. The burnt fuel creates a soot-like residue that is forced out of the exhaust as black smoke. This black smoke also contains larger than normal levels of harmful chemicals.
Flames from the Exhaust
Flames shooting out of exhaust may look good in movies, but if they’re coming from your exhaust – you probably have a blocked air filter. The unburnt fuel is forced out of your exhaust with the sooty residue of the burnt fuel. When fuel particles come into contact with the hot exhaust pipe, they burn, and this creates flames.
Reduced Fuel Economy
The low level of air in the combustion chamber due to a blocked air filter causes poor combustion as we’ve seen. Your engine uses far more fuel than it should since part of the fuel that enters the combustion chamber is always wasted. A new, clean air filter will save that wasted fuel and in return, also save you time and money.
When you’ve got signs of a bad air filter, call our service department at Performance Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Delaware and we’ll get it replaced!
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